Twentieth Century-Fox: The Zanuck-Skouras Years, 1935–1965

When the Fox Film Corporation merged with Twentieth Century Pictures in 1935, the company posed little threat to industry juggernauts such as Paramount and MGM. In the years that followed however, guided by executives Darryl F. Zanuck and Spyros Skouras, it soon emerged as one of the most important studios. Though working from separate offices in New York and Los Angeles and often of two different minds, the two men navigated Twentieth Century-Fox through the trials of the World War II boom, the birth of television, the Hollywood Blacklist, and more to an era of exceptional success, which included what was then the highest grossing movie of all time, The Sound of Music. Twentieth Century-Fox is a comprehensive examination of the studio's transformation during the Zanuck-Skouras era. Instead of limiting his scope to the Hollywood production studio, Lev also delves into the corporate strategies, distribution models, government relations, and technological innovations that were the responsibilities of the New York headquarters. Moving chronologically, he examines the corporate history before analyzing individual films produced by Twentieth Century-Fox during that period. Drawn largely from original archival research, Twentieth Century-Fox offers not only enlightening analyses and new insights into the films and the history of the company, but also affords the reader a unique perspective from which to view the evolution of the entire film industry.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: The Merger, 1935–1939 Chapter 2: Wartime Prosperity, 1940–1945 Chapter 3: Peak Achievements, 1946–1950 Chapter 4: A Slow Decline, 1951–1960 Chapter 5: Bust and Boom, 1961–1965 Epilogue, 1966–2011 Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Peter Lev is Professor of Electronic Media and Film at Towson University. He has authored or coedited five previous books of film history, including American Films of the 70s: Conflicting Visions. In addition to receiving an Academy Scholars Grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he has also received the Jim Welsh Award for Outstanding Achievement in Adaptation Studies from the Literature/Film Association.

Review :
...Lev's consistently illuminating book joins the first rank of Hollywood studio histories. Summing up: Highly recommended. (Choice) [Twentieth Century Fox] contributes in redressing the imbalance in American film histories that has skewed them toward the studios' creative activities on the West Coast while ignoring the East Coast financiers that kept the show going and, in many cases, guided Hollywood's politics from behind the scenes. (Journal of Modern Greek Studies)