Millions of movie lovers have long memories, which is why classic vintage films—many in crisp black and white—remain so popular. And lots of us also delight in learning about behind-the-scenes tidbits from Hollywood’s 1930s-1960s Golden Age.
One small example: Vivien Leigh, the Academy Award-winning Best Actress for Gone With the Wind, was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor in Elephant Walk (1954). Yet, squint and you’ll still see Leigh in many of the movie’s long shots.
To serious cinephiles, there’s more to movies than what finally ends up on the big screen. Indeed, much of our interest concerns what goes into making a particular film—such as its name, choosing a believable cast, capable director, authentic locations, top writers, inspired screenplay, soundtrack music and believable special effects.
My deep interest in these aspects of filmmaking began to develop in the decade after my mother took me to my first movies—1943’s Stormy Weather and Cabin in the Sky, which featured all-black casts, at Milwaukee’s Regal Theater at Seventh and Walnut streets. I found myself yearning to know about the who, what, why, when, where and how of filmmaking. What I still crave, more than anything else, is originality and honesty.
Along with many cinema buffs, l also love learning when the life experience of a filmmaker finds its way onto the screen. A notable example is 1971’s scorching The French Connection, a Best Picture winner at the Oscars. In it, New York City detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, whose work defined the story, had small, but important roles.
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Major films that are in-depth looks into larger-than-life figures always have intrigued many of us. A prime example was Orson Welles’ stunning Citizen Kane (1941) based on newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. In the 1960 take on the Scopes Monkey Trial, Inherit the Wind, Spencer Tracy (as Henry Drummond) channeled high-powered attorney Clarence Darrow, and Fredric March (as Matthew Harrison Brady), did likewise with politician William Jennings Bryan.
One of my recent pet peeves concerns 2014’s The Imitation Game about World War II computer whiz Alan Turing. A fine film, it copped eight Oscar nominations, including Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Best Supporting Actress (Keira Knightley). But I was amazed that none of the many reviews I read noted the 1996 BBC-version Breaking the Code with the great Derek Jacobi and a fine supporting cast of Amanda Root, Prunella Scales, Richard Johnson and Harold Pinter.
Truly sensitive work by the talented, since-knighted Sir Derek, earned him a well-deserved BAFTA Best Actor nomination. And in my view, Jacobi’s performance was superior to that of Cumberbatch in the 2014 movie.
By the same token, there is righteous angst over woeful remakes of quality films from the days of yore, and use of the same names (with different storylines) of earlier films. This is because most remakes (termed these days as “reboots”) are far inferior. Some may ascribe this, along with purloining previous movie names, to lack of creativity.
Recent examples of the former are The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), a silly take on 1974’s sizzling original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three; The Thing (2011), which fell short of both 1951’s terrifying black-and-white predecessor and 1982’s color remake; 3:10 to Yuma (2007), a dud next to 1957’s brooding, black-and-white gem; The Omen (2006), a gory flop compared to the scary 1976 version; and The Manchurian Candidate (2004), a botched version of 1962’s black-and-white beauty.
Finally, computer-generated images so prevalent these days look really phony. Many of us still long for the kind of special effects and makeup used in the original versions of Frankenstein (1931), King Kong (1933), The Hurricane (1937), The Wolf Man (1941), The War of the Worlds (1953) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).
To be fair, there have been neat CGI-oriented vehicles, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Star Wars (1977). But they are too creative and imaginative to be equaled today.
