American Film Industry in World War I Period

Abstract

The paper deals with the history of economic development of the film industry in the United States during the First World War. The beginning of XX century seems to be a very special stage of cinema development, in particular from the point of the history of national economy, since exactly at this time took place a formation of the world film market, and cinema for the first time was used not only as a commodity but also as an instrument of mass propaganda. The purpose of article is to trace the development of the American film business and its key aspects in the early XX century and during the war, based on the analysis of the relevant literature. Film industry is considered as a system of production, distribution and exhibition of audiovisual products. This article contains the conclusions concerning the global expansion of the US film industry in a specified period. Also substantiated the fact that the middle 1900s became an extremely important period in the development of the American film industry, during which the basics of the classical Hollywood business model were established.