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The Golden Age of Television


By Karri Owens


According to many experts and people the golden era of Hollywood was during 1930's and 1940's when the industry was thriving. But a majority of experts agree that although 30's brought in the commercial success though the actual golden age from artistic point of view began in 1920s itself in the event it drew talent from all around the globe. Before this period Hollywood was just like any other film making locations however it was after First World War that it created a niche for itself in the world. The obvious reason was the magnitude of damage the European countries suffered in the World War and subsequent economic hardships faced by them thus affecting the film industry. Prior to the advent of Hollywood as a top destination Germany was the most famous destination known for its artistic excellence. America taken advantage of the fact that it suffered relatively less casualties and lack of property compared to European Nations.

The favorite names during the Golden Era were Clark Cable, Bette Davis, Charlie Chaplin, Bing Crosby, Spencer Tracy, Bob Hope, Ingrid, Judy Garland, Bergman, James Cagney, Jennifer Jones, Taxation, Elizabeth Taylor and Cary Gran, the list is endless. These actors had become the house hold names during the entire country in 1930's and 1940's. The film industry within this era was so wealthy and powerful that studios like Paramount, MGM, Universal, 20th Century Fox and RKO kept adding more buildings with their studios. More than 7,000 films were released by these studios during the period of 1930's and 1940's. More than 75 million people flocked to view at least one film in a week in the peak years of Hollywood.

Also in this era the nation saw threats on account of Second World War. When soon this threat become reality the presidents of these studios took this being an opportunity to make films that could bond countrymen together during these tough and dreadful years. They made many patriotic movies involving actors like Betty Grable and Van Johnson. These movies in ways also helped the war efforts. Independent of the movies there were numerous short films and documentaries made.

A number of the famous movies of the golden era include Memphis Belle: A narrative of a Flying Fortress directed by William Wyler, Howard Hawks directed movies Sergeant York, To own and Have Not. The commonality of all the movies of golden era was that most of the movies ended on a happy note and patriotic ardor, which was liked by the people also. The movies made during the 1940's are referred to as "film noir" which in the literary context means "dark films". The films were mostly pessimistic with tough male protagonist who was also a cynic and female protagonist could be attractive woman leading the males with a disastrous situation. Few instances of the Film Noir are Stranger on the Third Floor directed by Boris Ingster, High Sierra directed by Raoul Walsh, Shadow of an Doubt directed by Alfred Hitchcock and The Maltese Falcon directed by John Huston.

The comedies were also popular in that era, the main feature with the comedies were duos forming during this period. Some of the famous duos of actors were Bob Hope and Bing Crosby famous for movie Road to Singapore, Abbott and Costello, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The films that portrayed the lives of the westerns during the era were also well-liked by the people some of the examples being Fort Apache and he or she wore a Yellow Ribbon. But as soon as these movies were released the undoing of the Hollywood has already begun because of the effects of the war, depression and arrival of television just to be not able to recover again.




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