Classical Hollywood Cinema is a term which has been invented by Janet Staiger, Kristin Thompson, and David Bordwell in their innovative study of that same name. In this study, the authors carried out formalist process or analysis on a random selection of one hundred Hollywood films right from 1917 to 1960. They arrived at the conclusion that a distinguished cinematic style developed during this particular period which they called Classical Hollywood Style. Moreover, the authors made it known that this style has been paradigmatic just because of the worldwide dominance of Hollywood cinema. The highly controversial claim of these authors is that filmmakers anywhere usually have a selection between two alternatives. Either they rebel against the classical Hollywood style and attempt to consciously overturn the norms of that style, or they give in to it and carry out its example.

Silent Era

The Silent Era is popularly referred to as the "Age of the Silver Screen" right from 1917 to 1928. During this particular period, there was no synchronized speech or sound to accompany the character's images which was being projected on movie screen. To make room for the absence of sound, on-screen captions used to be utilized to emphasize essential dialogue and points in the story. Most times, projecting silent films on the big screen used to be accompanied by live instrumental music (organist, pianist, or a large orchestra). The quality stylistic elements fundamental to classical Hollywood silent filmmaking used to be implemented by the Silent Era's Director-Unit System. This very system of filmmaking included a totally integrated work force along with a set of employees which had exact areas of responsibility under the management of the film director.

Studio Era

The Studio Era was a moment in film history which began after the end of Silent Era (1927/1928) when "Jazz Singer" was released, the very first full length film which comprised talking sequences in it. The arrival of the Studio Era also indicated the commencement of the "Golden Age of Hollywood." The contribution that Irving Thalberg made was very important in the development of Hollywood's Central Producer System during the Studio Era, although he was Chief of Production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). As a matter of fact, the successful change process of classical Hollywood film production system from the Silent Era's Director-Unit System right to the Studio Era's Central Producer System in MGM happened to take place under Thalberg's management. His enablement to produce a quality film with aesthetical value was displayed through his unbiased or balanced view of script, story development and budgetary controls, and the use of "star system" in the movie "Grand Hotel."

Classical Hollywood cinema has a style that is usually invisible and uneasy for the average viewer to see. The narrative is been delivered so efficiently and effortlessly to the viewer that it looks to have no source. It magically comes off the screen. Classical Hollywood narrative points to the filmmaking way established during the 1920s and 1930s in Hollywood. It happened to become the ruling style throughout the western world, and against which other styles were judged. Although some challenges have been to it in recent years, it still remains the accepted style for various Hollywood films till now. The Hollywood style is very effective in convincing people about what they see on the screen is real, and that they often have to forcibly remind themselves that it is just 'only a movie'.

Classical Hollywood Cinema is the moment of the film industry which commenced with the release movie of; "The Birth of a Nation." It includes both the Studio Era and Silent Era of filmmaking. Unique to Classical Cinema is the mode of production during this period of time which encouraged the directors of film to picture their works from the angle or perspective of an employee of the studios instead of as an auteurist who demonstrates creative influence over their works along with an individual film style. The Classical Cinema period came to an end in the 1960s during the time that the motion picture industry brought in a new Post-Classical film style through auteurist film directors along with the release of "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) also with other landmark films of that period.

Essential to the studio system is the marketing strategies for motion pictures used by the main Hollywood film studios was rather uncomplicated and straightforward because the studios acquired most of their money through theater box office ticket sales in all part of America. At that period, there were five main studios which owned a theater chain, distribution arm, contracts with actors, production studio and, as well as a technical support personnel. These studios were referred to as the "Big Five" and included Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century-Fox, Paramount Pictures, and Loew's, Inc. (owner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Their income came from the monies that the theaters pay for renting films from studios. So far the "Big Five" studios were controlling almost all theater throughout America; they received most of their revenues from box office ticket sales.

To elongate their power further over the movie houses in America, these studios stepped up to manage almost all of the little independently owned theaters as well. Through the contracting method of "block booking", the theater owners required to show a block of films (usually in blocks of ten) at their film house. The independently owned theater will not be able to receive any films from studio if they did not agree to purchase a block of films from the studio. Therefore, at the Studio Era moment, the Hollywood film industry was closely managed by the mighty studio moguls. Nonetheless, a federal court case declared block booking illegal in 1948. The Supreme Court of the United States declared that the vertical integration of the majors is against the federal anti-trust laws and gave order to the "Big Five" companies to divest or deprive themselves of their theaters for a period of five years. The studio era system was brought to a close 1954 due to this decision.