The attractive appeal of Old Hollywood movies.

Throughout the semester, we were introduced to a long list of influential films, most of which fall under the French New Waves theme. Though the films by Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut were undoubtedly charming and captivating, I found Old Hollywood movies more attractive. Only a few were shown in class (Citizen Kane, Detour, and Rope), but I found myself drawn to them due to how significantly different the way movies are produced then and now. 

I have always been a huge fan of modern, new, and innovative Hollywood movies; I’ve never given much thought to Old Hollywood. My knowledge of it back then consisted of knowing movies are black and white, and most are probably Western. But I’m happy that I was proven wrong. My first introduction to Old Hollywood would be Casablanca. It was 2018, and I was on a mission to watch every single one of America’s most classic romances. Thus, it’s inevitable that I stumble across Casablanca. I remember being immediately hypnotized by the way the two leads carry the scenes, their chemistry off the roof, and most importantly - their way of speaking.

Up to this point, I’ve been fed with nothing but postmodern products with actors/actresses delivering their lines casually to ensure realism. Thus, witnessing the way characters in Casablanca speak every word with poise, it’s like I’m watching a theatrical play instead of a film. The lines and writings were simple, yes, but it’s the way it was delivered that made Old Hollywood so special to me. The same goes for Rope and Detour. Maybe it was the type of characters that were popularized back then because all of these movies are led by a male character, and the majority of them are rich, classy, and charismatic but have some sort of unresolved problems that are the main plot of the film. The way they deliver the lines is so satisfying and interesting to me because, again, I’m still new to Old Hollywood, so it’s certainly a pleasant change of wind. 

Another big element in Old Hollywood movies that I’ve noticed is the innovative cinematography. I have written an essay on Citizen Kane due to how captivating the usage of shadows and blocking in it previously, so I’ll focus more on Rope and Detour in this piece. For Rope, the biggest technique used would be utilizing one-shots. There are significantly fewer cuts on this film compared to all others I’ve seen, and that’s incredible. Long one-shots are famously used in postmodern films. I’m just a little surprised to see this in Old Hollywood, but at the same time, I’m not because it’s Alfred Hitchcock. It’s famously a difficult technique because there has to be a lot of planning ahead, and if even the smallest detail goes wrong, then they’d have to re-shoot the entire sequence from the start. So it’s not just a lot of hard work from people behind the scenes but also a lot of pressure on the actors and actresses.

It’s always amazing to see how the scene plays out with one-shot technique, but Rope just absolutely nailed it. There’s this great scene in the beginning when Brandon goes to keep the rope he and Phillip used to kill David in the kitchen cabinet. The camera stills as we see the kitchen door open and close repeatedly, and during that, we see him holding the rope and dropping it into the cabinet between each movement from the door. It’s a brilliant composition that no doubt would take quite some time to perfect. I wouldn’t say there are many experimental angles used in the film; most of them are mid-shots and wide shots. I do love some of the scenes where wide shots are used to show the amazing apartment and the party guests, it felt almost cozy and familiar despite the fact that a murder had just taken place there. Detour also includes very subtle but great application of cinematography techniques like the usage of shadows due to this movie being filmed in black and white. There are a lot of match cuts of circle-like objects like the cup of coffee in the film where the main character had just witnessed a death, stole their car, accidentally killed someone,  and contemplated whether or not he should be in jail. 

Though Rope is mainly shot in one-shots, there are a few noticeable hidden cuts. For example, most of the cuts are when the camera pans down to one character’s back and closes up on it, letting the black screen linger for a moment before panning up again. It’s simple yet very effective to show how seamless the cuts are and doesn’t disrupt the scene. There’s also the part when Rupert wants to open the chest to see what’s inside and the camera closes up to the back of the chest and up again. It’s an interesting movement of the camera that also adds to the dynamic of the movie overall - it’s always better to include more movement and just still shots, something I find very common in Old Hollywood films. 

Overall, I find old Hollywood movies to be incredibly interesting and unique - it’s something that I now have the opportunity to appreciate and will continue to do in the future.