Welcome...

Welcome to The Story of the Movies, a website dedicated to the history of Hollywood.

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All biographies begin with their subject’s origins, and The Story of the Movies is no different. We travel back to the earliest years of the 20th century to explore the movies and incidents that led to the birth of Hollywood. Within ten years of D. W. Griffith shooting In Old California (1910), the first film made entirely in Hollywood, the once-sleepy rural township had become the movie-making capital of the world, a status it still holds today. The Story of the Movies charts Hollywood’s growth through its films. By doing so, it also follows the rise and fall of the people who made them and the studios they worked for. We also examine the key incidents and developments that shaped and redefined Hollywood.

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Over time this site will offer an in-depth exploration of every significant film Hollywood produced. It will also cover many less important films that contributed to the industry’s history or the career of one of its immense cast of characters. All content is written by the site owner, Richard Cross, a keen amateur film researcher and historian, who scours his vast library of  authoritative books on all aspects of cinema for source material. He also consults historical newspaper and trade magazine reports to deliver a level of in-depth detail rarely available on the internet. 

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The Story of the Movies also offers biographies of the key players from all eras and histories of the studios they worked for, and a detailed timeline that offers an at-a-glance insight into Hollywood’s history.