Many consider 1939 to be Hollywood's greatest year ever. The best movies included The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach and Gone With the Wind. Few years in movie history are quite as beloved as 1939.
1939 is considered by many to be the best year in movie history, and when you look at all the classics that were released, it's hard to argue against it.
Many critics, film historians and movie buffs view 1939 as the single greatest year in the history of cinema. The Hollywood studio scene was booming and unrest in Europe saw European talent pouring into California.
Why is the 1930's considered the golden age of film?
During the 1930s, the entire film industry transformed and “Hollywood” became synonymous with big studio pictures and became the standard for movies around the world. Films became cheaper to produce as studios vertically integrated the production process, which allowed the price of film attendance to go down.
From the rise of auteur directors to the emergence of the New Hollywood movement, the 1970s saw groundbreaking films that continue to captivate audiences and influence modern cinema. The era was characterized by social and political relevance, genre innovation, and the talent of visionary filmmakers and actors.
Hollywood's Golden Age finally came to an end due to two main factors: antitrust actions, and the invention of television. The iconic Hollywood sign. Reprinted from Hollywood 1940 – 2008 by Marc Wanamaker (pg. 19, Arcadia Publishing, 2009).
Rodgers and Hammerstein pioneer a new form of narrative storytelling that brings a new age of musical classics. "Oklahoma!" the first Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway collaboration, opens to rave reviews. It enchants wartime audiences and will run for 2,212 performances.
It then became characteristic of American cinema during the Golden Age of Hollywood, between roughly 1927 (with the advent of sound film) to 1969. It eventually became the most powerful and pervasive style of filmmaking worldwide.
These were five major film studios that were responsible for the classical Hollywood system. They included Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., Paramount, Fox, and RKO. All of which were "vertically integrated" meaning that production, distribution, and exhibition were handled "in-house."
Movie palaces shuttered, once mighty studios closed down and some of Hollywood's greatest actors, directors and screenwriters stopped making films. It was the end of an era and television was to blame: the new technology effectively killed Hollywood's Golden Age.
The New Hollywood, also known as American New Wave or Hollywood Renaissance, was a movement in American film history from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of filmmakers came to prominence.
Some critics and movie fans regard the 1960s and 1970s as a second Golden Age of Hollywood, as the old studio system of the 1930s completely broke down and restrictions on sexual content, obscenity and violence loosened.
The Roaring 20s introduced us to the magic of silent films, the Golden Age showcased Hollywood's star power, the 1970s revolutionized storytelling, and the 1980s and 1990s brought us larger-than-life blockbusters. The modern era continues to push boundaries and explore new frontiers.
Did you know that A Visit to the Seaside (1908) was the first commercially produced film in natural color? This eight-minute British short film used the Kinemacolor process to capture Brighton Southern England seafront shots.
Only three films have won all five of these major awards: It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Eight films failed to win any of the five major awards after being nominated.
Big Five movie studios (Paramount, Fox, Warner, RKO, and MGM) were supreme rulers of the US movie industry between the late 20s and 50s, dominating the theaters and creating around 700 movies at the height of the short movie popularity in the 1920s.
This Golden Age is when the cinema experienced great advancement in picture quality and sound. This is exactly why many people even refer to it as the “talkies” - as movies now were produced with moving scenes and sound was possible.
Generally speaking, the golden years begin at age 65 and last until age 80 and beyond. However, some experts question whether “golden years” still belongs in our vocabulary because the time span and definition of retirement have changed over the past half-century. “Older Americans live longer now than they did in 1960.
Hollywood was laid out as a subdivision in 1887 by Harvey Wilcox, who was a prohibitionist from Kansas. However, real-estate magnate H.J. Whitley transformed Hollywood into a wealthy and popular residential area. Hollywood became a municipality in 1903 and was incorporated into Los Angeles in 1910.
A few of them include Oklahoma Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, the Sound of Music. Those are considered their most successful musicals in mainstream theater. And the biggest difference they did here was Richard Rodgers allowed Oscar Hammerstein to craft the lyrics into a fundamental part of the story.
before Grease have used the common pattern of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back, and Grease is no exception. But Grease premiered in 1971, “during a shift in musical theatre history sometimes referred to as the 'fall' of the golden age musical” (Noonan 185).
The “golden age” of Broadway was no exception. The period of the 1940s and 1950s was a tumultuous period in American history: The role of women was shifting, people were becoming more open to new styles of music, dance, art, and architecture, and World War II affected virtually every aspect of American culture.
Hollywood started to capture films digitally in the 2000s, but it wasn't until 2013 that digitally shot films were more common than celluloid productions.
