Although known primarily today as a purveyor of punditry, Fox was one of the largest studios of the so-called "Golden Age," although they didn't have as much star power as some of the others. Still, they had Will Rogers, who, up until his death, was the most popular film entertainer in the USA. Later, Alice Faye, Betty Grable and Shirley Temple were their biggest stars.
My favorite Golden Age Fox films in chronological order are:
2 social issue pictures, 1 biography, 1 anthology, 1 film noir, 2 thrillers, 1 mystery, 1 courtroom drama and 1 comedy. The Third Man isn't actually a Fox film - it was only distributed in the US by Fox - but that's good enough for me; it's my all-time favorite movie.
4 comedies, 2 film noirs, 2 horror films, 1 musical and 1 social issue picture. Or, in terms of stars: 2 Marx Brothers, 2 Veronica Lakes, 2 Bing Crosbys, 2 Ray Millands and 2 others.
Universal did a lot to make me a fan of classic films. I can vividly recall seeing my first horror movies on tv when I was about six - evening broadcasts of the Wolf Man, Son of Frankenstein and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. My sister has some stories about those occasions too. Later on, Abbott & Costello became favorites of mine and I eagerly sought them out on cable and video rental.
Universal definitely specialized in the horror films, I'm certain it's what they're best remembered for now. Consequently, the Universal stars we recall most fondly are the horror leads: Lugosi, Karloff and Chaneys Senior and Junior. All the same, their horror output was at its best in the 30s and became less memorable from wartime onwards.
1 war film, 6 horror films, 2 thrillers and 1 film noir.
Also, I really like the Universal logo. Even the original with the plane circling the globe was fun, but the logo they use at present is just incredible.
As alluded to yesterday, MGM is often considered to have been the greatest of the film studios, renowned for its epics and its musicals. I don't have a great affection for the MGM style, but they certainly had their stars: Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra; they also produced one of the all-time greats, Gone With the Wind.
Because MGM had a reputation for being the most extravagent and glamourous of the Golden Age studios, the studio's current condition perturbes people. What once walked amongst the mightiest is simply a franchise bought up Sony. All that's left of MGM is the name...and the films, of course.
1 detective film, 1 horror film, 3 comedies, 2 romances, 1 fantasy, 1 war film and 1 film noir. Say, 1940 was a pretty good year for James Stewart, wasn't it? Two great films and one of them snagged him his Oscar! This was back in the days when the Academy considered comedies to be legitimate films.
I've recently read a few books about the so-called "Golden Years" of Hollywood, the days when the studios held immense power over their stars and guided the film making top-down. One book in particular which got me thinking was Richard Jewell's Golden Age of Cinema, which examined films from the late silent to era to 1949, concerned mainly with the genres of film and the differences between studios.
What got me thinking was the elaboration of how certain studios differed in output. I had only slightly considered how some films from that era feel the stamp of their home studio, but the more I read the more I thought about each classic studio. And so, over the next few days I'm going to think about the various film studios of the day, up to releases from 1949.
It seems appropriate to begin with the Warner Bros. Most film historians rank MGM as the king of Golden Age Hollywood, but I rather prefer Warner. In my mind, Warner had bigger stars (I'm not a huge fan of musicals). Warner definitely had a unique feel when you look at their gangster pictures and at socially conscious films like I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang. There were also so many stars whose presence made it feel like a Warner picture: Bogart, Davis, de Havilland, Cagney, Flynn, and especially the supporting players who turned up frequently like Veidt, Lorre, Hale and Greenstreet.
My 10 favorite Warner Bros. pre-1949 films are, in chronological order:
Last night I dreamed I was sitting at a dining room table, covered with dishes filled to the brim with delicious foods. The dining room seemed very familiar, much like my family's dining room from Rocky Mountain House. Prominently seated at the table was Rush Limbaugh.
I was very nervous about his presence, concerned that a conversation about politics would come up, but he seemed to regard me with some favour, as though he were an old uncle. However, he would sharply criticize my ability to serve food from the dishes.
Also seated at the table was a woman who Limbaugh was trying to offer a job at Fox News. When she politely declined he began screaming at her and threatened to send her to prison.
I don't know what this dream means, but Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away...
Tomorrow is release day for the Marvel Mystery Handbook, not just the latest Marvel Handbook project I designed but, in my opinion, the greatest; it has some fabulous content and even new artwork which is always a treat! Check out the solicitation here!
