Various, and Sundry

In celebration of its upcoming hundred-year anniversary, Paramount Studios is releasing a special collection of its films on called The Centennial Collection.

Paramount Pictures itself was created in 1912 at the hands of Adolph Zukor, who took performance to new heights by filming theatrical stage stars of the day in full-length moving pictures. The popularity of the new medium grew exponentially. The success of the original studio system depended on heavy investment and control of movie theaters and, of course, the film stars themselves. For many years, the studio was king. Powerful executives could make or break careers. Domination in these areas could only last so long, though, and by the time Sunset Boulevard was made in 1950, monopoly over movie theater chains had been challenged in court and broken.

But with this collection, older audiences get a chance to enjoy many of Paramount's classic movies all over again, while new viewers are treated to them for the first time, digitally mastered and restored using the latest technolog.