04.16 | April 2016: Classic Hollywood of the 30s & 40s
April 2016: This month we will watch films from the Classic Hollywood Studio System Era of the 30s and 40s.
The old Hollywood studio system, its style, its dominance, and the future of film it paved are and were, in many ways, a terrible thing for both artists and workers. Particularly of note to the cinephile, is the way in which the Hollywood style of this period came to become synonymous with film itself. This of course has long hindered any sort of mainstream acceptance of a more expansive understanding cinema or its possibilities. Despite this, Hollywood of the time was also home to many great artists of all kinds, some recognized immediately (and still known to this day) some "re-discovered" later, most famously through proponents of the la politique des Auteurs, which in short posited that in spite of the often industrial conditions of the film-making process, true artist directors could shine through and still make unique works of art, although sometimes you really had to dig into meanings behind the meanings. And sometimes too it was admittedly this very system which allowed for some of these great films to be made in a way that some could perhaps not have been otherwise. Regardless of one's political, moral, or aesthetic positions on classic Hollywood, one cannot deny the importance of the cultural behemoth on film past, present, and probably forever more.
We will be looking at what is sometimes called The Golden Age of Hollywood, although we will start it post Silent Cinema (as we already did that) and start with the talkies of the 30s up until the late 40s, stopping short of (although perhaps including a few) Film Noirs (as we already had that as a theme as well).
We will not be including every single film made during this period, as that would be silly and also far too many. We will instead be focusing on many of the great Auteur directors (and sometimes cinematographers, writers, producers, choreographers, and actors) a list that will include names of many of the greatest in history. We will also include other films by lesser known talents of the time. It will largely not include many of the more well known and mainstream films of the period, although there will definitely be some (i.e. Citizen Kane = Yes, Gone With the Wind = No).
We will watch Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (1932) together as our “Mass Dip”. Choose at least one other (but try more!) of the suggested films below to watch on your own.
The recommended films for this month can be found at two different lists on Letterboxd:
Click Here for the short list.
For those overwhelmed by too much choice. A few top picks from each director. These films are either generally acknowledged as greats of the category, vouched for by Cine-Dippers in the know, or something we just really wanna see.
Click here for the full list.
Anything goes here! 54 films directed by these four directors during the Golden Age period.
Some articles which may help you better appreciate and understand the films and directors:
What Makes Hollywood Run? | Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell @ Observations on Film Art
A Golden Age of Hollywood Primer, pt. 1 | Michael Glover Smith @ White City Cinema
American Triptych: Vidor, Hawks and Ford | Tag Gallagher @ Senses of Cinema
George Cukor | Andrew Sarris @ Film Comment
John Ford, or The Eloquence of Gesture | Shigehiko Hasumi @ Rouge
Transatlantic Auteur: Ernst Lubitsch’s Self-reflexive Comedies of Misunderstanding | Michael J. Anderson @ Senses of Cinema
Make Way for Tomorrow: We Laugh, and Our Hearts Ache | Bertrand Tavernier @ Criterion Collection
Frank Borzage | Kent Jones @ Film Comment
William Wyler | David Carns @ Senses of Cinema
Preston Sturges: 10 essential films | Matthew Thrift @ BFI
Other Resources:
'Classical Hollywood Cinema': history, poetics, narratology, and beyond | Catherine Grant @ Film Studies for Free
As usual, Catherine Grant slathers on the links
Classical Hollywood Cinema | Wikipedia
It's Wikipedia, me lad.
Studio System | Wikipedia
more wiki wiki.
