# Have movies always been the way they are? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-movies-always-been-the-way-they-are/459696 "2008-08-12T01:35:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-movies-always-been-the-way-they-are/459696/21 "2008-08-13T07:18:39Z")
Am I wrong for wanting to see a movie titled “I Married A Savage”? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-movies-always-been-the-way-they-are/459696/22 "2008-08-13T08:23:02Z")
Kenneth Anger’s _Escape Episode_ is/was a short. _Brother Martin: Servant of Jesus_ was a “major studio release”? If your doubt my figures, look at the _American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures_. For each film released in the period 1931-1960, the AFI denotes in its catalog whether they watched a print of the film in preparing their summary of the story and list of credits. Take the year 1941, for example: 534 American features were released. The only titles the AFI did _not_ watch in preparing their catalog were: The Big Boss (Columbia), Caught in the Act (PRC), Cavalcade of Faith (doc.), Country Fair (Republic), The Deadly Game (Monogram), Double Trouble (Monogram), Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime (Columbia), Four Shall Die (state rights), Golden Gate Girl (Golden Gate), The Great Swindle (Columbia), Harvard, Here I Come (Columbia), In the Land of the Navajo (doc.), Inside Russia (doc.), Mazel Tov Yidden (Cinema Service), The Medico of Painted Springs (Columbia), Min Jok Jay Hung Sing (Grandview), Mr. District Attorney (Republic), Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case (Republic), Mystery Ship (Columbia), The Officer and the Lady (Columbia), Ten Ostatni (Polonaise), The Pinto Kid (Columbia), The Pittsburgh Kid (Republic), Prairie Stranger (Columbia), Public Enemies (Republic), Richest Man in Town (Columbia), Rookies on Parade (Republic), The Royal Mounted Patrol (Columbia), San Antonio Rose (Universal), Scattergood Baines (RKO), The Shark Woman (World), She Knew All the Answers (Columbia), Stolen Paradise (Monogram), They Dare Not Love (Columbia), Thunder Over the Prairie (Columbia), Tillie the Toiler (Columbia), Under Age (Columbia), Up Jumped the Devil (Consolidated), Wheels Across India (doc.), Wiejskie Wesele (doc.), Z Dymem Pozarów (Filmy Polskie). In other words, the AFI watched 493 of 534 titles (92%). Of the 41 features that they did not watch, most do exist, even though a viewing print was not available to the AFI at the time. Only 7 of the 41 are not known to exist in any archive or private collection. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-movies-always-been-the-way-they-are/459696/23 "2008-08-13T23:10:30Z")
There’s a huge issue here, which is that you just can’t compare modern and classic films. Harryhausen is remembered as one of the gods of special effects, but honestly, whose belief was ever truly suspended while his creatures were on screen? I saw _Clash of the Titans_ when I was about six, and I giggled through most of it. The only convincing creature was that demigod fellow who was turned into a horned, tailed monster and tried to nail Andromeda… and he was just a person in makeup. I saw _Star Wars_ when I was about eight, and I was quite convinced that they really _had_ built a Star Destroyer- although the aliens were still a bit goofy. I saw _The Fellowship of the Ring_ when I was… sixteen, maybe. And I believed in every monster, cityscape and vista. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-movies-always-been-the-way-they-are/459696/24 "2008-08-13T23:26:02Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus] And THEN the trailers (that’s why they are called trailers - they trailed AFTER the movie). [/QUOTE] Thank you, thank you, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-movies-always-been-the-way-they-are/459696/25 "2008-08-13T23:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Sound RUINED movies! Before that an actor had to EMOTE but now all he has to do is jabber with another actor and you get stuck with pretty boys and girls with nice voices instead of ACTORS! Sound is a crutch that wrecked good story telling and the extra cost means Hollywood can never again afford to make a movie with the size and dramatic sweep of a “Birth of a Nation.” [/QUOTE] “We didn’t need dialogue…We had FACES!” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-movies-always-been-the-way-they-are/459696/26 "2008-08-13T23:41:56Z")
When _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ came out, I took my Dad to see it, after I had seen it once. When it was over, I asked him how he liked it, and he said that it was great. I asked how it compared to the “serials” he used to watch as a kid - he used to always talk about how great it was to be able to see a movie for a nickel. He said that there was no comparison - in every way ROTLA was a superior movie - acting, story, special effects. There were lots of good movies made before the advent of TV, but there are still lots of good movies made. Maybe even a higher percentage of good ones. If you look at [AFI’s top 100](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI's_100_Years..._100_Movies_(10th_Anniversary_Edition)) list, almost 50% were made since 1960. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-movies-always-been-the-way-they-are/459696.md?page=1)