100 year movies review

Written By: mike on September 3, 2010 No Comment

Movies have seduced, informed, entertained, and transported us to worlds that often haunt our dreams, and fuel our fantasies. From silent films to the talkies, movies have mirrored both the best and the worst
of the human condition in a visual medium that never ceases to hold us captive.

One Hundred Years of Movies is a kaleidoscope of films that have not only entertained its audiences, but often had a direct impact on our culture and society. One can see how the changing times have been captured on film, and many of the major historical events of the century have often received screen treatment. While their primary function is to entertain, they can also educate, enlighten, incite, and provoke thought.
From the inception of the moving images of silent films, and the genius of a Chaplain, to the widely-heard declaration of the first “talkies” that “Garbo Talks”, we were seduced. From the emotional tear-jerkers and musicals of the 30’s and 40’s and 50’s, to the sweeping wide-screen epics in cinemascope or Todd- AO, we were hooked.

One Hundred Years of Movies offers snippets of the many influential films of our times, and the many iconic stars that provided countless hours of entertainment to their fans. Who can forget Betty Davis’s warning of a “bumpy ride” in the classic -All About Eve, or the shock of Gable using the word “damn” – tame by today’s standards – in Gone With The Wind. Who can resist the sometimes smoky atmosphere of a film-noir, or the seductive close-ups of a Deitrich, Hayworth or Bacall.

How is one not mesmerized by the stark beauty of the desert scenes in Lawrence of Arabia or the sweeping epic Ben-Hur. Who hasn’t imagined themselves dancing with Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. Who can take their eyes off Brando when he yells for Stella in Streetcar Named Desire, or laments about “being somebody” in On the Waterfront.

This video can’t possibly show all the wonderful films that have been made, but it focuses on the ones that caught the public’s eye, resonated with them in some way, and have gone on to become classics.

There are wonderful scenes from the silent era of films demonstrating those pioneer filmmakers and actors who spoke volumes with their scenery and gestures , and who paved the way for an industry that has survived and thrived during the harshest of times in our history. Films offered hope when there was none. Films offered escape when it was needed. The selections must have been difficult, but the choices were perfect examples of the evolution of cinema throughout the century.

Movies permanently record the issues of our times, and in this video we are invited to take a tour down memory lane, and remember.
This is certainly one of the main functions of film: to offer a recorded testament of our times, our mores, and our dreams, and to invite us to explore, warts and all, who we are, how we got here, and where we are going.
Sylvia