Three to watch: “The Public Enemy” (1931), “Little Caeser” (1930), “Scarface” (1932)
";
ENT_Depression_era_films[i++] = new Array("","Screwball comedies","","http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081110-DVD-bringing-baby.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Turner Home Ent.", "298", "215", "", "", "", "", "");
ENT_Depression_era_films[i-1].body = "
Feeling down and out? Nothing was more effective at lifting a mood than the screwball comedies of the 1930s. They also transported viewers to the world of the wealthy, used quick-paced dialogue, and had female characters who were the equal (and often got the better of) their male counterparts. Whether it was Mae West or Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant just didn’t stand a chance. In the “Thin Man” series, Nick (William Powell) and Nora (Myrna Loy) could down a gallon of martinis but still have the wherewithal to solve a murder. The screwball comedies of the 1930s made life feel fun again. And when you’re working hard to make your dollar stretch, an escape into a world with no such worries was undoubtedly a pleasure.
Three to watch: “Bringing Up Baby” (1938), “The Thin Man” (1934), “Topper” (1937)
";
ENT_Depression_era_films[i++] = new Array("","Horror","","http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081110-DVD-Frankenstein.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Universal", "298", "215", "", "", "", "", "");
ENT_Depression_era_films[i-1].body = "
There’s nothing like being scared. If a horror film is good, it pulls you out of your day-to-day life, so that you exist only in the moments of the film. You react with the characters. And those bursts of fear are transporting. Was there anything more scary than the economic uncertainty of the Great Depression? Probably not, but Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff provided enough jump-in-your-seats frights to make you forget about your worries at least for the length of the movie. The special effects (primarly makeup), which may seem primitive today, probably felt as real as today’s CGI to audiences of the 1930s. And these visions have lasted. When we picture Frankenstein’s monster today, we’re still thinking of the creature from James Whale’s 1931 film.
Three to watch: “Frankenstein” (1931), “Dracula” (1931), “Freaks” (1932)
";
ENT_Depression_era_films[i++] = new Array("","Musicals","","http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081110-DVD-top-hat.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Turner Home Ent.", "298", "211", "", "", "", "", "");
ENT_Depression_era_films[i-1].body = "
Is there anything more transporting that watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers dance? Even today, I defy you to not give in to a good mood after watching “Top Hat” or “Swing Time.” Whether they are Busby Berkeley-choreographed spectaculars such as “42nd Street” or “Gold Diggers of 1933,” or romantic comedies set to music, such as “The Gay Divorcee,” these musicals gave audiences a taste of the good life. As with the screwball comedies of the time, the men wore tuxedos and the women wore gowns dripping with jewels. Musicals provided the ultimate in vicarious living. Their boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back storylines were almost an afterthought to the lush onscreen symphony of visuals and perfect tunes penned by Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin.
Three to watch: “Top Hat” (1935), “42nd Street” (1933), “The Gay Divorcee” (1934)
";
ENT_Depression_era_films[i++] = new Array("","The Marx Brothers","","http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081110-DVD-Duck-Soup.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Universal", "298", "220", "", "", "", "", "");
ENT_Depression_era_films[i-1].body = "
What made the Marx Brothers so special? Perhaps it was lines from Groucho, such as:
“I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.”
Or an exchange between Groucho and Chico:
“That's in every contract, that's what you call a sanity clause.”
“You can't a fool a me there ain't no sanity clause.”
One thing was certain, if you went to a Marx Brothers movie, you would laugh. Guaranteed. And the Marx Brothers always got the best of the upper class. They were the interlopers with attitude who could say everything you wish you could say to “the man” and even some stuff you never would have thought of. The brothers proved that Great Depression was not without its laughs.
Three to watch: “Animal Crackers” (1930), “Duck Soup” (1933), “A Day at the Races” (1937)
";
ENT_Depression_era_films[i++] = new Array("","Adventure","","http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081110-DVD-captain-blood.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Warner Home Video", "298", "210", "", "", "", "", "");
ENT_Depression_era_films[i-1].body = "
For ordinary folks, global travel wasn't much of an option during the Great Depression. But the movies offered worlds of adventure for just a quarter. Errol Flynn swashbuckled his way through films such as “Captain Blood,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and “The Prince and the Pauper.” Clark Gable rode the high seas in “Mutiny on the Bounty.” Spencer Tracy played a Mexican sailor who gave a spoiled boy a taste of real life in “Captains Courageous.” Adventure heroes tended to be the underdogs – fighting against cruel oppressors who were easy to root against. Movies about robbing from the rich and giving to the poor were the perfect backdrop for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt era.
Three to watch: “Muntiny on the Bounty” (1935), “Captain Blood” (1935), “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938)
";
ENT_Depression_era_films[i++] = new Array("","Hitchcock","","http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081110-DVD-39-steps.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Westlake Ent.", "298", "210", "", "", "", "", "");
ENT_Depression_era_films[i-1].body = "
Alfred Hitchcock was still making films in Britain during the 1930s, but these early films struck a nerve with American audiences ready to taste his brand of suspense. Early films, such as “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and “The 39 Steps,” told conspiracy-laden, cloak-and-dagger stories about assassination, innocent victims, corrupt government officials and secret agents. Later films, such as “The Lady Vanishes,” about a woman who simply vanishes from a train, were purer suspense films. The films’ foreign settings and complicated plots provided a combination of escape and a feast for the mind. You could walk into a theater and find yourself pulled into an incredibly intricate mystery.
Three to watch: “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1934), “The 39 Steps” (1935), “The Lady Vanishes” (1938)";
ENT_Depression_era_films[i++] = new Array("","Capra","","http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081110-DVD-smith-washington.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Sony", "298", "225", "", "", "", "", "");
ENT_Depression_era_films[i-1].body = "
Was there a better time for Frank Capra to come on the scene than during the Great Depression? He made his mark first as a director of screwball comedies, such as the classic, “It Happened One Night,” which pitted Claudette Colbert against Clark Gable in a dynamic war of the classes and sexes. His movies slowly took a political turn with films such as “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” in which a small-town rube (Gary Cooper) outsmarts the city slickers, and “You Can’t Take It With You,” in which a rich man (James Stewart) decides to marry his secretary (Jean Arthur), much to his parents’ horror. But Capra’s decade culminated with Stewart’s other performance in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” in which a small-town senator proves he can change the system. Movies to inspire a nation.
Three to watch: “It Happened One Night” (1934), “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936), “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939)";
ENT_Depression_era_films[i++] = new Array("","High drama","","http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/081110-DVD-gone-with-wind.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Warner Home Video", "298", "219", "", "", "", "", "");
ENT_Depression_era_films[i-1].body = "
Just because there were laughs, musicals and horror films during the Great Depression doesn’t mean there wasn’t drama. As in “Spinal Tap” the drama in these films went to 11. Whether it was the classic Civil War story in “Gone With the Wind,” with Scarlett’s cry of “As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again,” or Bette Davis slowly going blind in “Dark Victory,” these films never met the word subtle. But what they were was fun, romantic, suspenseful and pure escape. How many women of the time must have imagined themselves with Laurence Olivier’s Heathcliff from “Wuthering Heights” or as the dying Greta Garbo in “Camille”? What made these films epic wasn’t their settings (that would come later) but rather their take-no-prisoners performances from some of the biggest stars of the day.
Three to watch: “Gone With the Wind” (1939), “Dark Victory” (1939), “Wuthering Heights” (1939)
";
// END editorial data