I love old movies. When many people hear this, or they think of an old movie, they think of something made in the 80s, or even the 90s. I still struggle with the concept that really, those movies made in the 90s, the ones that came out around the time I was born, are now considered old.
But the old movies I’m talking about were made back in the 30s, 40s. Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart. Fast spoken comedies, everyone in suits regardless of their jobs. Random dance scenes. No CGI whatsoever. To me, this was the best of cinema. To me, too many people don’t give them a chance. So here is a list as to why I think you should. Yes, I know. But I love lists. They’re so organised!
1. The storytelling – many romcoms that come out today use tried and tested formulas. Boy meets girl, fall in love. For the classic movies, these formulas were fresh, new, lacking the convolution of what we have today. Sure, some of the screwball comedies had certain common traits; ‘Made for Eachother’ and ‘Vivacious Lady’ both feature James Stewart falling in love with a woman and marrying her after one night of knowing her (both happen within minutes of the film starting, so no spoiler there), while Cary Grant remarries his ex wife in both Philidelphia Story and His Girl Friday (yes spoilers, but both are delightful watches and predictable anyway). But nonetheless, these films were where the ideas started, where the cliches began.
2. It’s probably been remade – You’ve Got Mail is a remake of The Shop Around the Corner, and predictably i think the latter is better. Now I do like You’ve Got Mail, and it’s so similar in its concept that its impossible to dislike it too much beyond certain cheesy moments. But The Shop Around the Corner takes place in mostly one place, and gives the romance the scale that fits it. It’s not a lowly book store owner falling for a millionaire competetor without realising. Its two people working in a store, always around each other. Its plausible in ways that You’ve Got Mail isn’t. And it’s modern in its writing; the shop staff are fleshed out. The main characters are intelligent and well read, and not because they work with books. They don’t, but Meg Ryan knows all there is to know because she works with books, and thats kind of it.
3. A different time – these movies were made in a different time. Standards were different, the age was different. Today, some ask for the deletion of these movies because they do not match up to todays standards. But I think this is why we need to watch them, and keep them around. I watched a movie the other night in which a character put black make up on his face as a disguise, but that was okay then. While we might cringe now, I think these films should be around just to see how far we’ve come. And that goes for the treatment of women, too.
4. The Style – just the look, the sound of everything. Quick quips, sharp suits and equally sharp dresses. Everyone was so well dressed, and spoke so fast, and with such wit. It was classy, and fashionable, or at least it was on film.
5. Just storytelling – Frankenstein (1931) was one of the earlier uses of contact lenses in film… and they looked so damn uncomfortable. Sounds were made using materials at hand rather than a computer, and invention had to be used for the rest if something new was to be made. The Lady Vanishes, for example, was groundbreaking for showing dream like visuals such as double vision. It was relevant to the story, and didn’t distract from it in any way. Besides that, movies focused on the story, acting and dialogue. No distractions to increase the run time, and if we were shown something truly mindblowing, chances are it was a first.
A new take – novel adaptions were very popular back then, but they werent always faithful to the book. Sure, they were essentially the same story, and ended in much the same way, but there were also some tweaks. For example, Pride and Prejudice (1940) made one certain cretinous character ultimately act in the interest of the characters’ happiness, rather than social conventions of the time. Little Women (1949) almost entirely focused on Jo’s story, creating a sense of perspective as opposed to dipping in and out of the girl’s lives like subsequent adaptions.
The drama – finally, just the drama of it all. Today, many romcoms go for the understated quirky characters, quietly neurotic and loudly mundane in their lives. But classic characters wear their hearts on their sleeves, swooning all over the place and being all passionate and all that. And they could make drama out of anything too, with the right lead.
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Paint a Mental Picture 