INSTRUCTION NOVELTIES Besides the gangster movies there are two other genres that reached Hollywood their peak in the thirties, one IN of them is the musical that in THE S the silent film 30By JOSÉ MARTÍNEZ • Illustration by HOLLYWOOD IN THE 30S. WWW.TASCHEN.COM era kind of lost its purpose The fact we still can be surprised by a book on the Golden Ages of the and would have Hollywood cinema is a merit we should thank for to the illustrator Robert its greatest Nippoldt who, with his pencil, adds a new dimension to the illustrations we have already seen thousand times, but that are brought to new life in his work. representative in the choreographer here is so much to write about Hollywood during the bauchery, after almost hundred years, we can enjoy the provocative attire of Jean and movie thirties of the last century that it is almost impossible to Harlow, Claudette Colbert or Joan Blondell and see James Cagney, Paul Muni decide where to start. Should we mention Jean Harlow and Edward G. Robinson enjoying their roles without regretting the final scene. director Busby and her untimely death at the age of twenty-six, her pen- Besides the gangster movies there are two other genres that reached their peak cilled eyebrows like those of Marlene Dietrich or her pen- in the thirties, one of them is the musical that in the silent film era kind of lost Berkeley, chant for wearing no underwear that she mentioned in its purpose and would have its greatest representative in the choreographer the legendary phrase “Underwear makes me uncomfor- and movie director Busby Berkeley, author of the kaleidoscopic choreogra- author of the table and besides my parts have to breathe”? Or should phies representing this decade with authenticity. The other genre is the so ca- we rather write about the beautiful Carole Lombard and her early death in lled screwball comedy. Most probably ‘Bringing Up Baby’ is the most famous kaleidoscopic tan aircraft crash when returning from a campaign organised to support US movie of this genre depicting the martyr of Cary Grant trying to dodge with troops in World War II and remember the beautiful love story she had with infinite patience the harassment of the irresistible lunatic Katharine Hepburn. choreographies Clark Gable, who grief-stricken, decided to fight in Europe against the Third An actor of British nationality would be the best prototype for the screwball, Reich? If we begin we will never be finished. To help us remember all these with his never-ending lapses and surprised faces so typical of silent film; it was representing personalities living in the roaring Californian times, the Taschen publishing only in 1940 when three masterpieces entered into cinemas, ‘His Girl Friday’, house has presented one of its outstanding books with the title “Hollywood in ‘My Favourite Wife’ and ‘The Philadelphia Story’. Are there any higher offers? this decade with the 30s”. It is written by the film critic Daniel Kothenschulte and illustrated by Actually, it all starts with the great Greta Garbo, saying with her fake Swedish Robert Nippoldt who provides us with his vision of this epoch, with beautiful accent, since she spoke perfect English: “Gimme a whiskey, ginger ale on the authenticity. two-colour illustrations that make us leaf through the book again and again. side, and don’t be stingy, baby!” : this was her first sentence for the cinema in If during the roaring twenties the whole of Hollywood was like one wild party the movie ‘Anna Christie’ (1929). This line established, with its famous claim The other that can be summarized with the most famous of dozens of iconic phrases quo- “Garbo Talks! running like wild fire through the cinema world, the dominancy ted by the foul-mouthed and wonderful Tallulah Bankhead: “My father war- of the sound movie and it was the final curtain for the silent film which was genre is the so ned me about men and booze, but never mentioned a word about women and already enduring all the wrongs of the Hollywood industry. It was getting rid cocaine”, the arrival of the Great Depression calmed this stormy atmosphere of those actors with bad voices, as seen in ‘Singing in the Rain’, and also of called screwball a bit. Moreover, there was the Hays Code that was declared by law and that many others who demanded too much or who were overpaid. Nothing has practically censored all movies; although enacted in 1929, it was not put into changed. After the purge, which saved the aforementioned Garbo, John Ba- comedy practice until the mid-decade. Before this law came into force, in the so-called rrymore, Chaplin and a few others, arrived a new generation of actors from Pre-Code era of the cinema gangsters, flappers, prostitutes and scantily dressed Broadway - where they had learnt how to speak, allegedly - like Bette Davis, biblical characters filled the screens together with the political or social themes Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy. from the world of “adults”. Thanks to this little window of freedom and fun de- Although there had already been some experiments in the past deca- 68 • SPEND IN www.spend-in.com www.spend-in.com SPEND IN• 69 INSTRUCTION INSTRUCTION Thanks to this little window of freedom and fun After the debauchery, purge, after almost which hundred saved the years, we great Greta can enjoy the Garbo, John provocative Barrymore, attire Chaplin and of Jean a few others, Harlow, arrived Claudette a new Colbert generation or Joan of actors Blondell and from see James Broadway Cagney, Paul - where Muni and they had Edward G. learnt how Robinson to speak, enjoying allegedly their roles - like Bette without Davis, regretting Katharine the final Hepburn, scene Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy 70 • SPEND IN www.spend-in.com www.spend-in.com SPEND IN• 71 INSTRUCTION INSTRUCTION de, it was in the thirties when other conceptual leaps after the sound film became actual - the colour film. The arrival of the forties is marked by ‘Gone with the Wind’ and other coloured blockbusters such as ‘Robin Hood ‘ (1938), ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ (1938) and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939) proving that co- lour film was both viable and profitable. Not surprisingly, in 1939 a special nomination at the Oscars for this type of movie was created. It clearly demonstrates that this decade was not as black and white as it seems. Although And why is the cinema of those years so incredibly good ? There are thousands of reasons, such as the exodus of geniuses from Nazi Europe, but certainly another reason would be what is happening right now in Hollywood- that there had it is producing spectacular TV series thanks to actors from Broadway but also to playwrights and novelists who are able to write dialogues, something not required in the era of the silent cinema. And there were luminaries such as William Faulkner or Dorothy Parker who were lured by the siren song and along with dozens of other writers already gave us the best Underwood stories. Just the same has been done by the movie industry in recent years, shifting the best writers from film to television, ruining quality, and surviving thanks to sequels, remakes and superheroes. been some The only negative point concerning this book, besides the fact that it is not on my book shelf, is the difficulty of -kee ping this huge world within the li- experiments mits of the title. For example, one of the most powerful images in the in the past cinema history is the bob cut of the Kansas actress Louise Brooks, decade, it was who evidently must be mentioned in any cinema memoir or fashion in the thirties book, either for her unforgettable hairstyle or three excellent crazy when other pre-code films for which she is remembered, or movies from the conceptual twenties that are more European than Hollywood. But if this book leaps after we are talking about gives some- thing defensible and understanda- the sound ble, I would have done the same with my beloved rebel Louise; we film became do not have a heart of stone. This actress is also the author of several actual - the articles and of a memoir about the important times where she depicts colour film. the failure of silent film actors- and she was one of the victims of the The arrival shift to sound movies, who during the shooting of sound films, could of the forties not be drugged and drunk as they did during the silent film shoo- is marked tings, where they only had to put their faces. It seems like a bouta- by coloured de, but there is some truth in it. Now, for those ,who did not write blockbusters a line about classic cinema in their diary, comes this fantastic book proving that published by Taschen, with beau- tiful pictures by Robert Nippol- dt, sometimes reminiscent of the colour film Canadian cartoonist Seth and his works such as ‘It’s a Good Life, If was both You Don’t Weaken’ or ‘Clyde Fans’. If you use it as a dictionary you can discover several masterpieces of art from the twentieth century as was the century of cinema, jazz and photography, three spheres that seem somehow viable and exhausted in our century. And if the reason for these people who have never seen a film by Joan Crawford or Boris Karloff is that they did not have time, there is the reason alleged by the great oracle of revelry Tallulah Bankhead: profitable “It’s the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time “, if that is the case, these are excused, at least for my part.