One defining aspect of how the Hollywood studio system in the 1930s and 1940s produced its films was the repeating use and promotion of films through star actors. In many cases, the pure celebrity of names like Humphrey Bogart, Mary Pickford or James Cagney would draw audiences to a film more effectively than the film itself. As a result of this practice, many stars would be typecast into similar roles in similar films multiple times, and studios would churn out movies of the same genre repeatedly using these star-driven characters as templates. The tough, dark, anti-hero private eye is a perfect example of this effect, as such a character type was central to the development of the film noir genre. Humphrey Bogart exemplified this type of character, playing private investigator Sam Spade in the genre-defining The Maltese Falcon, then Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep. His star power and that of similar actors like Robert Mitchum were a driving force behind film noir, a genre whose power and impact can be seen even today, as it is frequently referenced and modeled in contemporary media by the likes of Calvin and Hobbes.
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