The Big Knife’s emphatic and somewhat antiquated focus on the studio star contract make it a compelling example for a historiographic study of Hollywood stardom, because of the industrial context in which the film was produced. Odets based his original story on the heyday of the studio system, where binding long-term talent contracts were more commonplace, and movie moguls wielded a considerable amount of power over their productions. By the mid 1950s, Hollywood stars were no longer signing exclusive contracts with major studios as Castle does in the film. In fact, the power dynamic had shifted, with top stars often working independently on a freelance basis, earning a percentage of their film’s box of fice profits, and/or becoming producers of their own films that were in turn distributed by the major studios. Thus, how do we account for The Big Knife’s anachronistic depiction of the Hollywood studio system - and the long-term option contract in particular--and what does this reveal about the postwar American film industry?
Using archival documents, including the Robert Aldrich collection, the Motion Picture Producers and Directors Association Production Code Administration (PCA) files, as well as industry trades and newspaper coverage on the film, this essay juxtaposes The Big Knife’s onscreen portrait of Hollywood to actual offscreen film industry practices of the time—mainly A-list star negotiations to make films on a freelance basis, talentturned-producers of their own independent productions, and major studios as distributors—to underscore how the film perpetuates distorted representations of stardom and the film business that belies the postwar studio system of the 1950s, which privileged talent. To highlight the disparity between the onscreen and off-screen practices of stardom in The Big Knife, I first examine the film’s portrayal of Charlie Castle and Hollywood culture, and then scrutinize the film’s production history, talent agreements, and its reception in the press. In doing so, I illuminate an inter-textual and reflexive approach to American film historiography. The Big Knife’s indictment of the motion picture industry runs the risk of being taken as a valid reflection of the postwar Hollywood film industry at the time. However, an investigation of the off-screen production practices and talent negotiations that precipitated the making of the film suggests a counter-narrative of Hollywood stardom grounded in archival evidence that challenges the persistent image of the exploited and victimized film star. Closer analysis of the talent contracts of the cast and their director-producer, juxtaposed with the arduous on-screen experience of Castle, provides a nuanced and revisionist understanding of postwar film stardom in Hollywood.