The wizardry of 1939 films

Please bring back DECENT movies!

I agree with Rosemary Marziani. Most of the movies being produced today are nothing but special effects vehicles - blow 'em up, shoot 'em up and constant frenzy to appeal to only a small percentage of the populace and ignoring everyone else. Yes, money has always been the bottom line - even back in the Golden Age of Hollywood. The difference between then and now boils down to creativity going hand-in-hand with the "bottom line." Very little good writing and dialogue is evident in the films today - and talent?? That's a whole other issue. The studio system fostered talent - acting, dancing, singing, art direction, costume design - the list goes on and on. One honed their craft over a period of several years to achieve excellence. The only excellence I see now is in special effects. Everything else has gone to Hell in a handbasket.

My favorite from that year is The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Hunchback, Stagecoach, Dodge City, Union Pacific, Wizard of Oz, The Women, Gunga Din, The Man in the Iron Mask, Gone With The Wind, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex... need I go on? The best year for movies there's ever been. There have been years with bigger movies but for an entire year never has there been so many GREAT films!

Marie Lloyd wrote:

I agree with Rosemary Marziani. Most of the movies being produced today are nothing but special effects vehicles - blow 'em up, shoot 'em up and constant frenzy to appeal to only a small percentage of the populace and ignoring everyone else. Yes, money has always been the bottom line - even back in the Golden Age of Hollywood. The difference between then and now boils down to creativity going hand-in-hand with the "bottom line." Very little good writing and dialogue is evident in the films today - and talent?? That's a whole other issue. The studio system fostered talent - acting, dancing, singing, art direction, costume design - the list goes on and on. One honed their craft over a period of several years to achieve excellence. The only excellence I see now is in special effects. Everything else has gone to Hell in a handbasket.

You said "The only excellence I see now is in special effects"
I dont think so. CGI (computer graphics imagery) is pathetic at best. It looks fake. It looks like a cartoon or video game that you're watching, Not a real live action scene. Take for example, the relatively recent release of "King Kong" that just came out a few years ago. The ape, Kong, looks fake. It looks like a video game that you're watching superimposed on a screen with real adults. If you havent seen the movie, watch it and you'll see what Im talking about. The 1976 remake actually looks more real than the CGI imagery of the recent Kong movie.

Other movies abound with CGI, and most of them make you feel like you're just watching a teenager video game with the adjacent special effects.
Maybe its good for teenagers cause a lot of them just play video games all day long and when they go to the movies, seeing another video game is OKAY in their books.
But for a more seasoned audience, CGI special effects need a lot of work for improvement and just dont cut it.