Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood

Author:   Bernard F. Dick
Publisher:   The University Press of Kentucky
ISBN:  

9780813151359


Pages:   280
Publication Date:   22 September 2021
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood


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Overview

From Double Indemnity (1944) to The Godfather (1972), the stories behind some of the greatest films ever made pale beside the story of the studio that made them. In the golden age of Hollywood, Paramount was one of the Big Five studios. Gulf + Western's 1966 takeover of the studio signaled the end of one era and heralded the arrival of a new way of doing business in Hollywood. Bernard F. Dick reconstructs the battle that reduced the studio to a mere corporate commodity and traces Paramount's devolution from freestanding studio to subsidiary -- first of Gulf + Western, then of Paramount Communications, and currently, of Viacom-CBS. Dick portrays the new Paramount as a paradigm of today's Hollywood, where the only real art is the art of the deal. In modern Hollywood, former merchandising executives find themselves in charge of production on the assumption that anyone who can sell a movie can make one. CEOs exit in disgrace from one studio, only to emerge in triumph at another. Corporate raiders vie for power and control, purchasing and selling film libraries, studio property, television stations, book publishers, and more. The history of Paramount is filled with larger-than-life people, including Billy Wilder, Adolph Zukor, Sumner Redstone, Shari Redstone, Sherry Lansing, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and more. AUTHOR: Bernard F. Dick is professor emeritus of communications and English at Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck campus). He holds a doctorate in classics from Fordham University and is the author of numerous film books including Anatomy of Film, Hal Wallis, and That Was Entertainment.

Full Product Details

Author:   Bernard F. Dick
Publisher:   The University Press of Kentucky
Imprint:   The University Press of Kentucky
ISBN:  

9780813151359


ISBN 10:   081315135
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   22 September 2021
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Reviews

A breezy and informative six-reeler about the 'engulfing' of the once proud studio by a mega-conglomerate to which film art was merely another commodity. -- EH.NET Reviews An important book not only about the history of a studio, but also about the apparently ineluctable direction big business has taken in American society. -- Donald Spoto Astutely analyzes the role of outside corporate money in the film industry, and how the changes at Paramount heralded a new, inevitable trend in American film and arts.... Dick's in-depth analysis and research makes for great -- and shocking -- journalism. -- Publishers Weekly Clever, thought-provoking...Dick has the ability to explain the complex in-fighting among studio executives in the corridors of power in a movie studio -- and their even more complex negotiations with the conglomerates who own the studios -- in a way that is clear and incisive. -- Gene D. Phillips Dick has composed an authoritative account of Paramount Pictures Corporation and accomplished the not inconsiderable feat of making it read less like business and more like history. -- Washington Times Dick lends the personalities and events so much emotional colour that his book is as compulsively readable as a biography. -- Sight and Sound Does a fine job of detailing the death of a studio and its reincarnation as a subsidiary of a conglom. Dick's forensics peel back history, revealing the passions, politics and power plays of filmmakers and dealmakers that culminated in the dissolution of a Hollywood empire. -- Daily Variety Everybody knows that Paramount was one of the major studios, but few know the twists and turns of the history of the studio over the years. -- Peter C. Rollins Provides a helpful scaffolding of Paramount's fascinating history thus far and suggests that business historians would do well to engage the film industry further in their explorations of twentieth-century business and economic life. -- Enterprise and Society Provides historical insight into the death of Paramount Pictures as an autonomous studio and its fall to the conglomerate Gulf + Western in 1966. -- Journal of Economic History The stories behind some of the greatest films ever made pale beside the story of the studio that made them. -- Hollywood Inside Syndicate This thoroughly researched story reveals the shift in the industry's primary focus from making fine film to making a successful, multifaceted business deal and prompts debate over which one is considered to be real art in modern Hollywood. -- Library Journal Through the richness in cases, examples and anecdotes it gives a practical, nuts-and-bolts insight into the workings of the film business. -- Business History Traces Paramount's lineage from its 1912 origins to its 1966 purchase by Gulf & Western and its present ownership by Viacom/CBS. -- Publishers Weekly Uses Paramount Pictures to illustrate the evolution of the motion-picture industry from Thomas Edison to Michael Eisner.... Always erudite and entertaining. -- Kirkus Reviews


Uses Paramount Pictures to illustrate the evolution of the motion-picture industry from Thomas Edison to Michael Eisner.... Always erudite and entertaining. -- Kirkus Reviews Traces Paramount's lineage from its 1912 origins to its 1966 purchase by Gulf & Western and its present ownership by Viacom/CBS. -- Publishers Weekly Through the richness in cases, examples and anecdotes it gives a practical, nuts-and-bolts insight into the workings of the film business. -- Business History This thoroughly researched story reveals the shift in the industry's primary focus from making fine film to making a successful, multifaceted business deal and prompts debate over which one is considered to be real art in modern Hollywood. -- Library Journal The stories behind some of the greatest films ever made pale beside the story of the studio that made them. -- Hollywood Inside Syndicate Provides historical insight into the death of Paramount Pictures as an autonomous studio and its fall to the conglomerate Gulf + Western in 1966. -- Journal of Economic History Provides a helpful scaffolding of Paramount's fascinating history thus far and suggests that business historians would do well to engage the film industry further in their explorations of twentieth-century business and economic life. -- Enterprise and Society Everybody knows that Paramount was one of the major studios, but few know the twists and turns of the history of the studio over the years. -- Peter C. Rollins Does a fine job of detailing the death of a studio and its reincarnation as a subsidiary of a conglom. Dick's forensics peel back history, revealing the passions, politics and power plays of filmmakers and dealmakers that culminated in the dissolution of a Hollywood empire. -- Daily Variety Dick lends the personalities and events so much emotional colour that his book is as compulsively readable as a biography. -- Sight and Sound Dick has composed an authoritative account of Paramount Pictures Corporation and accomplished the not inconsiderable feat of making it read less like business and more like history. -- Washington Times Clever, thought-provoking...Dick has the ability to explain the complex in-fighting among studio executives in the corridors of power in a movie studio -- and their even more complex negotiations with the conglomerates who own the studios -- in a way that is clear and incisive. -- Gene D. Phillips Astutely analyzes the role of outside corporate money in the film industry, and how the changes at Paramount heralded a new, inevitable trend in American film and arts.... Dick's in-depth analysis and research makes for great -- and shocking -- journalism. -- Publishers Weekly An important book not only about the history of a studio, but also about the apparently ineluctable direction big business has taken in American society. -- Donald Spoto A breezy and informative six-reeler about the 'engulfing' of the once proud studio by a mega-conglomerate to which film art was merely another commodity. -- EH.NET Reviews


"""A breezy and informative six-reeler about the 'engulfing' of the once proud studio by a mega-conglomerate to which film art was merely another commodity."" -- EH.NET Reviews ""An important book not only about the history of a studio, but also about the apparently ineluctable direction big business has taken in American society."" -- Donald Spoto ""Astutely analyzes the role of outside corporate money in the film industry, and how the changes at Paramount heralded a new, inevitable trend in American film and arts.... Dick's in-depth analysis and research makes for great -- and shocking -- journalism."" -- Publishers Weekly ""Clever, thought-provoking...Dick has the ability to explain the complex in-fighting among studio executives in the corridors of power in a movie studio -- and their even more complex negotiations with the conglomerates who own the studios -- in a way that is clear and incisive."" -- Gene D. Phillips ""Dick has composed an authoritative account of Paramount Pictures Corporation and accomplished the not inconsiderable feat of making it read less like business and more like history."" -- Washington Times ""Dick lends the personalities and events so much emotional colour that his book is as compulsively readable as a biography."" -- Sight and Sound ""Does a fine job of detailing the death of a studio and its reincarnation as a subsidiary of a conglom. Dick's forensics peel back history, revealing the passions, politics and power plays of filmmakers and dealmakers that culminated in the dissolution of a Hollywood empire."" -- Daily Variety ""Everybody knows that Paramount was one of the major studios, but few know the twists and turns of the history of the studio over the years."" -- Peter C. Rollins ""Provides a helpful scaffolding of Paramount's fascinating history thus far and suggests that business historians would do well to engage the film industry further in their explorations of twentieth-century business and economic life."" -- Enterprise and Society ""Provides historical insight into the death of Paramount Pictures as an autonomous studio and its fall to the conglomerate Gulf + Western in 1966."" -- Journal of Economic History ""The stories behind some of the greatest films ever made pale beside the story of the studio that made them."" -- Hollywood Inside Syndicate ""This thoroughly researched story reveals the shift in the industry's primary focus from making fine film to making a successful, multifaceted business deal and prompts debate over which one is considered to be real art in modern Hollywood."" -- Library Journal ""Through the richness in cases, examples and anecdotes it gives a practical, nuts-and-bolts insight into the workings of the film business."" -- Business History ""Traces Paramount's lineage from its 1912 origins to its 1966 purchase by Gulf & Western and its present ownership by Viacom/CBS."" -- Publishers Weekly ""Uses Paramount Pictures to illustrate the evolution of the motion-picture industry from Thomas Edison to Michael Eisner.... Always erudite and entertaining."" -- Kirkus Reviews"


Author Information

Bernard F. Dick, professor of communications and English at Fairleigh Dickinson University, is the author of numerous books on film history, including Engulfed: the Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood and Hal Wallis: Producer to the Stars.

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