Thursday, August 30, 2012
HIATUS ONLY TEMPORARY
JUST A NOTE TO SAY THAT I'M STILL HERE! BACK AT SCHOOL AND HARD AT WORK ON THREE DIFFERENT SCRIPTS, PLUS THREE DIRECTING PROJECTS. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR "ALLEY CATS" AND "SPIDER'S WEB", AND ANOTHER THAT STILL ISN'T MUCH BUT WILL BE POSTED WHEN IT'S...LESS OF A MESS. YEA FOR SCHOOL AND FALL!!!!!!
Monday, August 6, 2012
Quirky Monday: Why I have an entire SHELF of Silver Screen Hollywood, and why I like them so much more than movies in color:OR Why Modern Hollywood has the Potential to Ruin Movies
So, as of...now, I have an entire shelf of DVDs that are from 1933-1950, roughly, and yes with one exception(Quo Vadis 1950, starring Robert Taylor, Debroah Kerr and Leo Genn) are in black and white. As a kid, I never really like black and white movies. They were boring to me simply because I couldn't see any color, and that to me was a BAD THING.
Not so now. Silver Screen Hollywood has become another one of my obsessions, not just because there were a lot of really attractive people involved(see my earlier posts on Cagney, Leo Gorcey, etc.), but because, well, there's a lot, so how bout I make a list? Here goes:
1. Focus on STORY not SPECIAL EFFECTS. Not to put down modern Hollywood or anything, but a lot of the movies I've seen recently have a macho amount of special effects. This isn't bad, necessarily, because they're cool to look at. But it seems like a lot of new Hollywood directors seem to go over the top with special effects and pay no attention to the story(opinion: it is that kind of thing that ruined the movie Eragon--and only one of the many reasons..but that's for another post). The story is lost and the characters are flat and uninteresting--unless they're really attractive, but that only makes the movie about 10% more enjoyable than it actually is, in my opinion.
Silver Screen Hollywood had almost no access to special effects. The most advanced thing they had was what I call "the disappearing effect" where they could make characters playing ghosts or something appear and disappear. Another "special effect" was used for comedy purposes, such as see how many people you could fit in a phone booth(see clip below.) So in order to get audience attention, the stories had to be REALLY good, something that almost anybody in the audience can identify with. The themes were universal, and not a complicated mess.
2. Simple storylines, tight plot, under deadline. Today, movies can be made whenever, wherever and can take however long they need to take(as long as they do whatever possible to stay within budget. or whatever). Not so in Silver Hollywood. Universal and Monogram Studios, who were famous for thier "B" flicks, cranked out several many movies a year, shooting a single movie in 6-14 days. DAYS. Warner Brothers was almost as busy. Because they were working under deadline, or budget, depending on the studio, writers were given tight deadlines, and so had to keep stories simple. Yes, this had a couple of drawbacks, such as plots with rough edges, which occurred in the East Side Kids and Bowery Boys films, but you know what? Bowery Boys has the longest running series spot in history. This is largely due to the simple storylines the series adapted.
Other films kept the same thing as far a plot goes: they kept it fairly simple. Winchester '73 is about a gun, and the two men who want it. Mayor of Hell is about a reform school and the ex-con who changes it. Fighting 69th about a cocky guy who grows up after joining the Army in World War II. Strike Up the Band about a high school band. Simple see? No frills, no big explosions that last fifteen minutes just cause it's cool(and yes, I have seen one of those. Bleg!) And because the plot is simple, it's so tight.
3. Strong Characters. Because Hollywood was in it's "Golden Age" the characters in these movies would be considered stereotypical if/when done today. This is because these types have been done over and over with very little originality. The difference between now and Silver Screen Hollywood is that these characters had clear motivations, strong relationships with each character, and even the villains of the pieces were easy to identify with. There was a definite protagonist, a definite antagonist and a definite conflict. Take 1942's Vivacious Lady, starring James Stewart and Ginger Rodgers. Protagonist: James Stewart, in love with a nightclub singer(Ginger Rodgers). Antagonist: James Stewart's father, who is highly conservative and not that easy to talk to. Conflict: James Stewart has to tell Dad he's married to Ginger Rodgers. Two other movies--The Fighting Irish and The Torrid Zone both starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brian, revolves around the two aforementioned actors butting heads either over a girl(Fighting Irish) or a banana plantaion and the pesky outlaw who is trying to destroy it (Torid Zone). Simple, simple. Easy, easy, easy. Strong, strong, STRONG!!! See, see, see?
4. Very Little Visible Ego. Frankie Darro. Bobby Jordan. Leo Gorcey. Alan Ladd. Kay Francis. Pamela Blake. Richard Benedict. Buddy Gorman. Huntz Hall. Gabriel Dell. David Gorcey. Frankie Burke. Hally Chester. James Stewart. John Garfeild. Edward G. Robinson. Micky Rooney. Marie Wilson. May Robson. Ann Sheridan. Pat O'Brian. Allen Jenkins. Humphrey Bogart. Lauren Becall. James Cagney. Stanley Clements. I'll bet you anything you've only heard of a couple of these actors, and not just because you've been reading my blog. What all of these brilliant people had in common was that they were all talented, yes. But they never slapped their ego all over the screen. Yes, I am in the theatre world, so I know that people have egos(hello? it's human!). But for whatever reason, I never saw or heard from anyone that any of these people were egomaniacs. Yes, I know that several of them also had highly publicized negative moments in their lives, for whatever reason, but they never showed it on the screen. I've heard of very few diva moments, from the above listed especially. They all had talent. They all worked hard. And some of them were still highly unappreciated. Note the bloopers:
...All right, so maybe four isn't a lot. But it's pretty dang good when you know how many movies were actually produced in a single year in Silver Screen Hollywood(I figured it out once, but can't remember the overall number off the top of my head--other than Monogram, and I already told you that in #2 above.) Anyway, the post of this whole post was to explain to anybody who's listening why I have so many movies and black and white. And why I get so upset when a remake backfires.
Not so now. Silver Screen Hollywood has become another one of my obsessions, not just because there were a lot of really attractive people involved(see my earlier posts on Cagney, Leo Gorcey, etc.), but because, well, there's a lot, so how bout I make a list? Here goes:
1. Focus on STORY not SPECIAL EFFECTS. Not to put down modern Hollywood or anything, but a lot of the movies I've seen recently have a macho amount of special effects. This isn't bad, necessarily, because they're cool to look at. But it seems like a lot of new Hollywood directors seem to go over the top with special effects and pay no attention to the story(opinion: it is that kind of thing that ruined the movie Eragon--and only one of the many reasons..but that's for another post). The story is lost and the characters are flat and uninteresting--unless they're really attractive, but that only makes the movie about 10% more enjoyable than it actually is, in my opinion.
Silver Screen Hollywood had almost no access to special effects. The most advanced thing they had was what I call "the disappearing effect" where they could make characters playing ghosts or something appear and disappear. Another "special effect" was used for comedy purposes, such as see how many people you could fit in a phone booth(see clip below.) So in order to get audience attention, the stories had to be REALLY good, something that almost anybody in the audience can identify with. The themes were universal, and not a complicated mess.
2. Simple storylines, tight plot, under deadline. Today, movies can be made whenever, wherever and can take however long they need to take(as long as they do whatever possible to stay within budget. or whatever). Not so in Silver Hollywood. Universal and Monogram Studios, who were famous for thier "B" flicks, cranked out several many movies a year, shooting a single movie in 6-14 days. DAYS. Warner Brothers was almost as busy. Because they were working under deadline, or budget, depending on the studio, writers were given tight deadlines, and so had to keep stories simple. Yes, this had a couple of drawbacks, such as plots with rough edges, which occurred in the East Side Kids and Bowery Boys films, but you know what? Bowery Boys has the longest running series spot in history. This is largely due to the simple storylines the series adapted.
Other films kept the same thing as far a plot goes: they kept it fairly simple. Winchester '73 is about a gun, and the two men who want it. Mayor of Hell is about a reform school and the ex-con who changes it. Fighting 69th about a cocky guy who grows up after joining the Army in World War II. Strike Up the Band about a high school band. Simple see? No frills, no big explosions that last fifteen minutes just cause it's cool(and yes, I have seen one of those. Bleg!) And because the plot is simple, it's so tight.
3. Strong Characters. Because Hollywood was in it's "Golden Age" the characters in these movies would be considered stereotypical if/when done today. This is because these types have been done over and over with very little originality. The difference between now and Silver Screen Hollywood is that these characters had clear motivations, strong relationships with each character, and even the villains of the pieces were easy to identify with. There was a definite protagonist, a definite antagonist and a definite conflict. Take 1942's Vivacious Lady, starring James Stewart and Ginger Rodgers. Protagonist: James Stewart, in love with a nightclub singer(Ginger Rodgers). Antagonist: James Stewart's father, who is highly conservative and not that easy to talk to. Conflict: James Stewart has to tell Dad he's married to Ginger Rodgers. Two other movies--The Fighting Irish and The Torrid Zone both starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brian, revolves around the two aforementioned actors butting heads either over a girl(Fighting Irish) or a banana plantaion and the pesky outlaw who is trying to destroy it (Torid Zone). Simple, simple. Easy, easy, easy. Strong, strong, STRONG!!! See, see, see?
4. Very Little Visible Ego. Frankie Darro. Bobby Jordan. Leo Gorcey. Alan Ladd. Kay Francis. Pamela Blake. Richard Benedict. Buddy Gorman. Huntz Hall. Gabriel Dell. David Gorcey. Frankie Burke. Hally Chester. James Stewart. John Garfeild. Edward G. Robinson. Micky Rooney. Marie Wilson. May Robson. Ann Sheridan. Pat O'Brian. Allen Jenkins. Humphrey Bogart. Lauren Becall. James Cagney. Stanley Clements. I'll bet you anything you've only heard of a couple of these actors, and not just because you've been reading my blog. What all of these brilliant people had in common was that they were all talented, yes. But they never slapped their ego all over the screen. Yes, I am in the theatre world, so I know that people have egos(hello? it's human!). But for whatever reason, I never saw or heard from anyone that any of these people were egomaniacs. Yes, I know that several of them also had highly publicized negative moments in their lives, for whatever reason, but they never showed it on the screen. I've heard of very few diva moments, from the above listed especially. They all had talent. They all worked hard. And some of them were still highly unappreciated. Note the bloopers:
...All right, so maybe four isn't a lot. But it's pretty dang good when you know how many movies were actually produced in a single year in Silver Screen Hollywood(I figured it out once, but can't remember the overall number off the top of my head--other than Monogram, and I already told you that in #2 above.) Anyway, the post of this whole post was to explain to anybody who's listening why I have so many movies and black and white. And why I get so upset when a remake backfires.
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