Musicals. The musicals of the late 1920s and the early 1930s consisted of a series of "numbers" by established stars of Broad-way, vaudeville and radio. Later manifestations of the form were the biographical musicals, often highly fictionalized, about great composers, musicians, singers, providing an opportunity to string together some of their most popular hits. The transferring of musicals intact from the Broad-way stage became almost automatic beginning in the 1950s.
Gangster films. While the Western deals with a mythical American past and the musical with a fantasy land, the gangster film is closely tied to a real facet of American life. In earlier films, the gangster had risen to the top to enjoy wealth, power, beautiful women, expensive homes and large cars, but before the end of the film he was bound to be caught by law-enforcement officers, overthrown by fellow gang members or killed. Such punishment was considered obligatory. By 1971, however, "The Godfather" showed how far the genre has evolved: Marion Brando, in the title role, dies of old age. The gangster was another businessman.
War films. They have evolved into a major American genre, since wars have occupied so much of contemporary American history. The Second World War has been the subject of the greatest number of American films in this genre.
Horror films (thrillers). In the 1920s the creation of a monster who gets out of control or is coming to life from non-human beings who survive by killing the living provided the basic story lines of countless horror films. These films also have dealt with supernatural forces that manifest themselves as an unseen power rather than in individual form. A third major kind of horror films deals with people who are insane or in the grip of psychological powers beyond their control.
Horror films as a genre is associated with the name of Alfred Hitchcock. Like Walt Disney with animated cartoons, Alfred Hitchcock was thought not just to have invented a film genre but to have patented it (hence "Hitch", another name for a horror film).
Detective and spy films. These include first of all the James Bond series. Hitchcock's films of this genre feature ordinary people who accidentally become involved with spies or other evil doers.
Science fiction. After the Second World War science-fiction films increasingly suggested that the dangers of the future stemmed from what human beings were doing in the present.
Film Companies
Columbia Pictures (also Columbia)-American film company, which produces films for cinema and television.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) — a film company based in Hollywood, which has made many famous films and animated cartoons.
Paramount- a film company in Hollywood.
20th Century-Fox — an American film company.
United Artists — a film company (studio) in Hollywood.
Universal — n film company (studio) in Hollywood.
Warner Bros (Brothers) — an American film company.
Film Directors and Producers
Alien, Woody (1935—) — a comic actor and maker of humorous films. Since the late 1960s, he has been directing films and acting in them, usually playing a neurotic, bookish New Yorker. Some of his best-known films have been "Annie Hall", "Manhattan" and "Hannah and Her Sisters".
Capra, Frank (1897-1991) - a film director, best known for the films "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "It's a Wonderful Night".
Chaplin, Charlie (Charles Spencer) (1889-1977) — an English actor and director who worked mainly in the United States in silent black-and-white comedy films. He created the beloved character, the Little Tramp, who wore a shabby black suit, derby hat and floppy shoes, and walked with the backs of his feet together and the toes pointing outwards. He always walked with a cane.
By 1918 Chaplin had forsaken short comedies for longer, independently made films, including "Shoulder Arms" (1918) and "The Kid" (1921). His major films, produced for United Artists (a film company which he helped to found in 1923), included "The Gold Rush" (1925), "The Circus" (1928), "City Lights" (1931) and "Modern Times" (1936), the latter two made as silent films with synchronized sound effects. Chaplin spoke on the screen for the first time in "The Great Dictator" (1940), which ridiculed Hitler and Mussolini. In "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947), which draws an acid analogy between warfare and business morality, the tramp disappeared entirely; the film provided further ammunition for a growing anti-Chaplin group who attacked his unconventional personal life and political views.
After 1952 Chaplin resided in Switzerland. He starred in his production "A King in New York" (1957), a sharp satire on contemporary America, and wrote and directed "A Countess from Hongkong" (1967). Chaplin made a triumphant return to the United States in 1972. He was given an Academy Award (an Oscar) for his part in "making motion pictures the art form of the century".
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