Index Of Hollywood Movies
The early Hollywood film industry was founded by upstarts, including many Eastern European Jewish immigrants. They took advantage of America's booming immigrant population
Hollywood is Founded in 1911
The Birth of a Nation (1915) .The first feature length film; a controversial but highly influential and innovative silent film directed by D.W. Griffith. It demonstrated the power of film propaganda and revived the KKK.
The film industry leading up to the Hollywood Golden Age began in the early 1900's when the medium was taking its first breath.
Before the year 1927, all movies were silent.
The first film to include sound was The Jazz Singer, a exuberant but controversial musical.
Frank Capra the Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who worked his way from Los Angeles's Italian ghetto to become the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s.
Howard Hawkes the American film director, screenwriter and producer of the classic hollywood era. He is popular for his films from a wide range of genres such as Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), The Thing from Another World (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and Rio Bravo (1959).
Orson Welles the American actor, director, writer and producer who worked in theater, radio and film. He is best remembered for his innovative work in all three media, most notably Caesar (1937), a groundbreaking Broadway adaptation of Julius Caesar and the debut of the Mercury Theatre; The War of the Worlds (1938), one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio; and Citizen Kane (1941), consistently ranked as one of the all-time greatest films.
Elia Kazan introduced a new generation of unknown young actors to the movie audiences, including Marlon Brando and James Dean. He directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He directed a string of successful films, including, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), and East of Eden (1955).
Billy Wilder the American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age.
Ernst Lubitsch the German American actor, screenwriter, producer and film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director.
John Ford was famous for both his Westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Ford directed more than 140 films.
The great achievement of American cinema is Walt Disney's animation. In 1937, Disney created the most successful film of its time, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Influence of the Cold War on Hollywood
Former President Roosevelt established a Bureau of Motion Picture Affairs to mobilize the studios for the national defense effort. Hollywood responded by creating the War Activities Committee to coordinate American filmmaking activity with the propaganda and morale-boosting programs of the government.
From 1941-1945, the Army/Navy entity were involved in the production of documentary films designed to explain and justify the war. Major Hollywood directors such as Frank Capra, John Ford and a few others were recruited into the armed forces to operate these programs. The films they created collectively are among the most outstanding documentaries in the history of the form.
Hollywood enjoyed the most profitable 4-year period in its history during the war.
Index of Social Impact movies
The Birth of a Nation (1915) Created large movie audience across economic classes; set precedent for films causing widespread public debate; inspired revival of Ku Klux Klan and provided rallying point to strengthen newly formed NAACP; set precedent for extra-long films; and created demand for lavish and large-capacity "movie palaces." Interpreted by many as blatantly racist (both then and now), its controversial content has made showings rare for the past half-century, outside an academic context.
The Jazz Singer (1927) Created demand for talking pictures, which would rapidly replace silent films; established template for musical film drama. As with Birth of a Nation, its content—the main character's career is rooted in the now-obsolete blackface tradition—makes it difficult for modern audiences to watch without understanding its historical context.
Psycho (1960) Set precedent for popular mainstream horror films that depicted previously avoided material, sympathizing with the villain and killing off protagonists before the film is half over.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Reached a wide audience, first theatrically and thereafter in numerous classrooms, with the message that racial bigotry is wrong.
Easy Rider (1969) Set precedent that independent, youth-oriented films dealing with contemporary issues of drugs and sex could reach a wide audience and make a profit.
The Godfather (1972) Legitimized organized crime families in the minds of movie viewers as typical human beings trying to make a living, even if they were outside the law, creating a new wave of gangster films with a new approach to their characters.
Jaws (1975) Created a demand for "wide releases" of summer blockbuster films that would open everywhere at once, rather than travel from city to city over the course of a year, as had been the prevailing practice.
Do the Right Thing (1989) Created heated debate as to its ultimate meaning—whether racial violence can be justifiable or is a tragic extreme to be avoided—in any case forcing its viewers to think about its issues.
Schindler's List (1993) Created a wider public awareness of the Holocaust; demonstrated that a film shot in black and white, with a heavy topic, could still find a wide audience.
Philadelphia (1993) Created widespread public sympathy for an openly homosexual character, partly by casting a popular star against type as its protagonist.
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) Proved that an overtly political propaganda film could find a wide audience far beyond its perceived limited demographics, despite and perhaps because of the debate it generated about its assertions and motives.
The Passion of the Christ (2004) Proved that a film dealing with religious faith, with graphically depicted violence, and a foreign-language soundtrack could both generate widespread public debate about those factors and find a wide viewing audience.
Brokeback Mountain (2005) Helped propagate sympathetic public awareness that suppressed homosexual tendencies may be more widespread than a stereotyped "gay community."
Index Of Top 50 Highest Grossing Movies Worldwide
- Avatar
- Titanic
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Jurassic World
- The Avengers
- Furious 7
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
- Frozen
- Beauty and the Beast
- Fate of the Furious
- Iron Man 3
- Minions
- Captain America: Civil War
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Skyfall
- Transformers: Age of Extinction
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Toy Story 3
- Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides
- Despicable Me 3
- Jurassic Park
- Finding Dory
- Star Wars Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace
- Alice in Wonderland
- Zootopia
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- The Dark Knight
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone
- Despicable Me 2
- The Lion King
- The Jungle Book
- Pirates of the Carrbean: At World's End
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
- Finding Nemo
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Shrek 2
- Harry Potter and the Goblit of Fire
- Spider-Man 3
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
- Spectre
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Index Of The Best Movies Of All Time
- A-Team
- Land of the Lost
- Commando
- Megamind
- RED
- Shawshank Redemption
- Return of the King
- Battle:Los Angeles
- Die Hard
- Independance Day
- What Lies Beneath
- The Fifth Element
- Kung Fu Panda
- Avatar
- Prisoner of Azkaban
- Benchwarmers
- Starship Troopers
- Anchorman
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Predator
- Blades Of Glory
- Iron Man
- G.I.JOE Rise of Cobra
- Sherlock Holmes
- Transformers
The 1950s were the Golden Age of Indian cinema (Bollywood). With hundreds of films made every year, Hindi films had Bombay (now called Mumbai) as its production center. Many of those movies were, and still are, mostly musicals with very popular singers and dancers. Indian cinema themes included impossible love between different casts, dramatic family dynamics, mythology and spiritual lessons, and of course romantic comedies. They were immensely popular with mass audiences in the national market.
In addition to the commercial mainstream Hindi films, a new movement was born in this decade; it was called Parallel Cinema. Considered India's version of Social Realism, this movement was concern with the social and political situation of India, treating characters and plot with realism. Although much less commercial than the Hindi films, it reached international exposure thanks to filmmakers like Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak.
Inspired by the Italian Neorealism and French Poetic Realism, Ray's work brought international attention when his film Pather Panchali (1955) won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. After his movie Aparajito (1957) won the Venice Film Festival, he considered a third film to complete what was called The Apu Trilogy; the film was titled The world of Apu (1958). Although he worked with musicians like Ravi Shankar, he also composed the score of many of his movies.
The most common genres in movies are comedies, action films, and dramas. Within each genre, there are numerous subgenres. For example, some comedies are romantic comedies. In the movie industry, it is often very important that a movie falls into a particular genre, because many viewers want to know what type of movie they are going to see before they see it.
British Cinema
The late 1950s and the 1960s are considered the Golden Age of British Cinema. The beginning of this period is marked by darkness and anger, but as the decade progressed so did British films. Many of these movies were being recognized internationally. The London studios were busy and multiple co-productions were being made.
The movies made in the UK can be divided between the simply commercial films and films with a social conscience. In the first category are the numerous horror movies that were very profitable and made actor Christopher Lee a household name. The movies made with a social conscience belong to the Free Cinema movement and the Kitchen Sink Realism.
With a long tradition of documentaries that goes back to the 1930s, the Free Cinema movement began in the mid 1950s. Inspired by Italian Neorealism, this movement was responsible for a series of personal documentaries on working class life. Filmmakers Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz and Lindsay Anderson are the most prominent names.
After their experience making documentaries, filmmakers Richardson, Reisz and Anderson got inspired by the French New Wave and began to write on the British film magazine Sequence. Between 1958-63 those filmmakers gave birth to what has been called Kitchen Sink Realism, also called the British New Wave, and at times the Angry Young Man movement. All those names referred to a series of black and white movies about working class life, homosexuality and abortion. These stories were told with a stark style and a social consciousness.
Some of the characteristics of Kitchen Sink Realism were small budget movies shot on locations with unknown actors. They incorporated a realistic style of acting, based on Method Acting, with non-literary dialogue. Kitchen Sink films depicted the positive and negative aspects of their characters and their sexual lives. Like the French movies, they adopted a left-liberal hostility towards the Establishment sometimes staged in sporting events and violent scenes.
Among the most representative films of this period are Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Anderson's This Sporting Life (1963), and Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960).
The group dissolved after the success of Richardson's Tom Jones (1963). While in color, this film has some of the same self-conscious devices used by the French New Wave, including addressing the camera and unconventional editing.