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Explore the iconic 1930s era in Hollywood, a time of sound and color revolutions, featuring a range of film genres such as gangster films, musicals, and more. Delve into the firsts, stars, and innovations of this golden decade.
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THE 1930’S THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD
THE GOLDEN 30’S • The 1930s decade has been nostalgically labeled "The Golden Age of Hollywood" • The 30s was also the decade of sound and color revolutions and the advance of the 'talkies', and the further development of film genres. • gangster films • musicals • newspaper-reporting films • historical biopics • social-realism films • lighthearted screwball comedies • westerns • horror
THE GOLDEN 30’S • As the 1930s began, there were a number of unique firsts. • young 'platinum blonde' star Jean Harlow appeared in her first major role in Howard Hughes' World War I aviation epic, Hell's Angels (1930); the "Blonde Bombshell" was signed by MGM in 1932 and soon became a major star! • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iabQmjaWCM
THE GOLDEN 30’S • The first of Hollywood's dramatic prison dramas (a new subgenre) was produced by MGM, The Big House (1930), directed by George Hill. • In 1930, the Motion Picture Production Code, administered by Joseph I. Breen set film guidelines regarding sex, violence, religion, and crime (not yet strictly enforced until the Production Code Administration (1934) • B-actor John Wayne made his debut in his first major role in a western directed by Raoul Walsh, The Big Trail (1930) • Curly-topped, dimpled child star Shirley Temple appeared in her first films, an Our Gang type series of shorts titled Baby Burlesks (1933) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsCQ0t-3t1I
THE GOLDEN 30’S • The first appearance of the cartoon character Popeye was in the Betty Boop cartoon from Paramount and Max Fleischer, Popeye the Sailor. • The world's first drive-in theatre opened in Camden, N.J. in June, 1933; the fourth drive-in was located on Pico in Los Angeles, CA and opened in September, 1934. • Walt Disney's 8-minute The Wise Little Hen (1934) featured the first appearance of Donald Duck. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvgTElZPD-o
THE SOUND ERA IS COMING OF AGE • Most of the early talkies were successful at the box-office, but many of them were of poor quality. • dialogue-dominated play adaptations, with stilted acting (from inexperienced performers) and an unmoving camera or microphone. • Screenwriters were required to place more emphasis on characters in their scripts, and • title-card writers became unemployed☹
Rouben Mamoulian • Rouben Mamoulian, a successful Broadway director, refused to keep the cumbersome sound cameras pinned to the studio floor, and demonstrated a graceful, rhythmic, fluid, choreographed flowing style in his films. • his directorial debut film, Applause (1929) was one of the first great American musicals starring legendary Roaring 20s torch singer Helen Morgan in her first film role. • Applause also introduced a revolutionary sound technique: a double-channel soundtrack with overlapping dialogue.
Two-Color and Three-Color Technicolor • One of the first 'color' films was Thomas Edison's hand-tinted short Annabell's Butterfly Dance. • Two-color (red and green) feature films were the first color films produced, including the first two-color feature film The Toll of the Sea, and then better-known films such as Stage Struck (1925) and The Black Pirate (1926). • It would take the development of a new three-color camera, in 1932, to usher in true full-color Technicolor.