1940s
In Out of the Past (1947), we get to witness Kathie Moffatt’s moral degeneration and final morphing into the femme fatale of the story.
The Fallen Idol is a fascinating look at adultery through the eyes of an innocent child, and has had a long-standing legacy as a result.
Gentleman’s Agreement is not merely an indictment of anti-Semitism, but a film that also “agrees” with the domestic concerns of its day.
Miracle on 34th Street is a magical film about believing in Christmas spirit; premiering in 1947, it is still wonderfully enjoyable today.
Screwball comedies came around in the 1930s, due to the Motion Picture Production Code. The genre is still popular today, and some filmmakers try to recreate the themes and techniques in modern films. By 1934, the production code was being enforced in the motion picture industry.
You probably already know what you’ll see in a film noir. Guys who talk out of the sides of their mouths, calling women “broads” and “dames.” Detectives, crime, forbidden love, doomed lives.
The old Hollywood Studio System produced many great works of art from the eternal fable of The Wizard of Oz to the harsh poetry of director John Ford’s westerns. Out of this creative environment came film noir, a style of movie-making that became very popular in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Noir filmmakers used shadowy black and white cinematography and inventive camera angles to make movies filled with crime, lust, betrayal, and the darkness in the human heart.
I can’t think of any other couple that exemplified the pure nature of an old Hollywood romance other than Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. If you take a quick glimpse at their history together, the love they shared was palpable. Bacall was only nineteen when they met (twenty when they married), and Bogart was old enough to be her father.