The 1940’s: Casablanca, 1941

The 1940’s • U.S. enters the war in 1941 • 2/3 of America went to the movies every week • Hard times = more money for the studios • Television was available but materials were used for the war so movies remained dominant Casablanca, 1941

The 1940’s • Many stars and directors enlisted • Made propaganda films as well as fought

Frank Capra & the Why We Fight series

The 1940’s • Everyone pitched in Betty Grable

Marlene Dietrich entertaining the troops

The 1940’s • Even Walt Disney pitched in with hundreds of training and propaganda films

Der Fuehrer's Face

The 1940’s • Patriotic to Post-war Realism and Film Noir • Shift in psyche • Austere, deglamorized & ambivalent • Social realism The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1946

The 1940’s William Wyler’s Best Years of Our Lives, 1946

The 1940’s • Cast non-actor Harold Russell • Won both the Academy Award as the year's Best Supporting Actor and a second, honorary Oscar "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans." He is the only actor ever to win two Oscars for the same role.

The 1940’s • House Un-American Activities Committee and Hollywood established in 1937 to investigate un-American and subversive activities • Investigated Hollywood in 1947

The 1940’s • Prove that the Screen Writers’ Guild had Communist members • Show that these writers were able to insert subversive propaganda into Hollywood films • J. Parnell Thomas, head of the committee, argued that President Roosevelt had encouraged pro-Soviet films during the war. J. Parnell Thomas & Jack Warner of Warner Brothers

The 1940’s • 1948 - the beginning of the end for the Studio System • MGM, Warner Brothers, Fox, Paramount and RKO had to divest of their theatres • Theatres could play any movie from any studio • Box office fell as studios were forced to compete with each other • and with…

The 1940’s • Television – Began a decline in box office that was not reversed until…

The 1940’s • … Jaws, 1975

The 1940’s • Directed and acted in theatre • Was 26 years old when he went to Hollywood • Citizen Kane (1941) considered the most influential movie ever made • War of the Worlds radio broadcast panicked audience Orson Welles

The 1940’s • Based on real events • Inventive cinematography – Deep focus – Chiaroscuro lighting – Exotic angles – Flashbacks • Truly American story • Unresolved issues in story

The 1940’s

Citizen Kane

The 1940’s

The Magnificent Ambersons

The 1940’s • Citizen Kane a financial disappointment • Magnificent Ambersons chopped and dumped to fit the “second feature” timeslot • Contract w/RKO was cancelled and career never recovered • Spent the next 30 years in Europe

The 1940’s • Writer who kept control by directing • Capra & Screwball Comedy without the sentimentality • Believer of dumb luck • Loved to get around the censors • Career heyday lasted from 1941-1945 Preston Sturges

The 1940’s

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

Sullivan’s’ Travels

The Lady Eve

The 1940’s • First full-length animated feature: Snow White, 1937

Walt Disney

The 1940’s

Bambi, 1942

Fantasia, 1940

Pinocchio, 1940

Dumbo, 1941

The 1940’s • John Ford • Master of the Western although these were not considered serious films at the time • More directing Oscars than anyone - 4 plus 2 for WWII films for the Navy where he was a Rear Admiral - he was at Omaha Beach on D-Day

The 1940’s • White Heat, 1949 • James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmund O’Brien • Inspired by real life gangster “Ma” Barker & her sons • Film was Cagney’s return to the gangster role • Anticipates the documentary realism of 1950’s crime films • Cagney’s last great role • Film contains increased violence and Freudian psychological overtones as well as elements from Greek tragedy (Oedipus)

The 1940’s • Raoul Walsh, 1887-1980 • 52 year career spanning early silents to the 1960’s • Assistant to D.W. Griffith & was in Birth of a Nation • Discovered John Wayne • Known for his quick pacing in films – an “action” director • Invented the Point of view shot

The 1940’s

Griffith’s Birth of a Nation & Walsh’s Regeneration (both 1915) From Senses of Cinema

The 1940’s

The 1930’s • James Cagney, 1889-1986 • Quintessential “tough guy” but also an accomplished singer & dancer • Retired in 1961 did 2 more films in the 80’s • Films include: – The Public Enemy, Each Dawn I Die, White Heat, The Roaring Twenties, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mister Roberts, One, Two, Three