30's BLOG POST

The black and white movie our group made was about a small town man who is trying to become something great. Thomas Carlson, played by James Stewart, is a post office worker in a small town in Nebraska. He knows everyone and everyone knows him as a smart, all around good guy. Thomas wants to become something big, so he decides to run for Mayor in the town’s election. Betty Lou, his childhood friend, stands by his side and encourages him to run for this position. The conflict is that the mayors of the town have always been from the Lee family, and Charles Lee, played by Clark Gable, is adamant about winning this election. Lee uses his aristocratic wealth and greed in his campaign, and Carlson uses his good morals and sound judgment to win the people of their town over. The main theme of my movie is the American dream. The dream that someone small and insignificant can become whoever they want to. This interpretation of the story is a timeless message that Americans love to hear.

Our studio was Columbia Pictures. I chose this because they were famous for good writing and directing, which was exactly what we were looking for. In addition, Frank Capra was a great choice to develop a large, but wholesome movie such as ours. Capra also directed the movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” which is somewhat similar in plot to ours. His connection with our lead actor James Stewart was important as well. Stewart’s forte is playing aspiring, wholesome, determined men, which is perfect for this role. Capra and Stewart’s history of working with each other is also invaluable when it comes to a big picture such as ours. Another reason this is a big picture is by using Clark Gable as the antagonist. Even though he’s a big money guy who almost exclusively works with MGM, we felt his role was important enough to shell out the money to get him. Sometimes people only go to movies to see big-ticket actors, and I feel Gable’s influence on the film is positive enough to warrant the exception from MGM for his acquisition. Ann Rutherford is a good supporting actress because she isn’t too famous, but is good enough to be recognized. In addition, it’s nice to have a pretty face to look at. Each cast and crewmember plays an important role in our movie and the combination of them will make it successful.

The unique thing about our movie that makes it stand out from the others is its use of cinematography and color in our poster. We chose to have Gregg Tolland as our cinematographer because we feel his unique style will bring an artistic feel and interesting spin to our story. In addition, the color scheme we used on the poster had red, white, and blue to invoke feelings of patriotism in the audience, which is very popular in the 30’s. These two things will get a better review from the critics and modern artistic supporters. I don’t think the Hays code affects our movie. All good morals and values are upheld, there is no drinking, gambling, sexuality, religiousness at all, it is simply a true American classic that is aimed at families everywhere.

If I made this movie on my own, the main thing I would change is using color instead of it being black and white. I think that people were interested in color, and would have accounted for more views in the long run. I also disagreed with our group’s decision to use Gregg Tolland’s cinematography. While it is certainly unique and interesting, I think it would scare away some viewers simply because of its modernity and progressiveness. While the “art house” vote is good, I think more people would enjoy a more traditional cinematographer. Other than these two things, I think our movie is great and it would be very popular in the 30’s.