Movie Studio Loss of Identity

There was a time, prior to the advent of home video, when movie studios had distinct identities. The logos at the beginning of films indicated certain stars, writers, directors, production and costume designers. Chief among the studios were Paramount, 20th Century-Fox (with a hyphen, unlike today), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., Columbia, United Artists, and Selznick International. I invite Jittery Grouch to offer up his succinct summaries of the different studios for further delectation.

The home video revolution, which has been wonderful for movie fans, has confused studio identity through corporate mergers and distribution deals. Old Grouch is concerned that young people and future movie-going generations will be altogether unenlightened about studio delineation.

Here are some of the biggest examples of the mind-boggling blending of studio identities:

• When Ted Turner bought the MGM library, the great MGM films were released on video by Turner Home Entertainment. Then all of Turner was subsumed by Time Warner. DVDs subsequently issued of classic MGM films have a Warner Bros. logo on the covers of the discs! So it looks like "Singin' in the Rain," an MGM musical if there ever was one, was produced by Warner Bros. There are many other examples of this MGM/Warner Bros. confusion.

• To add to the blurring of borderlines, Turner bought the MGM library up to a certain date (help me out, Jittery Grouch), leaving later MGM films to be distributed by MGM Home Entertainment. But in a recent new twist, MGM Home Entertainment is releasing films on DVD by 20th Century-Fox! This has resulted in a new box set of Biblical epics, mixing titles that have never been together -- The Robe (Fox), Demetrius and the Gladiators (Fox), The Greatest Story Ever Told (United Artists), and The Bible (Fox). (MGM and UA merged some entities a while back ....)

• And some Selznick International films by Alfred Hitchcock -- Rebecca and Notorious chief among them -- are being reissued on the combo 20th Century Fox (no hyphen) and MGM Home Entertainment DVD label! Anyone who knows studio history cannot imagine that Fox is involved in a Selznick production of that era.

One could say, "Who cares?" Maybe all this mixing and matching will result in more box-set diversity, but I'm an Old Grouch and I see this development as playing around with Hollywood history. Comments, please.