Movie Contests

Hollywood in a Crisis

In the fall of 1937, the Hollywood film industry was in the grip of a recession. With audiences slipping away and ticket sales plunging, movies also had to compete with the increasingly popular radio. Still young film industry needed to prove that movies weren't just a passing fad.

In a bid to win back viewers and keep afloat, Hollywood launched a massive 1 000 000$ PR campaign dubbed "Motion Pictures Greatest Year." A $250,000 prize fund was set up for participants who could correctly answer questions about at least 30 of 94 movies, all part of the campaign.

At the same time, in Lithuania, the local press, whether knowingly or not, joined the spirit of the campaign by organizing its own contest and offering prizes to those who participated in selecting the best film shown in Lithuania that season.

Seduvite Nokhum Berman, a curious film enthusiast, was intrigued to seek out the films mentioned in the campaign for himself: “I was fortunate enough to see „Marie Antoinette“, „Suez“. I saw them in Šiauliai“ he wrote to USA, where his friend Hinda lived.

Unfortunately, reality didn't quite match the hype. Despite all of Hollywood's promises, 1938 was by no means the best year for movies. And the money spent on the public relations campaign could have been better used by the film studios to create higher-quality films.