The Golden Age of Film: Part 2

• The Wizard of Oz (clip)
• Gone With the Wind (clip)

In case you missed it, the 1930's is considered the Golden Age of Film. Please review and take notes on these following film clips when you get a chance. You should note who is starring in which roles and how certain actors and directors helped shape the genres we now recognize in film today. You will be tested on the material found here, so please watch attentively and make some observations about films in the 1930's.

As for camera work, there are few tricks being used with cameras. Angles are mostly eye-level, with medium, long, and close up shots being used with transitions such as the wipe, the iris, fade to black to indicate scene changes. There is still rear projection, tracking shots, dolly shots, and elaborate sets (particularly for war and epic films), but overall, the feel of 1930's film is like watching a play. With the invention of sound, movies rely on written dialogue to move the plot and develop character (as opposed to using solely a visual medium popularized in silent films). Famous directors and writers such as Frank Capra, Walt Disney, and writer George S. Kaufman to name only a few make their appearance in this era. Since sound is a new invention, the use of music is an important element. See what other details you can observe as you watch the clips:

Hell's Angels (1930) clip with Jean Harlow
Anna Christie (1930) With Greta Garbo
Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932) Johnny Weissmuller
Morocco (1930) with Marlene Dietrich
Grand Hotel (1932) with Joan Crawford & John Barrymore
King Kong (1933) with Faye Wray
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) Clark Gable & Charles Laughton
Captain Blood (1935) with Errol Flynn & Basil Rathbone (documentary clip)

Universal Horror Films:
Dracula (1931) Bela Lugosi (Tod Browning's version)
Dracula (clip 2)
Frankenstein (1931) with Boris Karloff
Frankenstein (2nd clip)
The Bride of Frankenstein (1932) with Boris Karloff
Bride of Frankenstein (2nd clip)
Freaks (1932) Tod Browning director
The White Zombie (1932) Bela Lugosi
The Mummy (1932) Boris Karloff
The Invisible Man (1933) with Claude Rains

Screwball Comedies:
The Thin Man (1934) with Myrna Loy & William Powell
A Night At the Opera (Marx Brothers, cabin scene) (1935)
His Girl Friday (1940), Rosalind Russell & Cary Grant (full film; extra credit option)

Frank Capra films:
It Happened One Night (1934) Claudette Colbert & Clark Gable
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) Gary Cooper
Lost Horizon (1937) and clips from the film...
You Can't Take it With You (1938) with a very young Jimmy Stewart
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) with Jimmy Stewart
It's a Wonderful Life (1946 clips)

Gangster Films:
The Public Enemy (1931)
Scarface (1932)

Westerns:
Cimarron (1930)
Stagecoach (1939) John Wayne (John Ford directing)

War Films:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Musicals:
The Gay Divorcee (1934) Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire
Top Hat (1935) Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire
Swing Time (1936) Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire (again)
42 Street (1933)

Animation:
Popeye the Sailor (1933) with Betty Boop (and Popeye, of course)

Warner Bros. Animation:
Porky's Hare Hunt (1938)
Porky Pig & Gabby (1937)
Prest-O Change-O (early Bugs Bunny) (1939)
Daffy Duck & the Dinosaur (1939)

Alfred Hitchcock 1930's films:
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Sabotage (the suspenseful bomb scene) (1936)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Blockbuster Technicolor films:
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) with Errol Flynn

Use the rest of class to work on your screwball comedy film script projects. , your homework (see below) or watch and take notes on the clips here on this post.

HOMEWORK: Complete your screwball comedy film script drafts. Please read the article on "Mr. Welles Comes to Town" -- answer the question (due Friday, Monday, May 6 as well) & the script for Citizen Kane (complete by Friday, May 10). If you miss Citizen Kane due to AP testing, please watch the film on your own.