CF01
Sunrise
7th Heaven
The Fox Film Corporation
James Layton
William Fox built the Fox Film Corporation up from a small investment in the first decade of the 20th century to one of the three biggest Hollywood studios by the end of the 1920s. Throughout the 1920s he remained the only studio head to maintain majority control of all film production. The last few years of the silent era saw a deliberate move away from the standard fare of romantic melodramas, thrillers and westerns audiences were used to from Fox. William Fox planned to expand his empire; buying up cinema chains, investing in new sound technologies and improving the quality of the studio's films - a move towards more important and prestige productions. 1927 marked the peak of William Fox's career with the huge success of 7th Heaven, the release of the F.W. Murnau's highly anticipated 'masterpiece' Sunrise and the introduction of the Fox Movietone sound-on-film process to the public.
William Fox worked his way up from the very bottom. In 1905, with a small investment saved from years of menial labour, the 26 year-old Fox bought into an arcade and five-cent movie house in New York. By 1910 he had built this into a chain of 12 vaudeville/film theatres. After receiving pressure from the Motion Picture Patents Company threatening to cut off film supply, Fox moved into film production as well from 1913. Merging his production and distribution companies into one he created the Fox Film Corporation in 1915. Following a move west to Hollywood in 1917 Fox found great success with actress Theda Bara, and former stage actor William Farnum. However, the Fox studio did not rely on massive stars like other studios; instead it produced a steady flow of pictures that were popular and profitable with audiences. The films did not receive high critical attention. It was rare to find a Fox film on the movie magazines' best films lists.
William Fox began major expansion plans for his studio in June 1925. The Fox Film Corporation underwent reorganization, issuing common stock to the value of $6.6 million for the first time. With the proceeds from these stocks Fox created the Fox Theater Corporation, with the goal to build a chain of thirty first run cinemas seating between 4000 and 5000 in key American cities. Fox was also able to buy up entire theatre chains. By the end of the 1920s Fox controlled over 500 cinemas. In 1927 Fox bought the Roxy Theater in New York for $15 million from its developers just before its opening night. It was the world's largest movie theatre with 6214 seats. William Fox promptly set up his offices in the building.
1925 also marked the time when Fox showed serious interest in what would become the Movietone sound process. He acquired Theodore Case's sound-on-film process and the US rights to the Tri-Ergon patents developed in Germany. The Fox Movietone sound process recorded the sound optically, directly on to the film itself in a thin strip next to the image. It differed from Warner Bros' Vitaphone sound-on-disc process, which involved synchronising a shellac disc with the film image during projection. In 1927 Fox launched the Fox Movietone News, a major innovation, producing sound newsreels, with live, on-location recording. On 20th may 1927, the Fox Movietone News cameras recorded Charles Lindbergh taking off from Long Island on the first solo transatlantic flight. Sound prints were screened that night at the Roxy Theater. Sold out in anticipation, the evening was a huge success, receiving a ten minute standing ovation. Lindbergh's return and reception by President Coolidge in mid-June received even more attention. Both men spoke before the Movietone camera. The film drew record crowds for Fox's Roxy and Harris Theaters in New York. The Movietone short dwarfed the feature film on the programme.
Fox's upscale theatres needed prestige product. The studio couldn't compete against MGM and Paramount with stars - instead it made quality productions. The 'Fox Giant Specials' received a large proportion of the studio's budget allocation, attention and advertising. Fox's first great success came with John Ford's The Iron Horse in 1924, an epic western starring George O'Brien and Madge Bellamy. Many specials would originate from already proven popular material, often based on successful Broadway plays. Most of these would first be released as road-shows with higher priced seats around $1 to $2. A specials only cinema like the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles ran only four pictures during 1927 - What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), 7th Heaven, The Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), and Sunrise.
On 24 January 1925 F.W. Murnau signed his first contract with the Fox Film Corporation for one film which would become Sunrise. William Fox wanted to introduce a greater artistry to the company, increasing its profile, and adding to its prestige production. The studio head rarely made statements personally except for on big occasions. Speaking just before Sunrise’s release Fox stated ‘Signing Murnau ... is one of the finest deals in my moving picture career; he is, from the artistic and technical viewpoint, I think, the greatest moving-picture director in the world today.’1 Murnau had already firmly established himself within the German film industry and his films were a great success across Europe. Murnau's work often included elaborate and highly technical camerawork, able to convey character emotion and motivation through his expressive images. Fox considered the director's The Last Laugh (1924) to be ‘the greatest motion picture of all time.’ The director's arrival in New York in July 1926 was publicised in grand style. William Fox held a banquet in his honour on 7th July 1926 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel - attended by 100 members of Manhattan society and broadcast over radio station WNYC. Fox allowed Murnau complete control of the making of Sunrise:
Fox encouraged his house directors - John Ford, Raoul Walsh and Frank Borzage to study his style. The films they went on to create were brilliant amalgams of German and American style - 7th Heaven, Street Angel (Frank Borzage, 1928), The Red Dance (Raoul Walsh, 1928), Hangman's House (John Ford, 1928), and The River (Frank Borzage, 1929).
Sunrise premiered on 23 September 1927 at Fox's new Times Square Theatre as the first all Movietone programme - it was the first feature to include a Movietone music and effects soundtrack. The film was preceded by a multi-part Movietone news film that had been shot in Italy exclusively for Fox. It climaxed with Mussolini addressing the camera, speaking in Italian and English about international friendship. Highly critically acclaimed, Sunrise performed disappointingly at the box office. Many were put off by the preceding Mussolini short while others found the film too ‘artistic’.
Frank Borzage had been under contract with Fox since 1925, joining as part of the great expansion of talent at the same time as directors Howard Hawks, Rowland V. Lee and Allan Dwan. Borzage had obtained great commercial and critical success throughout the early 1920s with many films including Humoresque (1920), The Nth Commandment (1923) and Secrets (1924) with Norma Talmadge. His films at Fox were also hugely successful, beginning with Lazybones in 1925. In April 1926 Borzage began work on 7th Heaven. Like many of the 'Fox Giant Specials' the film was based on a Broadway play by Austin Strong, which notably ran for three seasons, with 704 performances selling out. William Fox paid $200,000 for the screen rights. Shooting was to start in August 1926 but had to be changed after Murnau's arrival. Sunrise began filming in September 1926 and continued in January the following year. Borzage was able to visit the set of Sunrise and study the working methods of Murnau. Borzage went to Paris for October and November 1926 to familiarise himself with the film's settings. He brought back hundreds of drawings and paintings to create a symbolic interpretation of Paris for the film. 7th Heaven was shot almost entirely in the studio. Sunrise was officially completed about 20 January 1927. 7th Heaven began filming on Monday 24 January 1927 and ended March 12. Because of the cost of Sunrise's city set ($200,000) it was reused in 7th Heaven as well as John Ford's Four Sons (1928). To offset the huge expense of Murnau's film 7th Heaven also reused trenches dug several months earlier for Havoc (Rowland V. Lee, 1925) and What Price Glory? These war scenes filmed on the Westwood property were the only parts shot outside of the studio. The town set from The Loves of Carmen became a French village. The battle scenes around the village of Senlis, which required many extras, were filmed by John Ford.
The film premiered at Fox's Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles on 6th May 1927. It ran for 22 weeks, taking $19,000 in its first week. It replaced What Price Glory?, which had played since November. On 25th May 1927 it opened at the Sam H. Harris Theater in New York. The film was re-released again in a Movietone sound version on 10 September 1927 with music by Ernö Rapée. It was hugely successful becoming Fox's highest grossing film to date. According to Variety, in its list of ‘Biggest Money Pictures’; by 1932 the film had made $2.5 million. Lead actors Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell became instant stars, and were teamed again for a further eleven films at Fox, two of which were directed by Borzage - Street Angel and Lucky Star (1929).
E. Winthrop Sargent of Moving Picture World asked in July, ‘What's going to happen at the Fox offices after the release of Seventh Heaven?’ After the release of What Price Glory? the Fox publicists had said, ‘Wait till you see Seventh Heaven.’ Now, Sargent said, the industry waits to see Sunrise - a film which, he suggested, ‘would have to do a powerful lot of running to outstrip Seventh Heaven.’
Fox was rewarded for its efforts to improve the quality and prestige of its product. In 1928 both Sunrise and 7th Heaven were awarded with a host of prizes at the very first Academy Awards. Sunrise took home ‘Best Artistic Production’ up against King Vidor's The Crowd (1928) and Chang (Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1927). Paramount's First World War drama Wings (William Wellman, 1927) won for ‘Outstanding Production’, an award that together with ‘Best Artistic Production’ was amalgamated the following year into ‘Best Picture’. 7th Heaven won ‘Best Director’ for Frank Borzage and ‘Best Adaptation’ for Benjamin Glazer. Janet Gaynor took home ‘Best Actress’ for three films she had completed within the year - Sunrise, 7th Heaven and Street Angel. 7th Heaven had the most nominations of any film with five.
With this critical and commercial success, William Fox wanted to expand his empire further. On 3rd march 1929 he bought a third interest in Loew's Inc., who owned a huge chain of cinemas in the US as well as the studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. On the open market he purchased further shares, giving him a 53% controlling interest in the company. He also bought control of the vast Gaumont Theatres chain in Great Britain. By mid-1929 Fox owned over 1000 cinemas in the US, giving him a massive monopoly. In November that year, the US Government, through its Federal Trade Commission, brought suit against William Fox, charging that his acquisition of Loew's constituted a restraint of trade. He was forced to sell. Heavy losses also occurred in the Wall Street Crash. Much of Fox's finances were on loan from the banks. After a series of disagreements between his bankers, himself and Head of Production Winfield Sheehan, who sided with the bankers, Fox sold his interest in the company for $18 million to Harley L. Clarke of Chicago, who succeeded the presidency of the Fox Film Corporation. On 8th April 1930 Fox sold his voting shares to General Theater Equipment, thereby putting an end to his involvement in the studio he founded.
1. William Fox, Motion Picture Classic (July 1927).
2. William Fox, Fox Folks (July 1926), p. 6.
