Classical Hollywood cinema is a term used in film criticism to describe both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking that first developed in the 1910s to 1920s during the later years of the silent film era. It then became characteristic of American cinema during the Golden Age of Hollywood from about 1927, the advent of sound film, until the 1960s (perhaps till 1972, when Dolby Stereo was introduced).[1] It eventually became the most powerful and pervasive style of filmmaking worldwide.[2]
Similar or associated terms include classical Hollywood narrative, the Golden Age of Hollywood, Old Hollywood, and classical continuity.[3] The period is also referred to as the studio era, which may also include films of the late silent era.[1]