Film Classics 1930s-1960s

6. Some things that were considered normal at the beginning of this period of films were the censoring of nudity and sexual or romantic relations. The man was always the head of the household, except when they went off to war but once they got back they were head of the house again. Women being perceived as sexy and nothing else was also normal. On the other hand, some abnormal or deviant things were men dancing like Elvis. The “rebellious teen” stereotype was shown a lot in this period of movies. Another thing that was kind of new was a bunch of very controversial movies were being filmed all over the world. Some had nudity and abuse, others showed queer representation.

13. There were many American Auteurs in history, but I will name a few from this period. Ida Lupino was the only female in the Screen Directors Guild. She claims that she was “never meant to be a director”. Alfred Hitchcock was and is still known for making suspense and horror films. Fred Zimmerman attributed to the Western genre with his films High Noon and From Here to Eternity. Budd Boetticher was also making films for the Western genre. Roger Corman was also an American Auteur. He was a director of the crime-horror-science-fiction crossover genre. However, he was an original camp director.

14. HUAC stands for House of Un-American Activities and was formed in 1938 because a former communist testified that some actors in Hollywood were doing things with the communist interest in mind. Some of the accused actors were James Cagney, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Miriam Hopkins, and Shirley Temple. Walt Disney was also naming names of his actors and workers stating that they were potentially involved in the communist party. There was then a loyalty oath that all members of HUAC were asked to sign.