Movies of the 1930's:
While thousands of American people were struggling to find well-paying jobs, 1930 to 1948 was known as the "Golden Age" for Hollywood. Most of the films were produced in black and white however. The 30s introduced many new advances in sound and color as well as new film genres such as horror, musicals, gangsters, and westerns. Unlike the silent films of the 20's, the 1930's introduced sound or "talkies" and many new actors quickly became stars. With the start of the Great Depression in 1933, however, movie theatre attendance began to decrease and the economic effects could be strongly felt. Some extrodinary firsts during this time period included the debut of Shirley Temple in her first film, "Baby Burlesks" in 1933. Popeye was first seen in Paramount's Betty Boop and was called "Popeye the Sailor", also in 1933. Camden, New Jersey became the home of the world's first drive-in movie theatre in June of 1933 and Donald Duck first appeared in an 8-minute short called "The Wise Little Hen", produced by Walt Disney in 1934.
While most of the new movies were very successful at the box-office, they were poorly produced. Many actors were inexperienced, cameras and microphones were unmoving, and musicals were often just copies of Broadway shows taken to the big screen. Despite these problems however, a huge variety of films were produced in a way that had never been seen before. The first film to be produced with three-color Technicolor (full color) was Walt Disney's animated talkie called Flowers and Trees in 1932 and was part of the Silly Symphony series. Disney also released the "Three Little Pigs" in 1933 and its cheery song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" became the theme song for the Great Depression. This was one of the first films where animations actually had their own personalities. America's first full-length animated movie became Disney's "Snow White" in 1937.
For many people, movies provided an escape from reality. It allowed them to get away from the harships brought on by the Great Depression and gave them a glimpse into high society life. Everyone was entrigued by the often glamorous lives of the actors who starred in these films. Some popular actors included Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, and Humphrey Bogart. To draw in people from the countryside, small town merchants would project films on the sides of downtown buildings and show them for free on Thursday nights. This gave country folks an opportunity to have a nice night on the town, relaxing and chattng with their friends.
I think movies in the 1930's would have been spectacular to see. Producers introduced things that had never been seen before and must have amazed audiences with their sound and colors much like we are amazed by modern movies such as Avatar today. I love watching movies and all the special effects never cease to amaze me. I also think it would be cool to live one day as a person in the 30's just to view the world through their eyes. Even though times must have been tough with the Great Depression, people still found ways in which to enjoy life and never took anything for granted, something we need to remember to do today. All in all, this was a very interesting topic to write about.
Sources:
http://www.filmsite.org/30sintro.html
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_16.html
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