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The 1930s

Besides name authorslike F. Scott Fitzgerald& William Faulkner,

Hollywood importedBroadway Stars

Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice,The Marx Brothers, Mae West

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The 1930s

Color

Hand tinting certainelements

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The 1930s

Tinting entire frame

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The 1930s

Stencils

Pathe Color with stencils, circa 1905

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h46ZMcZrV9ghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h46ZMcZrV9g

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The 1930s

Technicolor & HerbertKalmus Founded in 1915

Three strip became standardinstead of cheaper two stripwith problematic skin tones

High production costs - morelights + more film = more $$

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The 1930s

Technicolor #4 becamestandard for many years

First live action short La

Cucaracha in 1934 First feature Becky Sharp

in 1935

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The 1930s

The Production Code Hays office formed in 1922

as a result of a series of

scandals for self-regulation(see Fatty Arbuckle)

Published in 1930, adoptedfully in 1934

"if motion pictures presentstories that will affect lives

for the better, they canbecome the most powerfulforce for the improvement ofmankind"

The Hays Code

William Hays

http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.htmlhttp://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html

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The 1930s

Profits hit hard during theDepression

Needed to lure back their

audience Production Code created

by producers to please theCatholic Church andvarious other sociallyconservative groups

No pictures in theatres thathad not been passed bythe Code administration

Phased out in 1968

Betty Boop & Laughing Gas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Tb4TMibk0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Tb4TMibk0

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The 1930s

Baby Face & Love Me Tonight

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The 1930s

General Principles1. No picture shall be produced that

will lower the moral standards of

those who see it. Hence thesympathy of the audience shouldnever be thrown to the side ofcrime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.

2. Correct standards of life, subjectonly to the requirements of drama

and entertainment, shall bepresented.

3. Law, natural or human, shall notbe ridiculed, nor shall sympathybe created for its violation.

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The 1930s

Excessive violence

Sex - even for marriedcouples

Words such as hell,sex, and damn

Gave rise to stylizedgenres which were less

threatening than gangstermovies and sex romps

Self-regulation preferredto that of the government

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The 1930s

Some things made itthrough

Bringing up Baby & The Gangs All Here

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The 1930s

Some did not

Casablanca & I Love Lucy

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The 1930s

Some careers didnot survive the Code

Mae West

She Done Him WrongWhy dont you come up & see meSometime? Im home every evening.

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The 1930s

Films became moreconservative

Moral messages Comedies

Unite and not divide

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The 1930s

Musicals

Busby Berkley

Fred Astaire

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The 1930s

Comedy

Screwball

Surreal

My Man Godfrey & Monkey Business

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The 1930s

The Filmmakers

Ernst Lubitsch

William Wyler Howard Hawks

John Ford

Frank Capra

Saratoga

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The 1930s

Howard Hawks- Rapid-fire, overlapping

dialogue

- Used first string writers- Keen eye for talent such

as Paul Muni, CaroleLombard, Lauren Bacalland Montgomery Clift

- Most versatile - crossedgenres

http://youtu.be/wCbJs34LuZ4http://youtu.be/wCbJs34LuZ4http://youtu.be/wCbJs34LuZ4http://youtu.be/wCbJs34LuZ4http://youtu.be/wCbJs34LuZ4http://youtu.be/wCbJs34LuZ4

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The 1930s

The Big Sleep

His Girl Friday Red River

Bringing Up Baby

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The 1930s

William Wyler Long takes

Deep focus

Elicited greatperformances through amassive amount of takes- 40 Take Wyler

Actors seldom worked

with him again

http://youtu.be/ayXGM5TyRcohttp://youtu.be/ayXGM5TyRco

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The 1930s

The LetterDead End

JezebelWuthering Heights

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The 1930s

John Ford Began as an actor - he

was one of the ridingKlansmen in Birth of a

Nation Hit his stride in the 1930s

with The Informer

Worked often with JohnWayne whom he called abig dummy

Responsible for some ofthe most enduring imageryin American film

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The 1930s

The Informer

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Fort Apache

They Were Expendable

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The 1930s

Frank Capra Started in silent

comedies as a gag writer

Successes for HarryCohn at Columbiamaking the PovertyRow studio into a player

Most successful directorof the 1930s

Supreme craftsman

Frank Capra on IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001008/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001008/

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The 1930s

Platinum Blonde(1931), Forbidden(1932) Lady for a Day(1933), It Happened One Night, (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes toTown, (136), Lost Horizon(1937), You Cant Take It With

You(1938, Its a Wonderful Life (1946)

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The 1930s

Mr. Smith Goes toWashington(1939) Starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur,

Claude Rains, Thomas Mitchell, EdwardArnold

Dir. Frank Capra

Made Stewart a major star

Joseph Breen, head of the Hays Officefor censorship, objected to the

generally unflattering portrayal of oursystem of Government, which might welllead to such a picture being considered,both here, and more particularly abroad,as a covert attack on the Democraticform of government

Darker & more pessimistic than Capras

other films

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The 1930s

James Stewart, 1908-1997 Portrayed many iconic roles in American Film

although not immediately successful becauseof his gangly looks and shy, bumbling manner

Flew bombing missions over Germany in

WWII & eventually became a BrigadierGeneral

One of the first independently contractedactors

Married for 45 years to the same spouse!

5 Oscar nominations won for PhiladelphiaStory

Famed later collaborations with AlfredHitchcock and Anthony Mann (Westerns)

Films include: You Cant Take It With You,Harvey, Its a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goesto Washington, Vertigo, Rear Window, TheMan Who Knew Too Much, Rope, Anatomy ofa Murder, The Man Who Shot Liberty

Valance, Destry Rides Again

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The 1930s

Jean Arthur, 1900-1991 Her squeaky voice gave her a career in

comedy but no one knew what to dowith her before Capra & Mr. Deeds

Goes to Town & You Cant Take It WithYou

Career waned in the 40s she wasreleased from her contract at Columbiawhere she was the top-grossing actresseven though Harry Cohn & Arthur had

many disagreements She retired & only appearing in moviesone more time in 1953 for Shane

George Stevens (Shane) famouslycalled her "one of the greatestcomediennes the screen has everseen", while Capra credited her as "myfavorite actress"

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The 1930s

Claude Rains, 1889-1967 Leading stage actor and teacher in

London he taught Lawrence Olivier& John Gielgud and New York

Began in horror films at Universalbecause of his raspy voice

Moved on to literary adaptations atWarner Brothers

Unique position as an A-Listsupporting actor

Four Oscar nominations but neverwon

40 films in the 1940s

Eventually embraced televisionappearing in countless televisionshows

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The 1930s

Thomas Mitchell, one of the mostrecognizable character actors of theperiod, also the first person ever to winan Oscar, Emmy & Tony

Edward Arnold, another of Hollywoodsvery employed character actors, whichhe came into when he gave up trying tolose weight

And a whole mess of other Its that

guy! actors