The Unknown Experimental Classical Hollywood of the Silent and Sound Eras

Abstract

Did really exist —and/or frequently— a tendency toward experimentation, avant-garde and deviations from the norm in the classical Hollywood cinema? Or, better said, was the Hollywood of the studios era inclined to include the experimental and the unusual in their films? The present edition of (Dis)agreements brings together four experts from different countries —Spain, the US, and Italy— to debate about the avant-garde and experimental classical Hollywood, the innovations and transgressions of the silent and sound eras, the influence of Soviet and German cinemas on Hollywood commercial films, the different production companies and their predisposition to take a chance on innovation, the filmmakers and, of course, the experimental films produced in Hollywood. Even though it is usually assumed that classical Hollywood cinema had nothing to do with experimentation and the ground-breaking, the film scholars assembled in this discussion challenge these theories.