Mary Pickford, one of the first major independent producers, and screenwriter Frances Marion
The History of Independent Cinema. I’m assuming that refers to US-made films. Even so, that’s a lot of ground to cover. What sort of parameters did you have to use in order to condense that very long and very diverse history into one volume?
Clearly, I could not accommodate every independent film into the book. I decided to focus primarily on films and creative artists that made a significant contribution to the commercial and/or artistic development of film production and distribution. That helped to eliminate many obscure films and filmmakers from coverage.
There are two genres that were not pursued in depth. I opted not to include the history of the pornographic film industry – although those films are, technically, independent productions, they are literally a world unto themselves and better deserving of their own full-length book history. I also intentionally paid scant attention to the exploitation films of the 1930s to 1950s. These films, with no exception, have zero artistic value and they are only viewed today as a source of unintentional humor. Even the best of that bunch, Reefer Madness, is a terrible movie. I acknowledge their existence and advise the reader to proceed with extreme caution when coming to visit them.
As a follow-up to question #1. How would you define "independent cinema"?
An independent film is a motion picture that is produced outside of the Hollywood studio system.
Some may wonder about Jane Russell in The Outlaw on your book cover. Howard Hughes an independent producer? What about David O. Selznick? Samuel Goldwyn? Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks?
[Right, Jennifer Jones in Selznick’s independently made and distributed 1946 blockbuster Duel in the Sun.]
Howard Hughes was an extremely successful independent film producer, and The Outlaw was one of the most commercially successful independent films of all time. From the 1920s to the 1950s, the concept of independent filmmaking centered on the producer, not the director. Independent producers such as Hughes, Selznick, Goldwyn, Walter Wanger and Walt Disney had a profound impact on U.S. popular culture during this period.
As for Jane Russell on the book cover – well, we needed something to make the book stand out, and she does attract attention!
How did United Artists — until the early ’80s a major distributor for independent talent — fit into the history of independent American cinema?
United Artists plays a major role for two reasons.
First, it broke new ground by enabling its four founding independent producers (Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin and D.W. Griffith) to have complete control over the distribution of their films.
Second, it provided other independent producers with the ability to gain national distribution in prestigious venues. All of the major independent producers of the 1920s through 1950s, at one time or another, released their films through United Artists. In fact, the first independent film production to win the Best Picture Oscar was David O. Selznick’s [UA release] Rebecca in 1940. [Gone with the Wind, though also produced by Selznick, had MGM financing and distribution.]
When did independent cinema as we generally define it today — small-budgeted, character-driven, thematically off-beat — take off?
It was always there. One could argue the so-called “race films” – all-black films produced exclusively for racially segregated audiences in the Jim Crow period – were setting that example beginning in the early 1920s, when Oscar Micheaux [right] was producing and directing films such as Within Our Gates.
After World War II, however, these films began to slowly trickle into the mainstream, finding favor with critics and audiences. Louisiana Story, The Quiet One, and The Little Fugitive were among the first round of indie films that found equal footing with the big-budget flicks.
Either aesthetically or thematically, have independent films always been "different" or more daring than big-studio films? Now, would you call 21st-century indies "different" or "daring"?
Traditionally, the indie film genre was always willing to attack the status quo. It is because of indie film that we have color, sound, widescreen projection and videography in mainstream films. Indie films broke Hollywood’s self-censorship on a wide variety of subject matters. Indie films tore apart the McCarthy-era blacklist. Indie films gave a wide range of behind-the-camera responsibilities and opportunities to women and African Americans. None of this came from the studios.
Today’s indie films, from what I am seeing, are significantly less daring and different. This is not a surprise, considering that filmmaking and film distribution is an increasingly expensive activity and there is less room to be experimental today due to the needs of a rapid return on investment. Hopefully, as the economic picture improves, the indie filmmakers can shock us anew.