They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To...

Yes its a great latter day film from Hitchock featuring a very funny performance from Bernard Cribbins who refers to everyones he dislikes- which is most people really- as a "right bastard".
Its all in the way he says it.
 
You have to take into account that films were the most popualr media in those days. Pre-TV, people went to "the pictures" (I still call it that despite the derision of Mrs OP) 2-3 times a week. I'd argue most of the types of film you talk about are now made as TV dramas, leaving the "Big Screen" to to big Special Effects blockbusters which only really work in a Cinema.

Re the OPs commnets on actors/actresses - I'm not convinced they were any more talented than today. Monroe if at her peak today I'm sure would be undressing on camera - she just wasn't allowed to back then. James Stewart I'd see as the Tom Hanks of his day. Cary Grant would be blowing up people in Mission Impossible alongside Tom Cruise.

There are great films and performers in every generation. There is also dross in every generation too :)
 
Ahh! This old chestnut - the question is about as old as the films you're talking about :D ;) I seem to remember having a similar discussion about the topic a year ago on this very forum.

Firstly, I'll say now what I said then. It's all too easy to take a decade of moviemaking and mythologize it. For example, you take "African Queen", "Sunset Boulevard", "Some Like It Hot" and other '50s movies as example of 'Golden Cinema'. Well, I'll hit back with a "Clerks", "Toy Story" and "Fight Club" from the '90s.

Handpicking top-draw movies from any decade will have the same effect (60's "The Graduate", 70s "The Exorcist", 80s "Das Boot", etc, etc).

Secondly, I would say that a "complete collapse of the Studio System" didn't occur in the 1960s with regarRAB to Hollywood and the Hayes Code. It underwent some radical changes of course, but it hardly disintergrated overnight.

Now onto stars...

You must understand that movie stardom is a totally different game to what it was 60 years ago. The 'star system' is a rather complex one and I could go on about it for several hours. However, rather than bore you, I'll just say that, once again, the stars of the '60s are the pop-icons of the '00s - they've been filtered through so many layers of mythology, pop culture analysis, interpretation and interpolation that they simply cannot be compared to today's stars on a one-to-one level ("Apples & Oranges"). They 'certainly don't make THEM like that anymore' because we are creating THEM here and now.
Oh, and minus two points for forgetting James Cagney and Edward G Robinson from your list of charisma-fuelled greats ;)

Naturally, there's a certain amount of irony when you talk about "Big Budget Action Blockbusters. High on CGI Special Effects, ludicrously low on substance", as some of the films you've quoted as being 'golden oldies' were once regarded in this fashion too. Don't forget that Hitchcock was much maligned by critics of the day as being empty and relying on special effects (eg Chromakeying in 'Sabotage', recreation of Mount Rushmore in 'North by Northwest', etc). His broad, crowd pleasing endevours are roumered to be the reason why he never received Oscar recognition from the academy y'know...





Hitchcock is one of my all-time favourite directors, and I can't agree with you more tigerlilyxxxxx - "The Lady Vanishes" is my favourite too :) Make sure you avoid that nasty Cybil Shepard/Elliot Gould remake though *shudders*

I was fortunate enough to see over a dozen of Hitchcock's movies screened for my Film Studies BA; they sure look great projected up on a 50ft screen! However, I do agree with the comments made about 'North By Northwest' - even a darkened cinema couldn't make me like enjoy it, and I still regard it as one of the few Hitchcock 'misses' (I know - controversial aren't I ;))

On a similar note, I also got to see the wonderfully restored 35mm print of 'Sunset Boulevard' - many thanks to the BFI for spending all that money on digitally restoring it; it was certainly well worth it! I still think it was a crying shame that 'All About Eve' took all the Academy AwarRAB that year, as I still feel that it's the inferior film...



I'm glad she's enjoying so much classic cinema and she has a supportive parent :)

Don't forget to go to the online film archives and download some free (legal) classics (http://www.archive.org/details/moviesandfilms)! I expect everyone to instantly go and watch the Fritz Lang/Edward G Robinson masterpiece 'Scarlet Street' (http://www.archive.org/details/ScarletStreet) - it's a badly encoded version apparently, but the film is truly fantastic. Oh and Hitchcock fans may enjoy the 1934 original 'Man Who Knew Too Much' (http://www.archive.org/details/AHTheManWhoKnewTooMuch1934).

P.S. - No matter what they say, or how they say it, "Three Colours: Blue" is not a cinematic classic and should never be regarded as such. :D
 
I think you have to remember that you are fondly reminiscing about a small number of films over a period of 20 years in the same way I might fondly remember 'Texan Bars' and candy cigarettes from my youth. in 30 years time im sure that the 80's and beyond will have an equal number of fondly remembered actors/actresses and films. Not all fall into the Sharon Stone and Tom Cruise category. And remember that your 'golden era' had its fair share of dodgy actors and seedy expose's !

Try thinking now about Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Johhny Depp, Susan Sarandon, Michael Keatons, Jodie Foster, Tom Hanks and all those others whose skill is more important than their 'hype'.

As for films, there are dozens of future classics. I dont like them all but im sure the following will be considered part of a 'golden age' ....... try The Shawshank Redemption, Gladiator, Philedelphia, Schindlers List, Bladerunner, When Harry Met Sally, Ghandi, Forest Gump, Star Wars, Leon, Toy Story, The Blues Brothers, Jaws, LOTR, goodfellas, Saving Private Ryan, The Sixth Sense, Donnie Darko, Groundhog Day, Deuce Bigalow (OK, maybe not Deuce Bigalow) ... the list goes on and on and on. Not all are reliant on sex, violence or CGI .......

Go back and look at every film made before 1960. Count how many are 'great' and how many are truly awful ! We are bombarded with so many films these days through cinema, Sky, TV, DVD that its easy to claim they are all rubbish or sequels. Take the time to think though and you will see that the last 20-30 years have produced some of the greatest films yet created !

Personally the 'old' classics I have seen never impress me. The acting seems hammed up and the plots normally dull and pointless ... and dont get me started on musicals !! (Im feeling aggressive so will sing and dance my way around the street ????)

BUT ..... this is my opinion only. My kiRAB will hate the films I like and will hate those my parents liked even more ! Each decade produces some truly great films and Im sure that this will always be the case.
 
I didn't realise there were a lot of films worth downloading on the Internet Archive. I'm downloading Scarlet Street after it was mentioned in another post
 
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