A Trip Through the World's Greatest Motion Picture Studios

This short publicity film takes a look behind the scenes at producer Thomas H. Ince's studio at Culver City, California. Other studios made similar films, including MGM's "1925 Studio Tour", which has, apparently, been broadcast on the Turner Classic Movies channel. (MGM's studio had been Ince's prior studio for the Triangle Corporation.) Shown here are the technical aspects of film-making, including the making of sets, lighting practices, behind the scenes of the wardrobe department, and the negative developing room where tinting and editing practices are demonstrated. Inceville's private fire department is even acknowledged and shown performing a drill. A couple interesting scenes show sets from how they're photographed and how they appear beyond the frame. Additionally, there are some scenes of cameramen filming, including the short's opening shot of seven cameramen shooting at the camera recording them. In another scene, a title card states, "How we photographed that auto chase," and then they show the filming of a trucking shot; then, another title card, "How they photographed us!," reveals a cameraman shooting the cameraman photographing the auto chase scene. Clever.

In addition to a behind-the-scenes look at film-making, including footage of the seemingly real making of films (one scene is said to be the shooting of a film starring Louise Glaum and James Kirkwood, and the only film I see that those two starred in was 'Love' (1920), which doesn't seem to be available anywhere), we are introduced to (or sold) the studio's stars. I don't know who most of the mentioned "stars" were, or at best I've seen them if not recalled them in a few films, and they seem to be mostly lost to history. Some of them, like Margaret Livingston, who would have a role in "Sunrise" (1927), may be recognizable for their supporting work in some rather popular films.

The biggest name in this short, however, at least by today, is the producer Thomas H. Ince. Here, there is some rather odd footage of him exercising and showing off how youthful and fit he was, which I found surprising. By the end of 1924, he would be dead. The cause of death seems to be a bit of a mystery, involving murder conspiracies and media mogul William Randolph Hearst, but the official story, at least, seems to be that he died of heart failure. Ince is probably one of the most influential movie makers in the industry's history, as he introduced the classic studio system, adopting assembly-line practices and promoting the producer to the head supervisor, who through script authorizing and editing, took control from the director and cameraman over the final appearance of films--a system adopted later by David O. Selznick and others.

A Tour of the Thomas Ince Studio (1924)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

I'm not sure how enjoyable this short was when it was first released but when viewing it today the thing is of great historical interest. Basically, as the title clearly tells you, this is a tour of the Thomas Ince Studio so we get a terrific look at how movies were made. We get to see stuff like sets being built, costumes being designed and we even seen an editor working. We learn about Ince's style when it came to making movies and we even get to see the swimming pool that was used by the actors as well as the fire station that was on the lot. There's a lot of really good footage here so anyone with any interest in how Hollywood was in the 1920s will certainly want to check this out. The behind-the-scenes footage is pretty priceless today and especially since there wasn't too much footage taken from the location.

Thomas Harper Ince came to films in 1910, age 30, with a background as a jack-of-all-trades in the stage. Beginning as a film director, Ince then created the function of a producer, something new to movies. He realized that the haphazard way films were made, planned simply in the director's mind, needed to be far more organized—and economical. Ince introduced the concept of a carefully planned script and shooting schedule, so every day the needed cast, extras, sets, costumes, and locations were all prepared.

You will see all these phases of production in this promotional film. It goes beyond earlier such studio tours with their star snapshots and behind the scenes glimpses, to convey a full day's studio work. Even as the film supposedly captures stars informally, it oscillates to the technical departments and the artists, carpenters, electricians, and laboratory, to indicate just how much the studio is like an actual factory.

Getting ready for work are Lloyd Hughes, Enid Bennet, Louise Glaum, J. Parker Read, and Douglas MacLean, who is stopped by a policeman who wants to join him in the movies. The secret of photographing a chase is shown. Hobart Bosworth relaxes by painting. Upon arriving at work, MacLean receives a batch of fan mail--even a package from Japan, for Ince films have global exhibition. Even if not all the stars shown were under contract to Ince, their presence along with the professional filmmakers add to the importance of the facility itself. The only real luxury is at the end of eight hours, when the workers relax in the studio pool.

Ince had personally designed and privately owned this studio facility, for making both his own films and those of other independent producers (including Read and Bosworth). With these other filmmakers, in 1919 Ince set up a firm, Associated Producers, and Ince hired Hunt Stromberg as head of publicity and advertising. Special arrangements were made with one newspaper in each city to promote this studio tour film and distribute it to theaters where it was shown as "an added attraction." (The date of release given on IMDb is incorrect; the film was in release by 1920 as proved by reviews.)

Ince himself is shown undertaking vigorous exercises and making time for his wife and three sons. This was not vanity; there was a second and very important audience, bankers. No longer releasing through Paramount, who had paid a weekly sum paid to finance productions for their release, Ince had become a completely independent producer. Ince needed to constantly borrow for his next production, using as collateral films already in release. Just as important was his own reputation for commercial success, and the studio he owned. The presence of big name players, and the demonstration of coordinated, professional production methods, offered reassurance to backers of Ince as a financial investment.

It was just that health of Ince's that began to fail him, and he died in 1924 from ulcers and angina (as opposed to the rumors, laid to rest in my book on Ince). The good news, however, is that his studio shown here is still in place and remains a center of production.

The copy derived from the Blackhawk print circulated in the 1970s claims this was released as a promotional film in 1922, The Internet Movie Databate claims it was released in 1924.

This was not the first promotional film released by a studio. I have seen one from Bray Studio, HOW ANIMATED CARTOONS ARE MADE, from 1919. What this film makes clear is that Ince was an industrial operation. For the first eight minutes, we get shots of carpenters and other craftsmen and, of course, the Great Man himself -- and a brief bit of Louise Glaum and James Kirkwood performing a scene, but mostly to show off the studio musicians playing to enable them to get in the mood. After the first two-fifths of the movie is done, we get brief bits of some of Ince's stars in the morning routines: Enid Bennett riding horses; Hobart Bosworth painting; Douglas MacLean racing off to the studio, then it's off to work, ending with the film lab and Ince reviewing the previous day's rushes.

It was a massive operation and by 1922, with Ince's production down to a couple of features a year, it was unsustainable. After he died, Inceville was sold to DeMille for his independent company; then it went to the newly-formed RKO, was rented to Selznick, then back to RKO. In the 1940s, Desilu took it over. In 1986, Grant Tinker took it over in a Chapter 11 acquisition. It's changed hands a few times since; in 2014 it was taken over by a private investment group which, as I write this, is supposed to be in the process of being renovated and modernized, a century after Ince first got his hands on the property.