
The Hollywood Studios
House Style in the Golden Age of the Movies
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $19.74
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Barrett Whitener
-
By:
-
Ethan Mordden
These are the questions Ethan Mordden answers, with breezy erudition and irrepressible enthusiasm, in this fascinating and wonderfully readable book. Mordden illuminates how the style of each studio was primarily dictated by the personality, philosophy, and attitudes of its presiding mogul - and how all these factors affected the work and careers of individual actors, directors, writers, and technicians, and the success of the studio in general.
©1988 Ethan Mordden (P)1996 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Accessible, well written, humorous and informed. Barrett Whitener is brisk and crisp - as always, a delight to listen to." ( AudioFile)
People who viewed this also viewed...













The author is opinionated (he dismisses Douglas Sirk out of hand and obviously prefers the musical over other genres, the latter more a problem as studios such as Universal and Warner Brothers were primarily known for other genres, the horror and gangster film respectively. Still, this is a good way to get a feeling for how each studio's style emerged and was refined, and the opinions take back seat to the films and personalities that characterize each studio's distinctive output.
I was disappointed by the brevity of the chapter on RKO, and some of the author's insights seem not to come so much from having viewed the films in question, but rather from documentaries about the era (his discussion of the early talkies is, in part, straight from the old HBO series, HOLLYWOOD, END OF AN ERA. These a minor quibbles, and I highly recommend this book as a starting point.
The reader is first rate. He has been attacked elsewhere, but I found him wonderful company during a long automobile trip just ended. Give the sample a listen and decide for yourself.
Very Entertaining and Informative
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A Droll History of Hollywood's Studio System
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Interesting book, bland reader
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Mordden is one of our great cultural historians
Rare Audible offering of an Ethan Mordden book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This same reader read another book - Picture a Revolution and had the same problem. Many of the names he mispronounces are quite famous and central to some of the passages. It truly drove me nuts. I will look to see if this reader has any more books and will not order them.
The reader falls quite short of the book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ethan Mordden's THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS is an interesting book. Mordden describes the house style for each studio effectively, and he has some surprisingly good insights into some of the movies. Paramount's stock in trade in the 1930s, for example, was its European directors (not just Lubitsch but others) and the theme of "sex as theft" in its films. MGM relied on style rather than distinguished directors; Twentieth Century-Fox was "nineteenth-century Fox" for its folksy rural dramas, etc.
If Mordden doesn't like a movie, though, look out: he'll pick at anything--a minor factual error in a headline in a newspaper montage, for example--to trash it.
The narration is all right except for some mispronunciations, and it's an interesting listen.
Informative and opinionated
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Maybe, because the book is terrific, but maybe not because the performance is terrible.What didn’t you like about Barrett Whitener’s performance?
His ignorance of the subject matter is apparent in his routine mispronunciation of names and titles. Also, his performance is poor. Please get Mordden to read his own books!Great book, bad reader
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you consider the audio edition of The Hollywood Studios to be better than the print version?
Even though the book interested me I would never made time to read it. Fortunately I ordered the audio. It was great! It is encyclopedic yet never dry. The narrator was very good and obviously relished the book as much as I did.What did you like best about this story?
The humor and witticisms. There was much I wanted to remember and quoteWhat about Barrett Whitener’s performance did you like?
See aboveIf you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Hollywood AnswersAny additional comments?
More Mordden please.Fun Read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you listen to The Hollywood Studios again? Why?
I never listen to or read the same book more than onceWhat did you like best about this story?
That it was trueHave you listened to any of Barrett Whitener’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
noDid you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
no, just interesting listenInteresting and imformative
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great Historical book about Hollywood
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.