# Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties: The Collapse of the Studio System, the Thrill of Cinerama, and the Invasion of the Ultimate Body Snatcher--Te - Hardcover

by **Foster Hirsch** (Author)

**A fascinating look at Hollywood's most turbulent decade and the demise of the studio system--set against the boom of the post-World War II years, the Cold War, and the atomic age--and the movies that reflected the seismic shifts**

"The definitive book on 1950s Hollywood." **\--_Booklist_**

"Lavish. . . insightful, rich, expansive, penetrating." **--_Kirkus_**

Hollywood in the 1950s was a period when the film industry both set conventions and broke norms and traditions--from Cinerama, CinemaScope, and VistaVision to the epic film and lavish musical. It was a decade that saw the rise of the anti-hero; the smoldering, the hidden, and the unspoken; teenagers gone wild in the streets; the sacred and the profane; the revolution of the Method; the socially conscious; the implosion of the studios; the end of the production code; and the invasion of the ultimate body snatcher: the "small screen" television.

Here is Eisenhower's America--seemingly complacent, conformity-ridden revealed in Vincente Minnelli's _Father of the Bride,_ Walt Disney's _Cinderella,_ and _Brigadoon,_ among others.

And here is its darkening, resonant landscape, beset by conflict, discontent, and anxiety (_The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Asphalt Jungle, A Place in the Sun, Touch of Evil, It Came From Outer Space_) . . . an America on the verge of cultural, political and sexual revolt, busting up and breaking out (_East of Eden, From Here to Eternity, On the Waterfront, Sweet Smell of Success, The Wild One, A Streetcar Named Desire,_ and _Jailhouse Rock_).

An important, riveting look at our nation at its peak as a world power and at the political, cultural, sexual upheavals it endured, reflected and explored in the quintessential American art form.

### Author Biography

FOSTER HIRSCH is a professor of film at Brooklyn College and the author of sixteen books on film and theater, including _Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King, The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir_, and _A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio_. He lives in New York City.

**Number of Pages:** 672

**Dimensions:** 1.8 x 9.4 x 6.4 IN

**Publication Date:** October 10, 2023

## Details

- **Price:** 40.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 40.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties: The Collapse of the Studio System, the Thrill of Cinerama, and the Invasion of the Ultimate Body Snatcher--Te - Hardcover

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> Updated: 2026-07-23