The Film Industry
in the Late 1950s

By 1955 the film industry's attempt to overcome the challenge of television and reestablish its dominance in audio-visual entertainment had clearly failed. Many excellent films had been made in the first half of the decade, but the downward trend of cinema admissions continued. Technological innovation had lifted the fortunes of a few companies, with Twentieth Century-Fox's CinemaScope providing the broadest stimulus. However, even the "CinemaScope rebound" lasted only a year or two. New film content might have enticed spectators back into the theaters, but the conservative political mood plus the various censoring groups such as the PCA and the Legion of Decency limited the possibilities for change. Pay-TV experiments featuring movies and other content had failed, at least for the moment (they would be revived, with great success, in the...