Based on Moodle Notes Flashcards
What was All is Quiet on the Western Front the first to win?
First best picture winner to be based on a novel
When was the Hays code introduced? What was another name for it?
1930
Motion Picture Production code
What can films that were created before the Hays code be referred to as?
Pre-code (1931-33)
Name one very popular genre in the early 30s pre-code days and which studio was backing it
What was the cultural significance of this at the time?
Gangster
Warner Bros
During the Great Depression (considered to be cheaply made)
This genre symbolized the decay of american society and the fear that traditional values wouldn’t survive the economic crisis
What demographic was typically portrayed in the Gangster films of the 30s?
American - Italian / Irish
Which film was the first of the gangster film phase?
What was unique about this protagonist compared to earlier gangsters?
Little Caesar 31’
He never shows remorse for his crimes
Which gangster film starring the character Tommy Powers ended controversially and how so?
When roughly was this movie released?
The Public Enemy
Killed by a gangster and not a policeman - symbolizing the deterioration of law enforcement and the gov.
31’
Which gangster film was based off the life of Al Capone?
Who starred in it and who directed it?
Scarface 32’
Star: Paul Muni (as Tony Camonte)
Director: Howard Hawks
What new rule did Scarface lead to the creation of?
Was it taken seriously?
A study came out claiming that convicts received their early education from gangster movies –>
Hollywood received a lot of pressure to end movie violence - to prevent government censorship, the motion picture producers agreed to enforce their own code (aka hays)
Code existed since 1930 but studios usually ignored it
What did the motion picture producer’s code created in 1930 state?
Crime will be shown to be wrong
Criminal life will be depicted poorly
The law will at all times prevail
What genre attempted to replace gangster films as a way to appease the new code in 1930?
What predicament arose from making films of this genre?
Spy / young FBI agents (seen as better influences than italian or irish criminal stereotypes)
British Board of censors complained they were just as violent as the gangster films
Hollywood didn’t want to lose its british market
Which gangster film was the first to give the gangster genre some intellectual weight and perhaps some british appeal and why?
The Petrified Forest
Film had a british intellectual character
Which film had the famous quote “Gangsters is foreigners, and he’s a real American”
The Petrified Forest
Who starred in the Petrified forest?
Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart
Which decade is considered to be the time when american horror films were born?
What is this time period also sometimes referred to as?
30s
Hollywood’s Golden Age
Which production studio was well known for making horrors?
Universal
What did the 1931 Dracula film do that gave it such a successful eerie atmosphere?
Combined stage play influences with silent movie influences
Who directed 1931 Dracula?
Tod Browning
Who directed 1931 Frankenstein?
James whale
Which studio and which director backed the film, Freaks?
MGM
Tod Browning
Which horror film was considered so controversial at the time of its release that it was cut from 90-60 min without director approval and was banned in the UK?
Freaks
Who was the DP of dracula? What other notable horror did this director direct?
Karl Freund
The Mummy
Which actor played the 1931 dracula?
What other notable monster character did he play?
Bela Lugosi
Frankenstein in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
Which actor starred in 1931 Frankenstein and what was unique about his character portrayal?
What other notable monster character did he play?
Boris Karloff
English, gentle streak beneath the monstery surface
The Mummy
Which production house does Sony own?
Columbia Pictures
What was the significance of the director Frank Capra and which production house did he primarily work with?
Columbia Pictures
Capra’s films provided optimism, the everyman overcoming conflict and adversity despite the odds
- this was refreshing for the middle class during the great depression
Who directed It’s a Wonderful Life and Lady for a Day?
Frank Capra
Which 3 films won all 5 major academy awards?
It Happened One Night
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
The Silence of the Lambs
