ABSTRACT
Mass unemployment and wage suppression during the period hit the film industry hard reducing audience numbers, and, as a result, forcing the Hollywood majors to exact efficiency squeezes to maintain profitability. The introduction of colour in the 1930s presented further challenges and expenses, with costly colour processing treatments necessitating the use of technical specialists on set as well as increased investment in set and costume design. The major studios responded to the twin-threat of squeezed budgets and the expenses prompted by technological change by reorganising the management of film production, using producer-managers who oversaw the development, staffing, production and post-production of films from conception to completion. The cost-based challenges of the period also prompted the major studios to reorganise key aspects of production into centralised teams. In late 1950s, musicals, westerns and melodramas might have dominated film releases, but there also existed a growing number of directors whose working methods and stylistic nuances challenged the genre-driven conventions of the period.
