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Corny perhaps by today's standards, but everything from lighting down to costumes were on point. Oh and the acting nor singing wasn't so bad either. When you think of the small army each studio had on staff to make these films possible it is no wonder they cost so much. Costumes, voice coaches, hair and make-up staff, stet designers and builders, the works.
Think of how long it took to make and fit that gown for a start.
Corny perhaps by today's standards, but everything from lighting down to costumes were on point. Oh and the acting nor singing wasn't so bad either. When you think of the small army each studio had on staff to make these films possible it is no wonder they cost so much. Costumes, voice coaches, hair and make-up staff, stet designers and builders, the works.
Think of how long it took to make and fit that gown for a start.
This is one of the things that has always fascinated me about the old studio system. These factories employed full time, and on the premises thousands of employees. Everything from costume designers to a barber. MGM had a school for child actors with teachers employed to teach them between shooting films.
MGM made about 50 movies a year, plus second features, cartoons, and newsreels. It's hard for us to grasp when directors today like Steven Spielberg spend sometimes a couple of years working on a movie, from inception to shooting it. The studios had directors, producers, stars, and all the people like costume designers on site, employed on full time contracts to make films on demand. A director was just given a project, assigned the stars, and then went and shot the script handed to him. These places ran like well oiled machines. This is not easy, when we consider that a lot of people employed in this industry were highly strung, temperamental characters. Somehow, movies got made in this environment.
Take this short scene from 'An American In Paris.' Just look at the amount of costumes!!
Just gorgeous althoug I never took to Leslie Caron at all, Loved Gene though, always entertaining and what a talent.... Last night I watched the worst western I think Ive ever seen.. the script was bamboozled and didnt flow.. the acting was hellish , there were three women in it who all looked alike and I was getting confused... the whole film was confusing.. then we had a full tribe of Indians decked out in warpaint riding up with pistols yes pistols towards the goodie whos girlfriend was dying in his arms... then the Indian chief who could speak wonderful English said they wanted peace and no more fighting and rode away.... didnt get that bit either.. the whole film must have cost half a crown to make.. Massacre River... no wonder my dog fell asleep...
Just gorgeous althoug I never took to Leslie Caron at all, Loved Gene though, always entertaining and what a talent.... Last night I watched the worst western I think Ive ever seen.. the script was bamboozled and didnt flow.. the acting was hellish , there were three women in it who all looked alike and I was getting confused... the whole film was confusing.. then we had a full tribe of Indians decked out in warpaint riding up with pistols yes pistols towards the goodie whos girlfriend was dying in his arms... then the Indian chief who could speak wonderful English said they wanted peace and no more fighting and rode away.... didnt get that bit either.. the whole film must have cost half a crown to make.. Massacre River... no wonder my dog fell asleep...
Some of those old westerns sure are corny dizzy......... I agree on Leslie Caron....... I never took to her either. Gene Kelly always tried to move the art of dance further on in his movies. He could be a little pretentious if not contained........ Nobody has ever risen to the heights like he did, and fall away so quickly.
He made a film in 1956 called 'Invitation to the Dance' which cost MGM a fortune. Making such films entails a lot of trust from the moneymen. What is written on the page, is very different to what artists can achieve visually in dance.
Gene had come up with the goods in the past, especially with 'Singing In The Rain.' MGM trusted him, and he worked very hard on 'Invitation to the Dance.' It just didn't work, and a lot of the blame is down to him, and his pretentiousness. He was a great artist, but sometimes he went over the top, and it became boring to watch.
After this expensive fiasco MGM were wary of giving him carte blanche anymore. Plus the age of the great MGM musicals came to an end by 1960. They were just to expensive to make, and a lot of the talent employed under contract was let go. But, we have those wonderful films, made by great artists at MGM forever.
I only found out recently that Gene s his first wife was Betsy Blair... Winsome and red-haired, Ms. Blair was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for her role as Clara Snyder, Ernest Borgnine’s shy love interest in the 1955 film version of Paddy Chayefsky’s television play “Marty,†directed by Delbert Mann.
Somewhere else in city-data, it was mentioned to me how much this person had enjoyed this thread, and asked if I would carry on with it. It attracted a few readers who are interested in golden age movie stars. I had a think about who to discuss. I got to thinking of Donald Trump being described as a political outsider.
Hollywood had its share of outsiders in the golden age also. I would like to talk about three of them. Firstly Orson Welles, and later Howard Hughes and William Randolph Hearst. Welles and Hearst are connected by a very famous movie........
Hollywood produced very few geniuses. DW Griffith maybe...... Chaplin and Keaton, certainly. A lot of good people passed through the place. Some adjusted to it's demands like famous writers. It destroyed many talented people ruined by easy money. It had many smart operator pygmies who set out to drag down real talent if they could.
Orson Welles was such a man. He was a bona fide genius. A child prodigy. He grew up to make his name in the theater as a very young man in his late teens, early twenties. Hollywood called. Orson was offered a contract never seen before, and rarely afterwards in Hollywood. His contract said he could make a film on any subject he desired, pick his own actors and production staff. He also had the right to final cut. In other words he could make the film exactly as he desired, with no outside interference. The film he presented to the studio owners, would be the one released to the public. The contract stipulated he would write, direct, produce, and act in two films. He was 25 years old.
This contract was looked upon with astonishment by Hollywood hacks. Even the very best of them, like John Ford didn't have final cut rights. Ford tried to make his films by cutting in the camera. In other words he didn't film spare footage for the bosses to alter his film. This was a dangerous thing to do, but because he was a successful director, he got away with it.
Welles arrived in Hollywood, and set up home at RKO studios where he was to make his film. He had no idea how to make a film. He watched a lot of movies, and concentrated on learning how films were made. He watched John Ford's 'Stagecoach' a lot for inspiration. He came up with a few ideas, which he decided not to try and make a film of.
Many months passed, and the word in Hollywood was that the boy wonder would never make a film. At last, he came up with an idea. Along with co-writer Herman J Mankiewicz, they wrote a script about a rich man and his life. It was based on various real life people. One was William Randolph Hurst. He was a newspaper magnet, a collector of valuable antiques, and had a mistress called Marion Davies. He had spent millions of dollars for twenty years trying to make Marion a movie star. By the time 'Citizen Kane' was made, she was retired from films.
The story had many similarities to the story of Hearst and Davies. Hearst lived in a huge castle, Marion liked to do jigsaws. So did Kane, and his second wife. She did jigsaws also. Kane spent millions trying to make his wife Susan an opera star. Hearst did the same trying to make Marion Davies a movie star.
Orson brought many actors out to Hollywood from his theater days, to star in his film. A famous cameraman called Gregg Toland asked if he could work on the film with Orson. His contribution was massive. Orson had his screenplay, his cameraman, and his actors. He then set about making a film that has gone down in history as the best film ever made - 'Citizen Kane.' For sixty years now, it has been voted best film ever made by critics of many film persuasions. Recently, 'Vertigo' has been snapping at its heels, but for a film made in 1941 to be seen as the best film ever made is astonishing. It deserves its reputation, and is a film I can return to, and watch over, and over again.
Welles used techniques unseen in Hollywood movies of the time. He had ceilings on his sets. This is obviously difficult to light properly. But he had a genius cameraman in Gregg Toland - he found a way. The film opens with the death of Kane. The last word out of his mouth - 'Rosebud.' The film is about the journey to discover what this word means, and why he would utter it as his last.
The story unfolds, and holds you spellbound. The techniques used like deep focus photography, low angled shots, were rarely seen before this film. It is a masterpiece, and as Welles very first film, turned out to be the best thing he ever did. For various reasons, he never achieved those heights again.
Hearst, on learning about the film, tried to buy the film negative, and have it destroyed. RKO thankfully refused, and the film was released to critical acclaim. It wasn't a financial success. Hearst set about threatening distributors of the film, and it got only a limited release. At the Oscars, this masterpiece won only one award for best screenplay. Hearst loomed large over that as well. It should have won every award going that year.
Part of Hearst's anger was based on the final shot in the film. It is of Kane's childhood sled. His happiest days were spent playing in the snow on it as a child. Before all that followed when he inherited great wealth. This is what was on his mind as he lay dying..... his sled, which was named 'Rosebud.' As it is thrown into the flames, we see the painted word 'Rosebud' melt in the heat.
What Hearst couldn't talk about, for obvious reasons was the real cause of his anger. It wasn't just the similar story to his own, but the name of the sled. He was known to have a pet name for his mistress's clitoris.......... Rosebud.
After all the problems created for RKO by the making and release of 'Citizen Kane', the studio chiefs became a little wary of Orson Welles. But, he had a contract to make two films for them. They re-negotiated the final cut provision, and took this out of Welles hands.
He decided to make a film from the Pulitzer prize winning novel 'The Magnificent Ambersons.' Orson used many of the same actors from 'Citizen Kane.' This achingly beautiful film was shot over the period October 1941 until February 1942. Welles did the first edit of the film, and was then encouraged by the US government to go to South America. They wanted him to make a film down there encouraging better relations during the war.
While he was gone, the studio took a look at 'The Magnificent Ambersons' and didn't like what they saw. They decided it wasn't commercial enough, and too downbeat. 40 minutes was removed from the middle of the film, and a new happy ending was shot. Welles was tied up in South America, and could do nothing about the drastic cutting done to his film.
The studio threw away 'The Magnificent Ambersons' as the bottom part of a double bill. Welles never recovered from this, and the studios would only use him as an actor in future films. He spent the rest of his life literally acting for money, which he then used to make and direct low budget, interesting films. He once left a team of actors in north Africa where he was making a low budget 'Othello'. After running out of money, he flew off to make a film as an actor. Once he was paid, he went back to continue shooting his movie.
In 1958, Welles was hired as an actor for a film called 'Touch of Evil.' Charlton Heston was also hired as the main star. He assumed Orson had been hired to direct, as well as act in it. The studio agreed to let Welles direct the movie, but for no additional fee. Orson grabbed at this chance to direct a mainstream Hollywood movie.
He made an extraordinary film from very poor material. It wasn't much of a story, but he made a fabulous, very watchable film. Orson gathered a great cast, many who came like Marlene Dietrich, did so as a personal favour to Welles. Once again, the film was taken from Orson's hands, and edited differently than he wanted. He pleaded with the studio in memos not to ruin his film. They didn't listen, and it ended up once again at the bottom of a double feature release.
In recent years, 'Touch of Evil' has been re-edited to re-create as much as possible, Orson's picture as he wanted it to be seen. The extraordinary first shot in the film is worth the cost of seeing this great movie.
Orson Welles spent the rest of his life working in films beneath his great abilities and talents. In the end, he didn't want to talk about 'Citizen Kane', and especially 'The Magnificent Ambersons.' Towards the end of his life, he was told of a possible find in South America of his complete version of 'The Magnificent Ambersons', with all the footage thought destroyed back in 1942. He hoped this was the print sent to him back then to work on editing. It turned out to be untrue, and Orson is said to have wept with disappointment.
Nevertheless, we have three great films of his, 'Citizen Kane', 'The Magnificent Ambersons', and 'Touch of Evil' to remember this great filmmaker. Plus all his great acting performances in movies like 'The Third Man.' He was full of regret in his old age, that he had spent so much of himself, and his talent making movies. He picked a medium that is massively expensive, and so soul destroying for a great artist. As a movie fan, I can only thank him for choosing movies to spend his life making, and trying to express his great talent.
Today, I would like to talk about Howard Hughes. I just don't know where to begin....... Hughes is pretty much forgotten now, but in his time, he was one of the most famous men in the world.
He inherited great wealth, and spent his time indulging himself in many activities. He ran a huge business, flew planes to break records back in the 1920s and 30s......... and he also made films. Later in life, he even bought his own movie studio - RKO.
He was an outsider in the movie business, and he was quite obsessive, and didn't mind spending a fortune to make the movies he wanted to make. The first famous film he produced was 'Hell's Angels' in 1930. It was started as a silent movie, and took so long to make, Howard reshot a lot as a sound film. He fired the female star, because of her strong accent, and replaced her with Jean Harlow, in her first big movie role.
Some of the aerial scenes in 'Hell's Angels' are breathtaking even today. Three pilots died during the production, and one particular shot was so dangerous, no pilot would attempt it. So Howard Hughes did it himself, and crashed his plane doing so. He was hospitalized, and remained in pain from his injuries for the rest of his life.
The famous director James Whale worked on the production as director of many of the newly shot sound scenes. He is uncredited, and went from this film to direct 'Frankenstein' in 1931. There is a short colour scene in the film, which is the only colour film ever shot of Jean Harlow, one of the biggest stars of the 1930s.
Howard involved himself with another famous film 'Scarface' in 1932. Both that, and 'Hell's Angels' were made in a time known in Hollywood as 'pre-code.' After 1934, because of problems with films becoming too racy as many thought, new people were brought in to clean up the movies. All films after 1934. had to pass the Motion Picture production code, and a guy called Joseph Breen censored every movie released in America by the big studios. He had a long list of do's and don't in the movies. This gutted films for decades, and took away any semblance of reality.
Breen ruled Hollywood with a rod of iron. In 1941, Hughes decided to make a cowboy film called 'The Outlaw.' He threw a pot of money at it with top writers, and the famous director Howard Hawks. Eventually, Hawks quit, as he saw the way this movie would end up with censorship trouble. Hughes decided the film would be a homage to Jane Russell's breasts, and he set about putting them in the forefront of the advertising for the film. It got banned by the Joseph Breen office, and they refused to issue a certificate of approval.
Hughes got lots of publicity for his 'banned' picture. It got a showing for one week in 1943, and it was not seen widely until 1946. It then became a big hit. It is a terrible film, which Hughes spent millions of dollars on trying to get it as he wanted. Jane Russell went on to become a major star after the film was eventually seen by a wide public.
Making movies was a small part of Howard Hughes life. He did many things like building airplanes, that could barely fly, after spending vast amounts of taxpayers cash. The Spruce Goose is one such folly, still on public display in a special hanger.
He eventually ended up buying casinos in Las Vegas, and living on the top floor of one in particular. He led to what became modern Las Vegas from his actions there. He lived an amazing life, and his movies are part of that.
I log in and sees there are a couple of new entries from Dave on this sunday morning, great start to the day
I was familiar with H.Hughes as I have seen his biopic, the one with DiCaprio, just a few months ago. Orson Welles I have read about , like his panic inducing alien invasion stunt on the radio, they also reran The Dean Martin Roast on TV some years back on which he was a frequent guest.
This thread garnered something like 700 new ''views'' from last weekend, so there are definitely people left out there who are sill into Old Hollywood and its fading stars.
My theory on why they keep lurking instead of sharing in their experience is your posts are so well made they either feel intimidated or else merely dont want to interrupt.
I log in and sees there are a couple of new entries from Dave on this sunday morning, great start to the day
I was familiar with H.Hughes as I have seen his biopic, the one with DiCaprio, just a few months ago. Orson Welles I have read about , like his panic inducing alien invasion stunt on the radio, they also reran The Dean Martin Roast on TV some years back on which he was a frequent guest.
This thread garnered something like 700 new ''views'' from last weekend, so there are definitely people left out there who are sill into Old Hollywood and its fading stars.
My theory on why they keep lurking instead of sharing in their experience is your posts are so well made they either feel intimidated or else merely dont want to interrupt.
Hiya jon............ I didn't notice 700 new views of my thread....... thanks for telling me!!.......
I'm very aware that my subject is ancient history to most........ even to me. But, I find old Hollywood fascinating. Not so much the films anymore, because lets face it, most of them are of little interest to a modern audience.
But, the people of that time are so interesting, and the job they happened to have, was making movies. The studio system within which most of the people I talk about worked in, didn't last long. Really, only about 30 years. In that time from about 1920-50, movie empires were built, controlled by men who ruled their film star subjects with a rod of iron. They were well paid, but expected to work very hard in a cruel medium.
It can't be much fun looking at yourself on a huge screen aging for all the world to see. A star had their peak period, and then spent much of their time looking over their shoulder at the new, younger, talent trying to take over. For the women, it was especially hard. At 35 years of age, most of them were only considered for mother parts............... Developments helped them to a degree. Filming their close ups through gauze softened the wrinkles. More modern stars have cosmetic surgery to hold back the years. Those in the 30s and 40s didn't.
Most had short careers, then got dumped by their studios. A few lasted many years. Hollywood attracted some strange characters, who somehow decided they would like to make films. Orson Welles regretted his life spent making movies. Howard Hughes, it was just a small part of his life, but he obsessed over movie making, as the same he did in other parts of his life.
My last strange character who decided he wanted to make movies was one of the world's richest men in his time - William Randolph Hurst. I'll talk about him in my next post.
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I agree on Leslie Caron....... I never took to her either. Gene Kelly always tried to move the art of dance further on in his movies. He could be a little pretentious if not contained........
I didn't notice 700 new views of my thread....... thanks for telling me!!.......
