Monday, April 28

Discussed in class on Monday, April 28 was movies of the 1930's.  On the last day of class each individual had to present a movie from the 1920's or 1930's.  Such movies that were shown were I'm a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, Wings, and The Jazz Singer.  In class another movie was shown, Sullivan's Travels which I thoroughly enjoyed, though I have never seen Joel McCrea in anything but a Western genre role.  Veronica Lake was, of course very cute as the love interest in the movie.  These movies and much more were revolutionary for their time.  Censorship had taken over the movie industry by the 1930's due in part to the fact that at the start of the Great Depression ticket sales at movie theatres had dropped dramatically due in part to the nation having no movie for recreation.  In order to bring up flagging ticket sales Hollywood went on a mission to "sex up" their movies.  Creating more and more riskier movies than any movies before in order to bring people back to the movies.  Gangster films as a genre really hit a high note at this time too, including such pictures as Scarface, Little Caesar, and Scarface.  These films introduced a wide range of violence, crime, and good vs. evil themes.  Also introducing such lasting film stars as Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney.  Thanks in part to Hollywood's efforts to showcase gritter themes audiences returned to the movies but unfortunately these movies also created censorship that had not been in Hollywood before this time.