Between 1915 and 1920 grandiose movie palaces sprung up all throughout the U.S. The film industry moved gradually out of the East to Hollywood, where now-famous independent producers as Thomas Harper Ince (1882–1924), Cecil B. de Mille, and Mack Sennett set up their own studios. Hundreds of films a year poured from the studios to fill an increasing demand from theaters. The vast majority of them were Westerns, slapstick comedies, and such elegant romantic melodramas as de Mille's Male and Female(1919) .
Silent films: Mack Sennett became known as the king of comedy; he introduced slapstick to the screen. His style of comedy was altogether new, combining elements of vaudeville, the circus, comic strips, and pantomime. He was a master of timing who kept his films moving at a dizzying pace. Sennett once said that a gag could be planted, developed, and completed in less than 100 feet of film, or one minute on the screen. He had a talent for creating an atmosphere in which artistic temperament could flourish. His corps of players included Marie Dressler (1869–1934), Mabel Normand (1894–1930), Fatty Arbuckle (1887–1933), and the English comic named Charlie Chaplin.
Chaplin was a comic genius whose work lit up the screen. His presence in a film virtually assured its success.He was the first truly international movie star and a legend well within his own lifetime. He continued to produce, direct, and star in his own films well into the sound era and was especially memorable in The Great Dictator (1940),Monsieur Verdoux (1947), and Limelight (1952). In 1919, Chaplin, along with Griffith and popular stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, formed the original United Artists Corp. and ushered in the star system as well as a golden age of silent film in the U.S.
Blanche
Sources:
http://www.cecilbdemille.com/
http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDDynamite.htm
http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=216967
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