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Selznick International Pictures and the Global Distribution of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938); or How Europe Didn’t Care a ‘Tinker's Cuss’

Hollywood producer David O. Selznick’s work has been much discussed in histories related to American feature film production. Less examined, however, has been the experience of Selznick International Pictures (SIP) in motion picture distribution. Using a case study of SIP’s difficulties in distributing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in Europe during the pre-World War II period, this paper argues that economic histories of international distribution patterns often fail to acknowledge the important role of individual agency within organizational structures. Greater attention to the conflicts, confusion and sheer frustration that characterized the day-to-day discourse between representatives of American distribution companies and contracted international representatives can assist in challenging assumptions about cultural imperialism, “Americanization” and the growing global media economy of the early twentieth-century.