It’s hardly news that the movie business hasn’t been exactly boffo this year. Glenn linked to a Edward Jay Epstein article in Slate the other day that made exactly that point. Michael Medved, who’s been beating this drum for quite some time, suggests “It’s the values, stupid”. I thought it might be fun to go back a few years and see what we could learn from the movies that did big box-office in the past.
1942
Who can forget the gorgeous (and dignified) Greer Garson’s portrayal of Mrs. Miniver, gallantly holding her family together in the opening days of World War II? And beauty isn’t just measurements alone: what a voice! Better than the scratchy-voiced high school cheerleaders in desperate need of a speech pathologist that so many of our actresses are these days.
Remember Jimmy Cagney as George M. Cohan tap-dancing down the White House staircase after having received the Medal of Honor for his contributions to morale in World War I for writing Over There? “Don’t you know the words?”
John Wayne (not playing a cowboy or a soldier this time) portrays a daring sea captain—shipwrecks, deep-sea diving, fighting giant squids, chasing after the rather salty Paulette Goddard
And, of course, other big pictures included Bambi—talking animals are a crowd-pleaser—and Holiday Inn—pretty girls singing and dancing are always good, particularly when the movie includes one of the top-selling songs of all time (White Christmas).
1943
Let’s see. The glorification of war and giving your life for a cause not to mention the stalwart Gary Cooper and the luminous Ingrid Bergman proving conclusively that you don’t have to take your clothes off on-screen to be incredibly sexy.
Did Bernadette actually see the Blessed Virgin? Who cares? It’s a story of the transformative power of religious faith and, as a plus, stars the stunningly beautiful Jennifer Jones.
A flag-waver with plenty of singing and dancing.
Not to mention Stage Door Canteen (servicemen, pretty girls, lots of singing and dancing) and Casablanca—that sacrifice for a cause is so corny, isn’t it?
1944
Going My Way was the top-grossing picture of 1944. Once again, the transformative power of religious faith (not to mention some great singing and a hit song).
Judy Garland could really sing, couldn’t she?
This is the story of the “Doolittle Raid” on Tokyo in the early days of World War II. Again, we’ve got gallant heroes and self-sacrifice.
I don’t honestly know whether Jack Warner, Sam Goldwyn, and Louis B. Mayer were actually patriotic (maybe) or religious (probably not) but it’s pretty well documented that they were interested in making money so perhaps we can learn some lessons from the themes that they were tapping into.
These weren’t new or revolutionary ideas. In fact look at a few of the big hits from 2,000 years ago: the Aeneid (brave heroes, war), the New Testament (the transforming power of religious faith), and Aesop’s Fables (talking animals). And pretty girls singing and dancing have been popular since the beginning of time.
A big difference between the motion pictures back in the 1940’s and the motion pictures of today is that you could confidently take the whole family to the pictures back then. Not so today. That limits when you go and how often you go.
But that stuff is so cornball! We’re, oh, so much more sophisticated now. Maybe not.
2004
Talking animals
Brave heroes
The transformative power of religious faith.
UPDATE: Submitted to the Beltway Traffic Jam.
Thanks for the run-down dave, i just requested Reap the Wild Wind from the library. i love those sea pictures. aj