About Classic Hollywood Cinema

The Essay Offers a Critical and Analytical Perspective on Motion Pictures

The essay offers a critical and analytical perspective on motion pictures produced from the 1930s through the 1950s. The effect and significance of the many standards of traditional Hollywood movies will be observed and analyzed. Among these are material norms, ethical-socio-political norms, sociopolitical norms, and aesthetic standards. While examining the visual language, cultural anxiety, and its social ramifications on society, we will examine how these norms adhere to or depart from the traditional Hollywood cinema.

Nudity and Sexual Behavior in Classical Cinema

By examining the visual style of the movie, we may determine how much nudity was acceptable in the classical cinema of the time. For instance, once Jerry embarks on her quick series of affairs, they transpire in rapid succession as a bunch of hands meeting and touching over tables, and also when she refers to her counter affairs as “balancing books between them.” All this is in honor of the hays production code that prevents the showing of nudity and overt portrayals or references to sexual behavior, although it was enforced a year after the movie had been released. This film also alludes to the motif of drunken mistakes such as Paul’s accident, Ted’s infidelity and Jerry’s affair with Don(Nitrate 13). In this film, the central character is a woman, which brings in the social outlook on gender, which in some light could be viewed as a victim of circumstance. Her husband had an affair, or already corrupt, who willingly became the bane of the men who she influenced, and a disaster to them and herself. However in the end with both parties acknowledging their mistakes and mending their relationship, which brings about the aspect of equality and shared responsibility.

It Happened One Night (1934)

This film falls under the screwball comedy genre, which became popular during the Great Depression and distinguishes itself by having a female character who dominates the relationship with the central male character, whose masculinity is challenged. The film tells a tale of two marriages, one based on the mere desire to escape, while the other on love. Ellie’s union to King Westley is a foil as it sets a contrast and shows us the need for annulment and re-marriage to Peter. In a different light, the theme of gender roles is portrayed largely. During the Great Depression, many men lost their jobs as most of the American workforce comprised of men. Therefore, women were expected to step up(Shmoop 15). This is alluded by the film expanding the role of a woman. Peter can no longer get things done on his own, like hailing a cab, and requires Ellie’s assistance sometimes. At the time, having a female character sit idling in the background and follow the male protagonist was not appealing, and just like the nation, new tactics for women were demanded.

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

This film is a psychological thriller that falls under the melodrama category; movies which are characterized to appeal to the emotions of the audience. The characters face emotional and moral conflicts which protagonists usually respond to by suppressing their individuality. What stands out about this film noir is that it focuses on the female character, it has a rural setting, and crimes and assorted psychopathic acts are committed in broad daylight. This film is based on a woman’s obsessive love for her husband that threatens to be the undoing of both of them and everyone else around them. Ellen’s nature emerges through three key scenes in the movie, connected by the dominance of teal blue and the act of exchanging glances, in one blogger’s words. In the train, for instance, her penetrating unwavering gaze on Richard makes him very uncomfortable, while she’s oddly immobile to the movement of the train. Next, the drowning of Danny, which could be viewed as murder by inaction. And finally, the induced miscarriage when Ellen’s throws herself down a flight of stairs, to prevent her unborn child from taking away his attention from her(Soares 18). Conflict in relationships is evident when Richard refuses to believe his wife’s wickedness, and the effect it has on his relationship with Ruth. A modern version of this film is Gone Girl (2014) about a manipulative wife who seeks to frame her husband for her death, similarities seen in the faked deaths and the nature of the central female characters.

He Walked By Night (1948)

This film is about a police hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop. It was inspired by a real incident involving a veteran of World War II, whose exploits were chronicled in newspapers. The film could be termed as semi-documentary at times; there is even a serious narrator to back the aura of authenticity Richard Basehart is a chilling presence, who manages to make you feel his paranoia especially when he’s on the run or removing a bullet from his side. This is assisted when the camera stays unflinchingly locked to his face instead of focusing on his wound, hence that one can feel his pain and some involvement with the character. With time viewers start to feel some degree of Stockholm syndrome when the entire movie is mainly focused on him and his desperate attempts at survival. Alton chose to light his sets by carefully hiding light in select locations(Werker, Basehart, and Brady 16). Hence they appear to be lit by sources of light from within the scene. The use of black and white photography and dark lighting to create shadows enhances simple scenes such as streets and tunnels to poetry. The film ends when Martin flees to the dark drainage system of L.A. Its with eight minutes to go that the film overloads with one’s senses with its visuals. Chiaroscuro illumination is wielded with such sureness that any subsequent use of it might seem underwhelming by precision. The moist sewer floors allow for reflective glints of light to spark the camera at random, while there is a shot of Martin wielding the flashlight in the darkness which rises as the most iconic and stylistically rich expressions of film. Alton’s cinematography method is described as “painting with light” was executed in the most daring way possible in the film.

The Impact of Classical Hollywood Cinema

Studying these films has helped focus on the way in which the norms of classical Hollywood Cinema affect its meaning. Beginner-level research in these movies has helped in connecting the ideas of established scholars in the film industry such as John Alton, with personal observations. It is possible one can have a critical point of view when analyzing the lighting, shadows, tone, mood, choice of words during dialogue and the social and political implications of a film on society at the time of its release.

Work Cited

Nitrate Diva “Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot? The Divorcee(1930) The Nitrate Diva. Last modified on December 31, 2012.

Shmoop Editorial Team. ”It Happened One Night Themes.” Shmoop University, Inc. Last modified November 11,2008. Accessed November 11, 2017.

Soares, A. ”Leave Her to Heaven Screening” Alt Film Guide. Last modified November 2009, accessed on November 12, 2017 https://atlfg.com/film/leave-her-to-heaven-screening/

Werker, Alfred L., Richard Basehart, and Scott Brady. He Walked by Night. BBC 2, 1948.