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This year we celebrate 100th birthday of one of Hollywood's greatest studios - Warner Brothers/Warner Bros/WB. The studio was founded on April 4, 1923, by brothers Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack who, like most of studio moguls, were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Their amazing story of ambition and success is as amazing as studio's 100 year history and I hope we can celebrate and discuss it in this thread. We already have separate threads for some Warner stars and movies, so I hope here we can talk about the studio itself, what made it special, unique, what are your favorite eras, periods and styles the studio nurtured. These days, there's no difference between major Hollywood studios, they are all the same in a very bland way. But during the studio system era, each studio had its unique style, feel, type of movies they excel at making. Finally they all had their groups of stars, who were paired up and worked together, making it feel like a big family of performers, working in the same theater. So let's discuss all of that, but in regard to Warner Bros, whose shield logo is still perhaps the best known and most iconic to movie viewers all over the world.
Here's a lookback at studio's history, stars and movies decade by decade.
1930s
Initially Warners were a smaller studio, not considered one of the big 5, but with the arrival of sound, they jumped at the opportunity to do something new, risky and daring, with The Jazz Singer (1927) being the first talkie, or a silent movie with some talking/singing parts, to be precise. The movie was a huge hit and changed the industry with the studio now joining the other big guns in the city and entering a decade that will be full of great movies and stars. In the 1930s, Warners were an urban, workman's studio, best known for gangsters, tough talking dames, hallucinatory Busby Berkeley musicals, solid dramatic biopics and Rin Tin Tin, first canine star. Its human stars included John Barrymore, Al Jolson, James Cagney, Kay Francis, Edward G.Robinson, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Paul Muni, Pat O'Brien, George Raft. Barbara Stanwyck also made most of her early 1930s movies there, many of them Pre-Code classics. Bette Davis joined in early 1930s and had a slow ascent, becoming the studio's top female star by the end of the decade. Humphrey Bogart spent most of the decade playing supporting roles, with a few smaller leading roles, but his presence was felt, especially in gangster and crime flicks. Errol Flynn joined in the second half of the decade, instantly becoming their new action star and a leading heart-throb. By the end of decade the studio had a lengthy roster of stars, and it was about to get even bigger in the 1940s.
1940s
Bogart exploded at the beginning of the decade with Maltese Falcon and Casablanca and would go on the be the studios top male star, along with Flynn during the next 10 years. New faces like Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan, John Garfield started getting more recognition and better roles, though Olivia had to fight for it and even took the studio on trial and achieved a landmark victory. Cagney, Bogart and Davis also fought with Jack Warner regularly, all of them spending months on suspensions. This is something Warners were notorious for - how easy it was to be suspended if you don't do what Jack told you. But even though it was hard for the actors, in a way, I think it's this crazy warrior, fighting energy that translated into the movies themselves - the tough, no nonsense, gritty style, with the sometimes manically loud Max Stainer soundtracks. Joan Crawford joined in the middle of the decade, taking over from Bette as studio's reigning dramatic actress in the second half of 1940s. Other fresh new faces included Jane Wyman, Eleanor Parker, Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith, Dorothy Malone, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, Ronald Reagan and of course Lauren Bacall. The always reliable second male leads like Claude Rains and George Brent, were there since the 1930s plus many other scene stealing character actors like Eve Arden and Hattie McDaniel. In 1948 they finally got a major musical star again, in the form of America's sunshine, Doris Day, who would provide the much needed wholesome fun, that would be more fitting for MGM perhaps. There were dramatic discoveries as well, like Patricia Neal, plus an already well established superstar, Gary Cooper, who made a few big movies at WB earlier in the decade. He signed a contract with the studio in 1949 and will make a bulk of his movies, mostly westerns, well into the 1950s. Studio juggling Stanwyck was also back, starring in different genres, from comedies to noir to female pictures. James Cagney, who left to form his own production company, after a bitter fight with Jack, returned to his home studio with another huge success, The White Heat (1949), realizing that the comfort and security of a studio contract is not so bad after all. His co-star from that movie, blond bombshell Virginia Mayo made her Warners debut in 1949 and would prove to be a reliable female lead in many movies over the next 10 years. While some have just arrived and others returned, one star whose name became synonymous with the studio, decided it was time for her to call it quits. Bette Davis was done and dusted, her infamous final picture being Beyond the Forrest (1949). She stayed up drinking and joking with the movie crew on the lot until early hours in the morning and then left for good.... No ceremony, no special tributes, after almost 20 years. She did return to WB though, triumphantly in 1962. One more name that has to be mentioned, is WB's most profilic director, Michael Curtiz, who would make dozens of movies over 4 decades, in all existing genres, always delivering on time, budget and quality.
1950s
By the early 1950s Bogart was on his way out as well, looking for more diverse roles at other studios. In 1952 Joan would close out her 7 year contract, and probably the most productive period of her career, deciding it's time to move on. Errol Flynn looked twice his age at this point and was starting to have all sorts of issues, so studio lost interest in him as well. Early to mid 1950s were a difficult time of change in the industry, with TV appearing and endangering studios’ dominance in the showbiz industry. Contracts were not renewed and most stars were let go during this period, in all major studios. At the same time, there was a need for new stars, fresh faces that would carry on the industry into the future. Warners had a lot of success with this in the mid 1950s, when they signed several young actors that would become bona fide superstars - Paul Newman, Natalie Wood and James Dean. With just 3 movies Dean left an indelible mark on the industry and the studio. Paul was mostly wasted at Warners though, and made his best known movies of the late 1950s on loan outs to MGM and FOX, but with Natalie they managed to turn her into their new leading lady, that would carry the WB torch well into the 1960s. Other new young stars of this period include Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Diane McBain and James Garner, all of whom were used frequently for Warner’s TV projects as well. Andy Griffith started his career, with 3 very successful movies, at Warner Brothers as well. But it wasn’t all about teen stars and new faces in the 50s, since Warners still had some old timers like Alan Ladd and Randolph Scott, making a dozen of westerns for the studio and John Wayne dropped by often for westerns, airplane adventures and war movies.
1960s
As the new decade dawned, studios were once again in a difficult spot and starting to depend more on more on the success of one or two huge hits. Epic musicals were quite profitable and Warners had their biggest success with My Fair Lady in 1964. The Rat Pack hang around the lot, making 4 movies there, starting with the original Ocean’s Eleven (1960). Natalie Wood remained studio’s leading female star during the decade, delivering commercial and critical hits in Splendor in the Grass (1961), Gypsy (1962), Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and The Great Race (1965). By the time Natalie left Warners in 1966, she was the last big star in town with an old style, studio system contract. It was an end of an era with most remains of this old system gone and the New Hollywood starting to appear. Warners could feel the change and capitalized on it, with a daring, shocking display of madness and profanity, casting the world’s most infamous couple The Burtons, in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). A huge box office and critical success, it encouraged the studio to continue with risky projects and it payed off next year, with Bonnie & Clyde and Cool Hand Luke continuing box office/critical domination and helping end the Code for good and usher in the New Hollywood era. Other highlights at the end of the decade include Steve McQueen as Bullitt (1968) and Sam Peckinpah’s revisionist western The Wild Bunch (1969).
1970s
New Hollywood, New Wave, call it whatever you want, but the 1970s Hollywood was a new place indeed. No more Code, no more censorship, there was a feeling of freedom and excitement in the air and it would certainly show on screen. To be part of this special moment was crucial for any studio that wanted to survive and thankfully, Warners were once again able to capture the zeitgeist. With no more long term contracts, in an era in which actors were free to choose projects and work for studios all over the town, it was important to make good relationships with major stars and Warners did just that. One of the most important relationships the studio made, the one that lasts up until today, is with Clint Eastwood. Starting with Dirty Harry, in 1971, Eastwood would go on to star in and direct some of Warners’ biggest commercial and critical hits over the next 50 years, a feat that can hardly be matched by anyone ever. During the 70s he continued his Dirty Harry serial with 2 more movies and starred in western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and action hits The Gauntlet (1977) and Every Which Way But Loose (1978). The other big male star of the 70s, Robert Redford, starred in Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972) and All The President’s Men (1976) in which he was joined by Dustin Hoffman, another icon of the decade, who made 2 more fine dramas at the studio, Straight Time (1978) and Agatha (1979). Al Pacino was present as well, in Scarecrow (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Bobby Deerfield (1977). When it comes to the ladies, one of the movie queens of the decade, Barbra Streisand made her contributions with comedies What’s Up Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), joined in both by Ryan O’Neal, plus her take on A Star is Born in 1976, all of them major box office hits. Jane Fonda won her first Oscar for Klute (1971) while Ellen Burstyn got hers for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), directed by Martin Scorsese, who also made his first big movie, Mean Streets, at WB, the year earlier. Warners also got an exclusive deal with Stanley Kubrick, who starting with A Clockwork Orange in 1971, would make all of his movies at this studio, for the rest of his life. Since he took a lot of time to think of, prepare and actually make a movie, this meant there was only one more product from him during this decade, Barry Lyndon in 1975. The Towering Inferno, with its all star cast, uniting kings of cool, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, a huge success, a co-production with 20th Century Fox, but Warner Brothers’ biggest commercial hit ever, up to that point, came a year earlier, in the form of The Exorcist, disturbing generations of kid and adult theatergoers. Another giant hit was released as the decade came to a close. WB’s first foray into DC Comics library, for better or worse, Superman (1978) was a sign of things to come, as the era of a summer blockbuster arrived and once again, things will never be the same. New Wave auteurs and movie buff directors were no longer in fashion, their risky projects were not bringing in the same money as they did a decade ago, and Hollywood was ready to take a new turn, as the decade of indulgence knocked on its doors.
1980s onwards
I’m not going to go into details of the next few decades. WB survived the 80s, 90s and 00s with many big hits, critically acclaimed movies and new stars. Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock and many others worked at the studio. Superhero franchise was kept alive by Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 which was followed by 3 more movies in the 90s. Clint Eastwood delivered many more hits and Oscar winners, buddy cop series Lethal Weapon was an audience favorite, sci-fi hit Matrix brought us into Y2K and then it was all about the Harry Potter franchise, which earned billions and is probably the most successful movie series ever. As the superhero era dawned, WB was ready to once again dive into the DC universe, with mixed results in what continues to be a struggle. But, while Marvel may be the bigger money maker and what general audience prefers, Warners has the prestigious Oscar winners, in the form of The Dark Knight (2008) and Joker (2019).
Over the decades, WB changed owners several times, just like most other studios, starting in the 1960s after the complete collapse of old studio system. They were owned by Seven Arts Production in the late 60s, after Jack Warner finally gave up and sold his share. A few years later WB was bought by Kinney National Company which owned DC Comics and that is how WB got the rights to this now very valuable treasure. Time bought them in 1989 and we got the iconic Time Warner name, which was used for the longest time, until the dreaded AT&T acquisition in 2018, which brought us to where we are today, a very messy place with WB now owned by Discovery and called Warner Bros Discovery. We all know what’s been happening for the last year or so, with huge cutbacks, firings, downsizing, movie canceling, postponing and overall reorganizing, all headed by CEO Davis Zaslav. WB is in huge debt and released only a handful of movies last year, most of them bombed, with their only proper hit being the new Batman movie which is kicking off yet another series with the new actor Robert Pattinson. The Elvis movie also did well despite how bad it is.
The sad reality is that WB’s survival depends mostly on its DC movies at the moment, just like every other big studio now depends on the few franchises they got. Random hits on their own are rare these days, if they are not part of an already existing universe or series. The era of a movie star that draws in huge crowds regularly is long over. WBD is planning to revamp the whole DC universe and some of the plans are actually released today. Even though I’m not a fan of these superhero movies and hate what the industry has become, I wish them good luck and hope this historic studio can keep it up!
Over the decades, WB changed owners several times, just like most other studios, starting in the 1960s after the complete collapse of old studio system. They were owned by Seven Arts Production in the late 60s, after Jack Warner finally gave up and sold his share. A few years later WB was bought by Kinney National Company which owned DC Comics and that is how WB got the rights to this now very valuable treasure. Time bought them in 1989 and we got the iconic Time Warner name, which was used for the longest time, until the dreaded AT&T acquisition in 2018, which brought us to where we are today, a very messy place with WB now owned by Discovery and called Warner Bros Discovery. We all know what’s been happening for the last year or so, with huge cutbacks, firings, downsizing, movie canceling, postponing and overall reorganizing, all headed by CEO Davis Zaslav. WB is in huge debt and released only a handful of movies last year, most of them bombed, with their only proper hit being the new Batman movie which is kicking off yet another series with the new actor Robert Pattinson. The Elvis movie also did well despite how bad it is.
The sad reality is that WB’s survival depends mostly on its DC movies at the moment, just like every other big studio now depends on the few franchises they got. Random hits on their own are rare these days, if they are not part of an already existing universe or series. The era of a movie star that draws in huge crowds regularly is long over. WBD is planning to revamp the whole DC universe and some of the plans are actually released today. Even though I’m not a fan of these superhero movies and hate what the industry has become, I wish them good luck and hope this historic studio can keep it up!
Here's to the next 100 years! Cheers!
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