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The 1930s and 40s may have been the golden age for the studios but for the movies themselves I would pinpoint it to 1965-75 or thereabout, the number of great movies released in those few years is astounding.
Only a few made before the mid '60s have held my interest long enough to watch it whole_ Sunset Blvd (1950), Bridge on the River Kwai(1957) , Double Indemnity(1944) are among those , also some Westerns from the '50s are not totally stale.
Like you I find the ''studio'' era fascinating , their movies definitely not.
Yeah I saw both True Grit movies and while the Coens didn't do a bad job with their 2010/11 remake, it wasn't as great as the classic from the 60's. I think part of the 1965 deal is the change in how the MMPA rated film and removing restrictions partially due to foreign art house films like I am Curious (Yellow).
Yeah I saw both True Grit movies and while the Coens didn't do a bad job with their 2010/11 remake, it wasn't as great as the classic from the 60's. I think part of the 1965 deal is the change in how the MMPA rated film and removing restrictions partially due to foreign art house films like I am Curious (Yellow).
Changes in both our countries in the mid 60s, allowed more adult themed films. Within a short time, movies like 'The Graduate' and 'Bonnie and Clyde' appeared....... shortly followed by 'Midnight Cowboy.' This particular film won Oscars for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. A few years before, it wouldn't have been allowed to be made with the content it had.
Changes in both our countries in the mid 60s, allowed more adult themed films. Within a short time, movies like 'The Graduate' and 'Bonnie and Clyde' appeared....... shortly followed by 'Midnight Cowboy.' This particular film won Oscars for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. A few years before, it wouldn't have been allowed to be made with the content it had.
Indeed, it changed a LOT of movies and content we would be use to today.
Hold on to the books, Dave. Think of yourself as a guardian of popular culture. The first four decades of Hollywood history is such a strange, in-between time. They don't (yet) qualify as legitimate history because they are still within living memory, and they don't qualify as relevant entertainment because, well, not many in the younger generations care about old movies. So it is left to us who saw those movies when we were young, or who developed a taste for classic movies later on, to do exactly what you do (and I love your knowledgeable posts), remind interested people from time to time how important and interesting those struggling years were.
I also still have my copy of A Pictorial History of the Talkies. I used to take it out of the library until my folks took pity on me and bought me a copy for Christmas. I also had the volume about the Silents, but I haven't seen it in years. Our home library consists of books about Hollywood history, American history, history of art and architecture, and various volumes on European history, in addition to tons of books of fiction, including movie tie-in books dating back to the 40s. So many of the great movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s were based on best-selling novels, just like today, and sometimes those novels were terrific, although they didn't get the respect they deserved, just like the movies didn't.
PS British film history is another fascinating chapter of entertainment history.
The 1930s and 40s may have been the golden age for the studios but for the movies themselves I would pinpoint it to 1965-75 or thereabout, the number of great movies released in those few years is astounding.
Which almost precisely coincides with the first decade after Hollywood was freed from the artistic straightjacket of the Hays Code, with it's long list of things that weren't allowed to be showed because every film had to be, on some level, a morality play to teach the supposedly-ignorant masses how to behave.
1. No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.
Quote:
3. Illegal drug traffic must never be presented.
4. The use of liquor in American life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization, will not be shown.
Quote:
5. White slavery shall not be treated.
6. Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races) is forbidden.
Quote:
1. Dances suggesting or representing sexual actions or indecent passions are forbidden.
Quote:
1. No film or episode may throw ridicule on any religious faith.
The document in whole is quite a read. It's long, and it tellingly smacks of the sort of rules Pravda would have had during the same era.
Which almost precisely coincides with the first decade after Hollywood was freed from the artistic straightjacket of the Hays Code, with it's long list of things that weren't allowed to be showed because every film had to be, on some level, a morality play to teach the supposedly-ignorant masses how to behave.
There was a short period of time before the Hays Code was implemented in sound films. It didn't really bite until 1934. Poor old Mae West got the blame, because apparently there was moral outrage over her film, 'She Done Him Wrong' in 1933. This film helped save Paramount studios from bankruptcy. West's outrageous dialogue, written by herself, got morality leaders in a lather all over America.
Some of those pre-code films are really interesting. Jean Harlow's 'Red Headed Woman', and Barbara Stanwyck's 'Baby Face' are good examples, and are very watchable even today.
Once the code came in, all the sexual content of Hollywood movies was removed, and the writers had to get real inventive........ After 1934, it was all about glamour, and it sure worked....... movies got more popular than ever.
Hold on to the books, Dave. Think of yourself as a guardian of popular culture. The first four decades of Hollywood history is such a strange, in-between time. They don't (yet) qualify as legitimate history because they are still within living memory, and they don't qualify as relevant entertainment because, well, not many in the younger generations care about old movies. So it is left to us who saw those movies when we were young, or who developed a taste for classic movies later on, to do exactly what you do (and I love your knowledgeable posts), remind interested people from time to time how important and interesting those struggling years were.
I also still have my copy of A Pictorial History of the Talkies. I used to take it out of the library until my folks took pity on me and bought me a copy for Christmas. I also had the volume about the Silents, but I haven't seen it in years. Our home library consists of books about Hollywood history, American history, history of art and architecture, and various volumes on European history, in addition to tons of books of fiction, including movie tie-in books dating back to the 40s. So many of the great movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s were based on best-selling novels, just like today, and sometimes those novels were terrific, although they didn't get the respect they deserved, just like the movies didn't.
PS British film history is another fascinating chapter of entertainment history.
I guess I will hang onto the books. My eldest son is interested in movies, but of the more modern kind. He thinks the movies I saw in my youth at the cinema are antiques also. It's hard to realize than the first modern American film that really grabbed my cinema going attention, 'The Graduate' was made almost 50 years ago. It's so hard to grasp, that the young star of that film Dustin Hoffman, is almost 79 years old. I remember, as a 14 year old kid being dazzled by that movie.
I found myself loving the golden age movies, and sort of realizing a new golden age was upon us. The next 20 years or so after 'The Graduate', was a great time to be an American movie fan. New directors, and stars came along, and it seemed like a never ending line of fresh talent. Then suddenly it ended. The real talent today, especially young talent, is pretty thin on the ground in the movies.
Back in the golden age of movie going, massive theaters were built to showcase the films. Very ordinary people paid their small ticket price for a movie, and entered palaces of opulent design. The big cities got most of these enormous movie palaces, but even smaller towns got scaled down, beautiful versions.
I well remember the 'Odeon', 'Kings', 'Empire', and 'Roxy' of my home town Oldham, in the north of England. I spent many a happy afternoon sitting on a double seat in the 'Empire', meant for a couple........
The 'Odeon' was very art deco, and had beautiful lighting fixtures. The pure happiness I felt as the lights dimmed, and the enormous curtains covering the screen parted, I remember well.
The 'Roxy' had lots of dark wood paneling, and a lovely painted ceiling. I saw 'Gone With The Wind' there, and it felt like a very appropriate place to see this 1939 movie.
The glory days of such places were the 30s and 40s. My dad told me what it was like when he was a kid in the late 30s and into the 40s. The war was in full throttle, and his older brother was a prisoner of the Germans. When he was 10 years old, in 1942, the war wasn't going well. But, twice a week, his mother would give him a few pennies, and he would go to the movies. In that beautiful cinema, watching those stars, all the world's worries faded away for a few hours.
Those movie palaces are in the main, long gone, but the memory of them lives on........
The sound era in Hollywood brought in a new type of star. One of the best, and still very watchable today, is James Cagney. This man could play anything..........
At the end of his life, he appeared on British television. Sadly, only a tiny part of his chat with Michael Parkinson is available. His friend Pat O'Brien, expressed how much his friendship with James meant to him.
Just watched Casablanca...one of the most hyped films of them all.
Bergman is a legit beauty with quite a large jaw. Interesting that studies have found large jawed people cheat more....presumably due to more testosterone. Perhaps more opportunities?
Old films don't usually do anything special for me. Exceptions being North by Northwest (not that old) and Key Largo. Yes....they made some good films but it isn't like they came from a separate universe. Perhaps some people revel in the more leisurely pace? The black and white photography? The cleanliness and the common classiness?
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After 1934, it was all about glamour, and it sure worked....... movies got more popular than ever.
