New in Paperback In 1935, two film production companies merged to form one of the most influential corporations in the world--Twentieth Century-Fox. Here is the story of that dynamic company and of the personalities who molded it over the past fifty years, from Darryl F. Zanuk to Barry Diller. Unlike any previous volume on a film studio, this in-depth history is told from a corporate viewpoint, covering the trends that influenced film-making, profit-making incentives, and the creative policies resulting in films like The Grapes of Wrath, the Snake Pit, The Robe, Cleopatra, The Towering...

In 1929, Hollywood mogul William Fox (1879 1952) came close to controlling the entire motion picture industry. His Fox Film Corporation had grown from a $1600 investment into a globe-spanning $300 million empire; he also held patents to the new sound-on-film process. Forced into a series of bitter power struggles, Fox was ultimately toppled from his throne, and the studio bearing his name would merge in 1935 with Darryl F. Zanuck s flourishing 20th Century Pictures. The 25-year lifespan of the Fox Film Corporation, home of such personalities as Theda Bara, Tom Mix, Janet Gaynor and John Ford,...