Classical Hollywood cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema is a term used in film criticism to describe both a narrative and visual style of film-making which became characteristic of American cinema between the 1910s (rapidly after World War I) and the 1960s.[4] It eventually became the most powerful and pervasive style of film-making worldwide.[5] Similar or associated terms include classical Hollywood narrative, the Golden Age of Hollywood, Old Hollywood, and classical continuity.[6]
![]() | |
Years active | 1910s – 1960s |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Major figures | D. W. Griffith, Lon Chaney, John Ford, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish, Joan Crawford, Mary Pickford, Humphrey Bogart, Fritz Lang, Greta Garbo, Lana Turner, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, Kirk Douglas, Olivia de Havilland, Gregory Peck, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Doris Day, Lauren Bacall, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Yvonne De Carlo, Sidney Poitier, Eva Marie Saint, Grace Kelly, Tippi Hedren, James Dean, Rudolph Valentino, Errol Flynn, Marlene Dietrich, Veronica Lake |
Influences |
|
Influenced |
Development of the classical style
Early narrative film (1894–1913)
For centuries the only visual standard of narrative storytelling art was the theatre. Since the first narrative films in the mid-1890s, film-makers sought to capture the power of live theatre on the cinema screen. Most of these film-makers started as directors on the late 19th century stage, and likewise most film actors had roots in vaudeville or theatrical melodramas. Visually, early narrative films had adapted little from the stage, and their narratives had adapted very little from vaudeville and melodrama. Before the visual style which would become known as "classical continuity", scenes were filmed in full shot and used carefully choreographed staging to portray plot and character relationships. Cutting was extremely limited, and mostly consisted of close-ups of writing on objects for their legibility.
Maturation of the silents (1913–late 1920s)
![](../I/m/The_Mothering_Heart.jpg)
![](../I/m/Ben-Hur-1925.jpg)
Though lacking the reality inherent to the stage, film (unlike stage) offers the freedom to manipulate apparent time and space, and thus to create the illusion of realism – that is temporal linearity and spatial continuity. By the early 1910s, film-making was beginning to fulfill its artistic potential. In Sweden and Denmark, this period would later be known as a "Golden Age" of film;[7] in America, this artistic change is attributed to film-makers like David W. Griffith finally breaking the grip of the Edison Trust to make films independent of the manufacturing monopoly. Films worldwide began to noticeably adopt visual and narrative elements which would be found in classical Hollywood cinema. 1913 was a particularly fruitful year for the medium, as pioneering directors from several countries produced masterpieces such as The Mothering Heart (D. W. Griffith), Ingeborg Holm (Victor Sjöström), and L'enfant de Paris (Léonce Perret) that set new standards for film as a form of storytelling. It was also the year when Yevgeni Bauer (the first true film artist, according to Georges Sadoul[8]) started his short, but prolific, career.[9]
In the world generally and America specifically, the influence of Griffith on film-making was unmatched. Equally influential were his actors in adapting their performances to the new medium. Lillian Gish, the star of The Mothering Heart, is particularly noted for her influence on screen performance techniques. Griffith's 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation was ground-breaking for film as a means of storytelling – a masterpiece of literary narrative with numerous innovative visual techniques. The film initiated so many advances in American cinema that it was rendered obsolete within a few years.[10] Though 1913 was a global landmark for filmmaking, 1917 was primarily an American one; the era of "classical Hollywood cinema" is distinguished by a narrative and visual style which began to dominate the film medium in America by 1917.
Classical Hollywood cinema in the sound era (late 1920s–1960s)
The narrative and visual style of classical Hollywood style developed further after the transition to sound-film production. The primary changes in American film-making came from the film industry itself, with the height of the studio system. This mode of production, with its reigning star system promoted by several key studios, had preceded sound by several years. By mid-1920, most of the prominent American directors and actors, who had worked independently since the early 1910s, had to become a part of the new studio system to continue to work.
The beginning of the sound era itself is ambiguously defined. To some, it began with The Jazz Singer, which was released in 1927 and increased box-office profits for films, as sound was introduced to feature films.[11] To others, the era began in 1929, when the silent age had definitively ended.[12] Most Hollywood pictures from the late 1920s to 1960s adhered closely to a genre – Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, and biopic (biographical picture) – and the same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. For instance, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films; Alfred Newman worked at 20th Century Fox for twenty years; Cecil B. DeMille's films were almost all made at Paramount Pictures; and director Henry King's films were mostly made for Twentieth Century Fox. Similarly, actors were mostly contract players. Film historians and critics note that it took about a decade for films to adapt to sound and return to the level of artistic quality of the silents, which it did in the late 1930s.
Many great works of cinema that emerged from this period were of highly regimented film-making. One reason this was possible is that, with so many films being made, not every one had to be a big hit. A studio could gamble on a medium-budget feature with a good script and relatively unknown actors: Citizen Kane (1941), directed by Orson Welles and regarded by some as the greatest film of all time, fits that description. In other cases, strong-willed directors like Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, and Frank Capra battled the studios in order to achieve their artistic visions. The apogee of the studio system may have been the year 1939, which saw the release of such classics as Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, Young Mr. Lincoln, Wuthering Heights, Only Angels Have Wings, Ninotchka, Beau Geste, Babes in Arms, Gunga Din, The Women, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and The Roaring Twenties.
Style
The visual-narrative style of classical Hollywood cinema as elaborated by David Bordwell,[13] was heavily influenced by the ideas of the Renaissance and its resurgence of mankind as the focal point. It is distinguished at three general levels: devices, systems, and the relations of systems.
Devices
The devices most inherent to classical Hollywood cinema are those of continuity editing. This includes the 180-degree rule, one of the major visual-spatial elements of continuity editing. The 180-degree rule keeps with the "photographed play" style by creating an imaginary 180-degree axis between the viewer and the shot, allowing viewers to clearly orient themselves within the position and direction of action in a scene. According to the 30-degree rule, cuts in the angle that the scene is viewed from must be significant enough for the viewer to understand the purpose of a change in perspective. Cuts that do not adhere to the 30-degree rule, known as jump cuts, are disruptive to the illusion of temporal continuity between shots. The 180-degree and 30-degree rules are elementary guidelines in film-making that preceded the official start of the classical era by over a decade, as seen in the pioneering 1902 French film A Trip to the Moon. Cutting techniques in classical continuity editing serve to help establish or maintain continuity, as in the cross cut, which establishes the concurrence of action in different locations. Jump cuts are allowed in the form of the axial cut, which does not change the angle of shooting at all, but has the clear purpose of showing a perspective closer or farther from the subject, and therefore does not interfere with temporal continuity.
Systems
Narrative logic
Classical narration progresses always through psychological motivation, i.e., by the will of a human character and its struggle with obstacles towards a defined goal. This narrative element is commonly composed of a primary narrative (e.g. a romance) intertwined with a secondary narrative or narratives. This narrative is structured with an unmistakable beginning, middle and end, and generally there is a distinct resolution. Utilizing actors, events, causal effects, main points, and secondary points are basic characteristics of this type of narrative. The characters in classical Hollywood cinema have clearly definable traits, are active, and very goal oriented. They are causal agents motivated by psychological rather than social concerns.[5] The narrative is a chain of cause and effect with the characters being the causal agents – in classical style, events do not occur randomly.
Cinematic time
Time in classical Hollywood is continuous, linear, and uniform, since non-linearity calls attention to the illusory workings of the medium. The only permissible manipulation of time in this format is the flashback. It is mostly used to introduce a memory sequence of a character, e. g., Casablanca.
Cinematic space
The greatest rule of classical continuity regarding space is object permanence: the viewer must believe that the scene exists outside the shot of the cinematic frame to maintain the picture's realism. The treatment of space in classical Hollywood strives to overcome or conceal the two-dimensionality of film ("invisible style") and is strongly centered upon the human body. The majority of shots in a classical film focus on gestures or facial expressions (medium-long and medium shots). André Bazin once compared classical film to a photographed play in that the events seem to exist objectively and that cameras only give us the best view of the whole play.[14]
This treatment of space consists of four main aspects: centering, balancing, frontality, and depth. Persons or objects of significance are mostly in the center part of the picture frame and never out of focus. Balancing refers to the visual composition, i. e., characters are evenly distributed throughout the frame. The action is subtly addressed towards the spectator (frontality) and set, lighting (mostly three-point lighting, especially high-key lighting), and costumes are designed to separate foreground from the background (depth).
Relations of systems
The aspects of space and time are subordinated to the narrative element.
Criticism
This style of cinema is not without its critics, ranging from the lack of realism which resulted in a more post-WWII realistic cinema[15][16][17] to feminist theories on the male gaze in these classic movies, to note two examples.[18]
Legacy
The New Hollywood of the 1960s–70s was influenced by the romanticism of the classical era,[19] as was the French New Wave.[20]
List of selected important figures in the era
Many of the film-makers listed below did multiple chores on various film productions through their careers. They are here listed by the category they are most readily recognized as. If they are recognized in more than one category on the same level, they are listed in all of them.
Directors
The following is a list of directors associated with classical Hollywood. Some of them also had careers in other countries (e.g., Hitchcock and Renoir), and some also had careers either before (e.g., Griffith) and/or after (e.g., Huston) the classical era.
- Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast
- George Abbott
- Robert Aldrich[21]
- Irving Allen
- Irwin Allen
- Lewis Allen[22]
- Michael Anderson
- Tex Avery[23]
- Dorothy Arzner
- Lloyd Bacon[21]
- Clarence G. Badger
- Joseph Barbera
- Lionel Barrymore
- William Beaudine
- Busby Berkeley[21]
- Frank Borzage[21]
- John Brahm
- Marlon Brando
- Herbert Brenon
- Richard Brooks
- Otto Brower
- Clarence Brown
- Harry Joe Brown
- Tod Browning
- Edward Buzzell
- Frank Capra[21]
- William Castle
- Charlie Chaplin
- Robert Clampett
- Jack Conway
- Lloyd Corrigan
- John Cromwell[21]
- Alan Crosland
- James Cruze
- George Cukor[21]
- Michael Curtiz[21]
- Jules Dassin
- Roy Del Ruth
- Cecil B. DeMille[21]
- Andre DeToth
- William Dieterle[21]
- Edward Dmytryk[21]
- Stanley Donen[21]
- Gordon Douglas
- Allan Dwan
- Blake Edwards
- Douglas Fairbanks
- John Farrow[24]
- José Ferrer
- Mel Ferrer
- Dave Fleischer
- Max Fleischer
- Richard Fleischer
- Victor Fleming[21]
- Robert Florey
- John Ford[21]
- Norman Foster
- Chester Franklin
- Sidney Franklin[21]
- Friz Freleng
- Karl Freund
- Samuel Fuller[21]
- Tay Garnett
- Bert Glennon
- Edmund Goulding
- D. W. Griffith[21]
- William Hanna
- Henry Hathaway
- Howard Hawks[21]
- Kenneth Hawks
- Victor Heerman
- Stuart Heisler[25]
- Paul Henreid
- Alfred Hitchcock[21]
- Howard Hughes
- John Huston[21]
- John Ireland
- Nunnally Johnson
- Chuck Jones[23]
- Garson Kanin
- Elia Kazan[21]
- Buster Keaton
- Erle C. Kenton
- Henry King
- Louis King
- Alexander Korda
- Zoltan Korda
- Henry Koster
- Stanley Kramer[21]
- Stanley Kubrick[21]
- Gregory La Cava[21]
- Charles Lamont
- Fritz Lang[21]
- Charles Laughton
- Mervyn LeRoy[21]
- Frank Lloyd[21]
- Joshua Logan
- Joseph Losey
- Ernst Lubitsch[21]
- Sidney Lumet[21]
- Ida Lupino
- Rouben Mamoulian[21]
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz[21]
- Anthony Mann[21]
- Daniel Mann
- Delbert Mann
- George Marshall
- Leo McCarey[21]
- Ray McCarey
- Robert McKimson
- Andrew V. McLaglen[26]
- Norman Z. McLeod
- Gus Meins
- Lothar Mendes
- Lewis Milestone[21]
- Robert Milton
- Vincente Minnelli[21]
- Robert Montgomery
- F.W. Murnau
- Jean Negulesco
- Marshall Neilan
- Fred C. Newmeyer
- Mabel Normand
- Max Ophüls
- George Pal
- Irving Pichel
- Dick Powell
- Otto Preminger[21]
- Irving Rapper[21]
- Nicholas Ray[21]
- Luther Reed
- Max Reinhardt
- Irving Reis
- Charles Reisner
- Jean Renoir
- Martin Ritt
- Hal Roach
- Phil Rosen
- Wesley Ruggles[21]
- Mark Sandrich
- Victor Schertzinger
- William A. Seiter
- Lowell Sherman
- George Sidney
- Don Siegel[27]
- S. Sylvan Simon
- Robert Siodmak
- Douglas Sirk
- Victor Sjöström
- John M. Stahl
- Malcolm St. Clair
- George Stevens[21]
- John Sturges[21]
- Preston Sturges[21]
- A. Edward Sutherland
- Frank Tashlin
- Norman Taurog
- William Desmond Taylor
- Richard Thorpe
- Frank Tuttle
- W. S. Van Dyke[21]
- Charles Vidor[21]
- King Vidor[21]
- Josef von Sternberg[21]
- Erich von Stroheim
- Richard Wallace
- Raoul Walsh[21]
- Charles Walters[21]
- John Wayne
- Robert D. Webb
- Don Weis[21]
- Orson Welles[21]
- William A. Wellman[21]
- Roland West
- James Whale
- Billy Wilder[21]
- Cornel Wilde
- Ted Wilde
- Robert Wise
- Sam Wood[21]
- William Wyler[21]
- Fred Zinnemann[21]
Producers
- Buddy Adler
- Joseph Barbera[23]
- Pandro S. Berman
- Stephen Bosustow
- Richard Brooks
- William Cagney
- Harry Cohn[21]
- Cecil B. DeMille
- Walt Disney[23]
- Douglas Fairbanks
- Mel Ferrer
- Dave Fleischer
- Max Fleischer
- Arthur Freed[21]
- Sam Goldwyn[21]
- William Hanna[23]
- Howard Hawks
- Kenneth Hawks
- Paul Henreid
- Arthur Hornblow Jr.[21]
- Howard Hughes[21]
- Ross Hunter
- Stanley Kramer[21]
- Carl Laemmle
- Carl Laemmle Jr.
- Walter Lantz
- William LeBaron
- Val Lewton[27]
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Eddie Mannix
- Louis B. Mayer[21]
- Seymour Nebenzal
- Joe Pasternak
- Fred Quimby
- Hal Roach
- Dore Schary
- Leon Schlesinger
- David O. Selznick[21]
- Edward Small
- Sam Spiegel
- Hunt Stromberg
- Paul Terry
- Irving Thalberg[21]
- Hal B. Wallis[21]
- Jack L. Warner
- Billy Wilder
- Robert Wise
- Darryl F. Zanuck[21]
- Adolph Zukor
Actors
- Abbott and Costello
- Walter Abel
- John Agar
- Brian Aherne
- Philip Ahn
- Frank Albertson
- Jack Albertson
- Eddie Albert
- Hardie Albright
- Robert Alda
- Ross Alexander
- Fred Allen
- Don Ameche
- Broncho Billy Anderson
- Eddie "Rochester" Anderson
- Dana Andrews[21]
- Roscoe Arbuckle
- Richard Arlen
- Louis Armstrong
- Robert Armstrong
- Desi Arnaz
- Edward Arnold
- Fred Astaire[21]
- Nils Asther
- Mischa Auer
- Jean-Pierre Aumont
- Gene Autry
- Lew Ayres
- Lloyd Bacon
- Benny Baker
- Kenny Baker
- Martin Balsam
- George Bancroft
- John Barrymore[21]
- Lionel Barrymore[21]
- Richard Barthelmess
- Freddie Bartholomew
- Richard Basehart
- Warner Baxter
- Hugh Beaumont
- Noah Beery
- Noah Beery Jr.
- Wallace Beery[21]
- Ed Begley
- Harry Belafonte
- Ralph Bellamy[21]
- William Bendix
- Jack Benny
- Edgar Bergen
- Milton Berle
- Ben Bernie
- Billy Bevan
- Charles Bickford
- Joey Bishop
- William Bishop
- Sidney Blackmer
- Mel Blanc
- Ben Blue
- Dirk Bogarde
- Humphrey Bogart[21]
- John Boles
- Ray Bolger
- Ward Bond[21]
- Pat Boone
- Richard Boone
- Ernest Borgnine[21]
- Stephen Boyd
- William "Stage" Boyd
- William Boyd
- Charles Boyer
- Eddie Bracken
- Marlon Brando[21]
- Walter Brennan[21]
- George Brent
- David Brian
- Lloyd Bridges
- Charles Bronson
- Clive Brook
- Nicholas Brothers
- Joe E. Brown
- Johnny Mack Brown
- Tom Brown
- Nigel Bruce
- Arthur Q. Bryan
- Yul Brynner
- Edgar Buchanan
- Jack Buchanan
- Victor Buono
- Bob Burns
- George Burns
- Raymond Burr
- Richard Burton
- Francis X. Bushman
- Daws Butler
- Red Buttons
- Bruce Cabot
- Sid Caesar
- James Cagney[21]
- William Cagney
- Louis Calhern
- Rory Calhoun
- Cab Calloway
- Rafael Campos
- Eddie Cantor
- Harry Carey
- Harry Carey Jr.
- Macdonald Carey
- Hoagy Carmichael
- John Carradine[21]
- Leo Carrillo
- Leo G. Carroll
- Jack Carson
- Gower Champion
- Lon Chaney
- Lon Chaney Jr.
- Charlie Chaplin[21]
- Charley Chase
- Maurice Chevalier
- Fred Clark
- Montgomery Clift[21]
- Colin Clive
- Andy Clyde
- Lee J. Cobb[21]
- Charles Coburn
- James Coburn
- Steve Cochran
- Lew Cody
- Nat King Cole
- William Collier Sr.
- William Collier Jr.
- Ray Collins
- Ronald Colman[21]
- Russ Columbo
- Perry Como
- Chester Conklin
- Heinie Conklin
- Sean Connery
- Hans Conried
- Tom Conway
- Jackie Coogan
- Elisha Cook Jr.
- Gary Cooper[21]
- Jackie Cooper
- Ricardo Cortez
- Joseph Cotten[21]
- Noël Coward
- Buster Crabbe
- Broderick Crawford[21]
- Laird Cregar
- Donald Crisp
- Richard Cromwell
- Hume Cronyn
- Bing Crosby[21]
- Robert Cummings
- Alan Curtis
- Tony Curtis[21]
- Dan Dailey
- John Dall
- Billy Daniels
- Bobby Darin
- John Darrow
- Sabu Dastigar
- Harry Davenport
- Jim Davis
- Ossie Davis
- Owen Davis Jr.
- Sammy Davis Jr.
- Louis de Funès
- James Dean[21]
- Don DeFore
- Albert Dekker
- William Demarest
- Richard Denning
- Reginald Denny
- John Derek
- Andy Devine
- Brandon deWilde
- Brad Dexter
- Bradford Dillman
- Richard Dix
- Troy Donahue
- Robert Donat
- Brian Donlevy
- Phillip Dorn
- Kirk Douglas[21]
- Melvyn Douglas
- Johnny Downs
- Tom Drake
- Howard Duff
- James Dunn
- Jimmy Durante
- Junior Durkin
- Dan Duryea[21]
- Clint Eastwood
- Buddy Ebsen
- Nelson Eddy
- Cliff Edwards
- Harry Einstein
- Jack Elam
- Leif Erickson
- Leon Errol
- Stuart Erwin
- Tom Ewell
- Douglas Fairbanks Sr.[21]
- Douglas Fairbanks Jr.[21]
- Morgan Farley
- Charles Farrell
- Frank Fay
- José Ferrer
- Mel Ferrer
- Stepin Fetchit
- W.C. Fields
- Peter Finch
- Barry Fitzgerald
- Errol Flynn[21]
- Henry Fonda[21]
- Ralph Forbes
- Glenn Ford[21]
- Wallace Ford
- John Forsythe
- Fabian Forte
- Norman Foster
- Preston Foster
- Douglas Fowley
- Eddie Foy Jr.
- William Frawley
- Stan Freberg
- Paul Frees
- Dwight Frye
- Martin Gabel
- Clark Gable[21]
- Richard "Skeets" Gallagher
- Reginald Gardiner
- John Garfield
- William Gargan
- James Garner
- Hoot Gibson
- John Gielgud
- Billy Gilbert
- John Gilbert[21]
- Jack Gilford
- Jackie Gleason
- James Gleason
- George Gobel
- Thomas Gomez
- Bill Goodwin
- Bert Gordon
- Leo Gordon
- Farley Granger
- Stewart Granger
- Cary Grant[21]
- Charley Grapewin
- Lawrence Gray
- Richard Greene
- Sydney Greenstreet[21]
- Alec Guinness
- Edmund Gwenn
- William Haines
- Alan Hale Sr.
- Alan Hale Jr.
- Jack Haley
- James Hall
- Jon Hall
- Porter Hall
- Lloyd Hamilton
- Neil Hamilton
- Cedric Hardwicke
- Richard Harris
- Rex Harrison
- Robert Harron
- Laurence Harvey
- Raymond Hatton
- Jack Hawkins
- Sessue Hayakawa
- Sterling Hayden
- Richard Haydn
- Gabby Hayes[21]
- Louis Hayward
- Van Heflin
- Paul Henreid[21]
- Jean Hersholt
- Charlton Heston
- John Hodiak
- William Holden[21]
- Phillips Holmes
- Jack Holt
- Bob Hope[21]
- Dennis Hopper
- Edward Everett Horton[21]
- John Howard
- Leslie Howard[21]
- Rock Hudson[21]
- Ian Hunter
- Jeffrey Hunter
- Ross Hunter
- Tab Hunter
- John Huston[21]
- Walter Huston
- Rex Ingram
- John Ireland
- Burl Ives
- Sam Jaffe
- Dean Jagger
- Emil Jannings
- Allen Jenkins
- George Jessel
- Ben Johnson
- Noble Johnson
- Van Johnson
- Al Jolson
- Allan Jones
- Buck Jones
- Victor Jory
- Louis Jourdan
- Boris Karloff
- Roscoe Karns
- Danny Kaye
- Stubby Kaye
- Buster Keaton
- Howard Keel
- Tom Keene
- Brian Keith
- Ian Keith
- Cecil Kellaway
- Gene Kelly[21]
- Arthur Kennedy
- Robert Kent
- J. Warren Kerrigan
- Guy Kibbee
- Dead End Kids
- Alan King
- Don Knotts
- Mickey Kuhn
- Kay Kyser
- Alan Ladd[21]
- Bert Lahr
- Frankie Laine
- Arthur Lake
- Fernando Lamas
- Burt Lancaster[21]
- Sir Lancelot
- Martin Landau
- Charles Lane
- Harry Langdon
- Mario Lanza
- Jack La Rue
- Charles Laughton[21]
- Laurel and Hardy[21]
- Peter Lawford
- Francis Lederer
- Canada Lee
- Christopher Lee
- Pinky Lee
- Jack Lemmon[21]
- Oscar Levant[21]
- Sam Levene
- Jerry Lewis
- Elmo Lincoln
- Desmond Llewelyn
- Harold Lloyd
- Norman Lloyd
- Gene Lockhart
- John Loder
- Peter Lorre
- Montagu Love
- Edmund Lowe
- Robert Lowery
- John Lund
- Bela Lugosi
- Paul Lukas
- Keye Luke
- Ben Lyon
- Barton MacLane
- Fred MacMurray[21]
- Gordon MacRae
- George Macready
- Guy Madison
- Karl Malden[21]
- Hank Mann
- David Manners
- Hugh Marlowe
- Dean Martin
- Ross Martin
- Tony Martin
- Nino Martini
- The Marx Brothers
- Fredric March[21]
- Herbert Marshall
- Lee Marvin
- James Mason[21]
- Raymond Massey[21]
- Walter Matthau
- Victor Mature
- Ken Maynard
- Mike Mazurki
- Tim McCoy
- Joel McCrea[21]
- Charles McGraw
- Frank McHugh
- Victor McLaglen
- Steve McQueen
- Donald Meek
- Thomas Meighan
- Adolphe Menjou
- Burgess Meredith
- Gary Merrill
- Toshiro Mifune
- Ray Milland[21]
- Martin Milner
- Sal Mineo
- Cameron Mitchell
- Thomas Mitchell[21]
- Robert Mitchum[21]
- Tom Mix
- Gerald Mohr
- Ricardo Montalban
- Douglass Montgomery
- George Montgomery
- Robert Montgomery
- Alvy Moore
- Dickie Moore
- Roger Moore
- Victor Moore
- Mantan Moreland
- Antonio Moreno
- Dennis Morgan
- Frank Morgan
- Ralph Morgan
- Robert Morley
- Chester Morris
- Wayne Morris
- Zero Mostel
- Alan Mowbray
- Paul Muni[21]
- Audie Murphy
- George Murphy
- Clarence Muse
- Conrad Nagel
- J. Carrol Naish
- Alan Napier
- Clarence Nash
- Gene Nelson
- Barry Nelson
- Paul Newman[21]
- Robert Newton
- Leslie Nielsen
- David Niven[21]
- Lloyd Nolan
- Ramon Novarro
- Ivor Novello
- Jack Oakie
- Pat O'Brien[21]
- Arthur O'Connell
- Donald O'Connor
- Dennis O'Keefe
- Warner Oland
- Laurence Olivier[21]
- Michael O'Shea
- Peter O'Toole
- Reginald Owen
- Jack Palance
- Eugene Pallette
- Larry Parks
- John Payne
- Gregory Peck[21]
- Nat Pendleton
- Joe Penner
- George Peppard
- Anthony Perkins
- Osgood Perkins
- Brock Peters
- Irving Pichel
- Slim Pickens
- Jack Pickford
- Walter Pidgeon[21]
- James Pierce
- Donald Pleasence
- Sidney Poitier[21]
- Snub Pollard
- Dick Powell[21]
- William Powell[21]
- Tyrone Power[21]
- Elvis Presley
- Robert Preston
- Vincent Price
- Roger Pryor
- Eddie Quillan
- Anthony Quinn
- George Raft
- Claude Rains[21]
- Tony Randall
- Ron Randell
- Basil Rathbone
- Gene Raymond
- Ronald Reagan
- George Reeves
- Steve Reeves
- Wallace Reid
- Ralph Richardson
- Jason Robards
- Cliff Robertson
- Dale Robertson
- Paul Robeson
- Bill Robinson
- Edward G. Robinson[21]
- Charles "Buddy" Rogers
- Roy Rogers
- Will Rogers
- Gilbert Roland
- Cesar Romero[21]
- Mickey Rooney[21]
- Benny Rubin
- Charlie Ruggles
- Robert Ryan
- S.Z. Sakall
- George Sanders[21]
- Telly Savalas
- Maximilian Schell
- Joseph Schildkraut
- Zachary Scott
- Randolph Scott[21]
- George C. Scott
- Jackie Searl
- Peter Sellers
- Victor Sen Yung
- Omar Sharif
- Arthur Shields
- James Shigeta
- Phil Silvers
- Frank Sinatra[21]
- Red Skelton
- Walter Slezak
- Howard Smith
- Kent Smith
- Ned Sparks
- Al St. John
- Robert Stack
- Lionel Stander
- Guy Standing
- Rod Steiger
- Ford Sterling
- Robert Sterling
- Craig Stevens
- Onslow Stevens
- James Stewart[21]
- Paul Stewart
- Dean Stockwell
- Lewis Stone
- George E. Stone
- The Three Stooges
- Woody Strode
- Barry Sullivan
- Slim Summerville
- Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer
- Lyle Talbot
- Akim Tamiroff
- Robert Taylor[21]
- Rod Taylor
- Danny Thomas
- Fred Thomson
- George Tobias
- Sidney Toler
- Franchot Tone[21]
- Kam Tong
- Mel Tormé
- Rip Torn
- Ernest Torrence
- Regis Toomey
- Lee Tracy
- Spencer Tracy[21]
- Henry Travers
- Arthur Treacher
- Forrest Tucker
- Ben Turpin
- Tom Tyler
- Peter Ustinov
- Rudy Vallée
- Rudolph Valentino
- Bobby Van
- Lee Van Cleef
- Dick Van Dyke
- Edward Van Sloan
- Erich von Stroheim
- Conrad Veidt
- Gregory Walcott
- Robert Walker
- H.B. Warner
- David Wayne
- John Wayne[21]
- Robert Wagner
- Clifton Webb
- Johnny Weissmuller[21]
- Orson Welles
- Wheeler & Woolsey
- Stuart Whitman
- James Whitmore
- Richard Widmark[21]
- Henry Wilcoxon
- Cornel Wilde
- Warren William
- Chill Wills
- Dooley Wilson
- Walter Winchell
- Roland Winters
- Grant Withers
- Louis Wolheim
- Monty Woolley
- Ed Wynn
- Keenan Wynn
- Alan Young
- Gig Young
- Robert Young
- Roland Young
Actresses
- Stella Adler
- Renée Adorée
- Iris Adrian
- Gracie Allen
- Astrid Allwyn
- June Allyson[21]
- Adrienne Ames
- Annabella
- Judith Anderson[21]
- Mary Anderson
- Julie Andrews
- Heather Angel
- Evelyn Ankers
- Eve Arden[21]
- Jean Arthur[21]
- Mary Astor[21]
- Agnes Ayres
- Lauren Bacall[21]
- Olga Baclanova
- Pearl Bailey
- Fay Bainter
- Carroll Baker
- Diane Baker
- Lucille Ball[21]
- Anne Bancroft
- Vilma Bánky
- Tallulah Bankhead
- Theda Bara
- Lynn Bari
- Binnie Barnes
- Judith Barrett
- Mona Barrie
- Wendy Barrie
- Ethel Barrymore[21]
- Anne Baxter[21]
- Kathryn Beaumont
- Louise Beavers
- Barbara Bel Geddes
- Madge Bellamy
- Belle Bennett
- Barbara Bennett
- Constance Bennett
- Joan Bennett[21]
- Frances Bergen
- Polly Bergen
- Ingrid Bergman[21]
- Elisabeth Bergner
- Barbara Billingsley
- Tala Birell
- Vivian Blaine
- Sally Blane
- Joan Blondell[21]
- Gloria Blondell
- Claire Bloom
- Ann Blyth
- Betty Blythe
- Eleanor Boardman
- Mary Boland
- Beulah Bondi[21]
- Lilian Bond
- Olive Borden
- Edwina Booth
- Shirley Booth
- Clara Bow
- Alice Brady
- Grace Bradley
- Lucille Bremer
- Evelyn Brent
- Mary Brian
- Fanny Brice
- Helen Broderick
- Betty Bronson
- Louise Brooks
- Vanessa Brown
- Virginia Bruce
- Billie Burke
- Mae Busch
- Spring Byington
- Jeanne Cagney
- Joan Caulfield
- Kitty Carlisle
- Mary Carlisle
- Sue Carol
- Leslie Caron
- Nancy Carroll
- Madeleine Carroll
- Diahann Carroll
- Helena Carter
- Movita Castaneda
- Helene Chadwick
- Marge Champion
- Helen Chandler
- Marguerite Chapman
- Cyd Charisse
- Ruth Chatterton
- Virginia Cherrill
- Mady Christians
- Mae Clarke
- Rosemary Clooney
- Claudette Colbert[21]
- Joan Collins[21]
- June Collyer
- Betty Compson
- Juliette Compton
- Joyce Compton
- Gladys Cooper
- Virginia Lee Corbin
- Ellen Corby
- Dolores Costello
- Helene Costello
- Jeanne Crain
- Joan Crawford[21]
- Constance Cummings
- Frances Dade
- Arlene Dahl
- Lili Damita
- Viola Dana
- Dorothy Dandridge[21]
- Bebe Daniels[21]
- Sheila Darcy
- Dorothy Dare
- Linda Darnell
- Jane Darwell[21]
- Bette Davis[21]
- Joan Davis
- Mildred Davis
- Marion Davies
- Doris Day[21]
- Laraine Day
- Marceline Day
- Frances Dee
- Sandra Dee
- Ruby Dee
- Olive Deering
- Gloria DeHaven
- Yvonne De Carlo
- Priscilla Dean
- Olivia de Havilland[21]
- Dolores del Río[21]
- Claudia Dell
- Marlene Dietrich[21]
- Diana Dors
- Billie Dove
- Louise Dresser
- Marie Dressler
- Ellen Drew
- Claire Du Brey
- Margaret Dumont
- Josephine Dunn
- Irene Dunne[21]
- Mildred Dunnock
- Deanna Durbin
- Ann Dvorak
- Jeanne Eagels
- Margaret Early
- Vera-Ellen
- Edith Evans
- Madge Evans
- Dale Evans
- Nanette Fabray
- Frances Farmer
- Glenda Farrell
- Alice Faye
- Louise Fazenda
- Gracie Fields
- Betty Field
- Virginia Field
- Geraldine Fitzgerald
- Rhonda Fleming
- Nina Foch
- Joan Fontaine[21]
- June Foray
- Sally Forrest
- Anne Francis
- Connie Francis
- Kay Francis
- Pauline Frederick
- Zsa Zsa Gabor
- Greta Garbo[21]
- Ava Gardner[21]
- Judy Garland[21]
- Peggy Ann Garner
- Betty Garrett
- Greer Garson[21]
- Janet Gaynor
- Mitzi Gaynor
- Gladys George
- Wynne Gibson
- Hermione Gingold
- Dorothy Gish
- Lillian Gish[21]
- Paulette Goddard[21]
- Ruth Gordon
- Jetta Goudal
- Betty Grable[21]
- Gloria Grahame[21]
- Bonita Granville
- Gilda Gray
- Kathryn Grayson[21]
- Mitzi Green
- Jane Greer
- Nan Grey
- Lita Grey
- Virginia Grey
- Jean Hagen
- Barbara Hale
- Margaret Hamilton
- Ann Harding
- Jean Harlow[21]
- Mildred Harris
- Julie Harris
- Signe Hasso
- June Haver
- June Havoc
- Margaret Hayes
- Helen Hayes
- Susan Hayward[21]
- Rita Hayworth[21]
- Mary Healy
- Tippi Hedren
- Sonja Henie
- Charlotte Henry
- Gloria Henry
- Audrey Hepburn[21]
- Katharine Hepburn[21]
- Irene Hervey
- Doris Hill
- Rose Hobart
- Gloria Holden
- Judy Holliday[21]
- Celeste Holm[21]
- Miriam Hopkins
- Hedda Hopper
- Lena Horne
- Clara Horton
- Rochelle Hudson
- Gladys Hulette
- Marsha Hunt
- Kim Hunter
- Madeline Hurlock
- Ruth Hussey
- Betty Hutton
- Leila Hyams
- Anne Jeffreys
- Glynis Johns
- Kay Johnson
- Carolyn Jones
- Jennifer Jones[21]
- Shirley Jones
- Alice Joyce
- Suzanne Kaaren
- Helen Kane
- Ruby Keeler[21]
- Grace Kelly[21]
- Patsy Kelly
- Nancy Kelly
- Madge Kennedy
- Barbara Kent
- Deborah Kerr[21]
- Evelyn Keyes
- Eartha Kitt
- Shirley Knight
- Laura La Plante
- Violet La Plante
- Veronica Lake[21]
- Barbara La Marr
- Hedy Lamarr[21]
- Dorothy Lamour
- Elsa Lanchester
- Carole Landis
- Jessie Royce Landis
- Lola Lane
- Priscilla Lane
- June Lang
- Hope Lange
- Frances Langford
- Angela Lansbury
- Piper Laurie
- Florence Lawrence
- Gertrude Lawrence
- Dixie Lee
- Gypsy Rose Lee
- Dorothy Lee
- Peggy Lee
- Anna Lee
- Andrea Leeds
- Thelma Leeds
- Janet Leigh[21]
- Vivien Leigh[21]
- Joan Leslie[21]
- Diana Lewis
- Winnie Lightner
- Viveca Lindfors
- Margaret Livingston
- Gina Lollobrigida
- Carole Lombard[21]
- Julie London
- Sophia Loren
- Anita Louise
- Bessie Love
- Myrna Loy[21]
- Ida Lupino[21]
- Diana Lynn
- Betty Lynn
- Sue Lyon
- Jeanette MacDonald
- Anna Magnani
- Marjorie Main
- Shirley MacLaine
- Boots Mallory
- Dorothy Malone
- Jayne Mansfield
- Margo
- Ann-Margret
- Rose Marie
- June Marlowe
- Mae Marsh
- Marian Marsh
- Mary Martin
- Lois Maxwell
- Marilyn Maxwell
- Virginia Mayo[21]
- Edna May Oliver
- May McAvoy
- Mercedes McCambridge[21]
- Hattie McDaniel[21]
- Marie McDonald
- Dorothy McGuire
- Nina Mae McKinney
- Butterfly McQueen
- Jayne Meadows
- Patricia Medina
- Una Merkel[21]
- Ethel Merman
- Vera Miles
- Ann Miller[21]
- Marilyn Miller
- Carmen Miranda
- Isa Miranda
- Marilyn Monroe[21]
- Maria Montez
- Colleen Moore
- Constance Moore
- Juanita Moore
- Agnes Moorehead[21]
- Rita Moreno
- Helen Morgan
- Toshia Mori
- Patricia Morison
- Karen Morley
- Jean Muir
- Ona Munson
- Mae Murray
- Mary Nash
- Mildred Natwick
- Anna Neagle
- Patricia Neal
- Pola Negri
- Noel Neill
- Harriet Nelson
- Anna Q. Nilsson
- Greta Nissen
- Marian Nixon
- Jeanette Nolan
- Mabel Normand
- Kim Novak
- Merle Oberon
- Margaret O'Brien
- Una O'Connor
- Maureen O'Hara[21]
- Maureen O'Sullivan[21]
- Maria Ouspenskaya
- Seena Owen
- Anita Page
- Geraldine Page
- Patti Page
- Janis Paige
- Lilli Palmer
- Jean Parker
- Suzy Parker
- Eleanor Parker[21]
- Gail Patrick
- Lee Patrick
- Barbara Payton
- Joan Perry
- Jean Peters[21]
- Mary Philbin
- Mary Pickford[21]
- ZaSu Pitts
- Eleanor Powell[21]
- Jane Powell
- Marie Prevost
- Edna Purviance
- Mae Questel
- Luise Rainer
- Ella Raines
- Jobyna Ralston
- Esther Ralston
- Vera Ralston
- Marjorie Rambeau
- Martha Raye
- Donna Reed[21]
- Lee Remick
- Anne Revere
- Debbie Reynolds
- Florence Rice
- Thelma Ritter[21]
- May Robson
- Flora Robson
- Ginger Rogers[21]
- Ruth Roland
- Ruth Roman
- Shirley Ross
- Lillian Roth
- Gail Russell
- Jane Russell[21]
- Rosalind Russell[21]
- Ann Rutherford
- Irene Ryan
- Eva Marie Saint
- Ann Savage
- Natalie Schafer
- Lizabeth Scott
- Martha Scott
- Miriam Seegar
- Diana Serra Cary
- Peggy Shannon
- Norma Shearer[21]
- Ann Sheridan[21]
- Dinah Shore
- Sylvia Sidney
- Jean Simmons[21]
- Ginny Simms
- Simone Simon
- Penny Singleton
- Alexis Smith
- Gale Sondergaard
- Ann Sothern
- Barbara Stanwyck[21]
- Maureen Stapleton
- Jean Stapleton
- Jan Sterling
- Risë Stevens
- June Storey
- Gale Storm
- Susan Strasberg
- Barbra Streisand
- Gloria Stuart
- Margaret Sullavan[21]
- Gloria Swanson[21]
- Blanche Sweet
- Constance Talmadge
- Norma Talmadge
- Jessica Tandy
- Lilyan Tashman
- Sharon Tate
- Estelle Taylor
- Elizabeth Taylor[21]
- Joan Taylor
- Verree Teasdale
- Shirley Temple
- Ursula Thiess
- Olive Thomas
- Gene Tierney[21]
- Genevieve Tobin
- Thelma Todd
- Ann E. Todd
- Audrey Totter
- Lupita Tovar
- Claire Trevor[21]
- Sophie Tucker
- Lana Turner
- Lurene Tuttle
- Helen Twelvetrees
- Brewster Twins
- Miyoshi Umeki
- Virginia Valli
- Vivian Vance
- Mamie Van Doren
- Jo Van Fleet
- Lupe Vélez
- Benay Venuta
- Florence Vidor
- Janet Waldo
- Nancy Walker
- Ruth Warrick
- Ethel Waters
- Virginia Weidler
- Mae West[21]
- Pearl White
- Alice White
- Betty White
- Mary Wickes
- Esther Williams[21]
- Marie Wilson
- Lois Wilson
- Shelley Winters
- Gloria Winters
- Estelle Winwood
- Anna May Wong
- Natalie Wood[21]
- Joanne Woodward
- Fay Wray[21]
- Teresa Wright[21]
- Jane Wyatt
- Jane Wyman [21]
- Clara Kimball Young
- Georgiana Young
- Loretta Young[21]
- Polly Ann Young
Others
- Adrian (costume designer)
- James Agee (film critic)[27][28]
- Fred Allen (editor)
- Saul Bass (title designer)
- Leonard Bernstein (composer)
- Elmer Bernstein (composer)
- Preston Blair (animator)
- Scott Bradley (composer)[29]
- Richard Brooks (screenwriter)
- Nacio Herb Brown (songwriter)
- William Castle (screenwriter)
- Charlie Chaplin (composer)
- Alexander Courage (composer)
- Richard Day (art director)
- Hanns Eisler (composer)
- Philip G. Epstein (screenwriter)
- Julius J. Epstein (screenwriter)
- Manny Farber (film critic)[27]
- John Farrow (screenwriter)
- Victor Fleming (cinematographer)
- Leo F. Forbstein (composer)
- Arthur Freed (lyricist, producer)
- Karl Freund (cinematographer)
- Samuel Fuller (screenwriter)
- George Gershwin (composer)
- Cedric Gibbons (art director)
- Jerry Goldsmith (composer)
- Ruth Gordon (screenwriter)
- Jack Hannah (animator)
- Ray Harryhausen (special effects)
- Edith Head[21] (costume designer)
- Ben Hecht (screenwriter)
- Bernard Herrmann (composer)[30]
- George James Hopkins (art director)
- James Wong Howe (cinematographer)
- Irene (costume designer)
- Nunnally Johnson (screenwriter)
- Ollie Johnston (animator)
- Garson Kanin (screenwriter, director)
- Ward Kimball (animator)
- Vincent Korda (art director)
- Erich Wolfgang Korngold (composer)[30]
- Barbara La Marr (screenwriter)
- Anita Loos (screenwriter)
- Charles MacArthur (screenwriter)
- Henry Mancini (composer)
- Herman J. Mankiewicz (screenwriter)
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz (screenwriter)
- Alfred Newman (composer)
- Orry-Kelly (costume designer)
- Hermes Pan (choreographer)
- Walter Plunkett (costume designer)
- Sol Polito (cinematographer)
- André Previn (composer)
- Nelson Riddle (composer)
- Robert Riskin (screenwriter)
- Helen Rose (costume designer)
- Leonard Rosenman (composer)
- Harold Rosson (cinematographer)
- Miklós Rózsa (composer)[30]
- Morrie Ryskind (screenwriter)
- Budd Schulberg (screenwriter)
- Blanche Sewell (editor)
- Irene Sharaff (costume designer)
- Sidney Sheldon (screenwriter)
- Carl Stalling (composer)[31]
- Max Steiner (composer)[21]
- Herbert Stothart (composer)
- Jo Swerling (screenwriter)
- Frank Thomas (animator)
- Dimitri Tiomkin (composer)[30]
- Gregg Toland (cinematographer)
- Leo Tover (cinematographer)
- Dalton Trumbo (screenwriter)
- Franz Waxman (composer)[30]
- Conrad Wells (cinematographer)
- Robert Wise (editor)
- Victor Young (composer)
List of selected notable films
The following is a chronological list of notable American films that were made during Hollywood's Golden Age.[32]
Silent era
- The Mothering Heart (1913)
- The Birth of a Nation (1915)
- Intolerance (1916)
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)
- The Immigrant (1917)
- The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)
- Wild and Woolly (1917)
- Broken Blossoms (1919)
- Pollyanna (1920)
- The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
- Within Our Gates (1920)
- Way Down East (1920)
- Orphans of the Storm (1921)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
- The Kid (1921)
- A Woman of Paris (1921)
- The Covered Wagon (1923)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
- Safety Last! (1923)
- Greed (1924)
- Sherlock Jr. (1924)
- The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
- Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
- The Big Parade (1925)
- The Gold Rush (1925)
- Little Annie Rooney (1925)
- The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
- Flesh and the Devil (1926)
- Sparrows (1926)
- The Black Pirate (1926)
- The Canadian (1926)
- The General (1926)
- 7th Heaven (1927)
- It (1927)
- The Unknown (1927)
- Wings (1927)
- The Circus (1928)
- The Wind (1928)
- City Lights (1931)
- Tabu (1931)
- Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935)
- Modern Times (1936)
Sound era
- A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor (1923)
- My Old Kentucky Home (1926)
- The Jazz Singer (1927)
- Lights of New York (1928)
- Interference (1928)
- In Old Arizona (1928)
- Steamboat Willie (1928)[23]
- The Broadway Melody (1929)
- On with the Show! (1929)
- A Free Soul (1930)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
- Anna Christie (1930)
- Morocco (1930)[33]
- King of Jazz (1930)[33]
- Romance (1930)
- The Divorcee (1930)
- Bad Girl (1931)
- Blonde Crazy (1931)
- Dracula (1931)
- Frankenstein (1931)
- Platinum Blonde (1931)
- The Public Enemy (1931)
- A Farewell to Arms (1932)
- Flowers and Trees (1932)
- Forbidden (1932)
- Freaks (1932)
- Grand Hotel (1932)
- Red Dust (1932)
- Scarface (1932)
- Shanghai Express (1932)[33]
- The Animal Kingdom (1932)
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)[33]
- She Done Him Wrong (1933)
- 42nd Street (1933)
- Baby Face (1933)
- Design for Living (1933)[33]
- Dinner at Eight (1933)
- Duck Soup (1933)
- Flying Down to Rio (1933)
- Footlight Parade (1933)
- The Invisible Man (1933)
- King Kong (1933)
- Lady for a Day (1933)
- Man's Castle (1933)
- Snow-White (1933)
- Queen Christina (1933)
- Broadway Bill (1934)
- Imitation of Life (1934)
- It Happened One Night (1934)[33]
- Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
- No Greater Glory (1934)
- Of Human Bondage (1934)
- Poor Cinderella (1934)
- The Gay Divorcee (1934)
- The Old Fashioned Way (1934)
- The Thin Man (1934)
- Twentieth Century (1934)
- Wonder Bar (1934)
- The 39 Steps (1935)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
- A Night at the Opera (1935)
- A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
- Anna Karenina (1935)
- The Band Concert (1935)
- Becky Sharp (1935)
- Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
- Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
- Top Hat (1935)
- Camille (1936)
- Follow the Fleet (1936)
- Libeled Lady (1936)
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
- My Man Godfrey (1936)[33]
- Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)
- San Francisco (1936)
- Swing Time (1936)[33]
- Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
- The Awful Truth (1937)[33]
- Captains Courageous (1937)
- Easy Living (1937)
- Gold Diggers of 1937 (1937)
- Heidi (1937)
- Lost Horizon (1937)
- Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)[33]
- Marked Woman (1937)
- Nothing Sacred (1937)
- The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
- Shall We Dance (1937)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)[23]
- Stage Door (1937)
- A Star Is Born (1937)
- Stella Dallas (1937)
- True Confession (1937)
- Varsity Show (1937)
- Wee Willie Winkie (1937)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- Algiers (1938)
- Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
- A Yank at Oxford (1938)
- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- Holiday (1938)[33]
- Jezebel (1938)
- Pygmalion (1938)
- You Can't Take It with You (1938)
- 5th Avenue Girl (1939)
- Babes in Arms (1939)
- Beau Geste (1939)
- Dark Victory (1939)
- Destry Rides Again (1939)[33]
- Gone with the Wind (1939)
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
- Gulliver's Travels (1939)
- Gunga Din (1939)
- Love Affair (1939)
- Midnight (1939)
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
- Ninotchka (1939)
- Only Angels Have Wings (1939)[33]
- Stagecoach (1939)[33]
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
- The Little Princess (1939)
- The Oklahoma Kid (1939)
- The Roaring Twenties (1939)
- The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- The Women (1939)
- Wuthering Heights (1939)
- Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)[33]
- All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
- Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Foreign Correspondent (1940)[33]
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
- The Great Dictator (1940)
- His Girl Friday (1940)[33]
- Kitty Foyle (1940)
- The Letter (1940)
- The Long Voyage Home (1940)
- The Mortal Storm (1940)
- My Favorite Wife (1940)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)[33]
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Pride and Prejudice (1940)
- Primrose Path (1940)
- Rebecca (1940)[33]
- The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
- The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
- Waterloo Bridge (1940)
- 49th Parallel (1941)
- Ball of Fire (1941)
- Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- Dumbo (1941)
- Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
- High Sierra (1941)
- Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
- How Green Was My Valley (1941)
- The Little Foxes (1941)
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Meet John Doe (1941)
- Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
- One Foot in Heaven (1941)
- Penny Serenade (1941)
- Sergeant York (1941)
- Sullivan's Travels (1941)[33]
- Suspicion (1941)
- The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
- The Lady Eve (1941)[33]
- You'll Never Get Rich (1942)
- Tulips Shall Grow (1942)
- All Through the Night (1942)
- Bambi (1942)
- Casablanca (1942)
- Holiday Inn (1942)
- Kings Row (1942)
- The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)[33]
- Now, Voyager (1942)[33]
- The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
- Mrs. Miniver (1942)
- The Palm Beach Story (1942)[33]
- The Pied Piper (1942)
- The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
- Random Harvest (1942)
- Saboteur (1942)
- The Talk of the Town (1942)
- Tortilla Flat (1942)
- Wake Island (1942)
- Woman of the Year (1942)[33]
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
- You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
- For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
- Heaven Can Wait (1943)[33]
- The Human Comedy (1943)
- Journey into Fear (1943)
- Madame Curie (1943)
- The More the Merrier (1943)
- The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
- The Song of Bernadette (1943)
- Stormy Weather (1943)
- Watch on the Rhine (1943)
- Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
- Cover Girl (1944)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- Gaslight (1944)
- Going My Way (1944)
- Henry V (1944)
- Laura (1944)
- Lifeboat (1944)
- The Lodger (1944)
- Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
- The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
- National Velvet (1944)
- The Barber of Seville (1944)
- Since You Went Away (1944)
- To Have and Have Not (1944)
- The Uninvited (1944)[33]
- Wilson (1944)
- Anchors Aweigh (1945)
- The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
- Hangover Square (1945)
- The Lost Weekend (1945)
- Mildred Pierce (1945)[33]
- Spellbound (1945)
- Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
- John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
- The Big Sleep (1946)
- Cluny Brown (1946)[33]
- Duel in the Sun (1946)
- Gilda (1946)[33]
- Great Expectations (1946)
- Humoresque (1946)
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
- The Killers (1946)[33]
- The Locket (1946)
- Notorious (1946)
- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
- The Razor's Edge (1946)
- The Yearling (1946)
- The Bishop's Wife (1947)
- The Cat Concerto (1947)
- Crossfire (1947)
- Dead Reckoning (1947)
- Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
- The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
- The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
- Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
- Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
- The Paradine Case (1947)
- Tubby the Tuba (1947)
- Easter Parade (1948)
- Fort Apache (1948)
- Johnny Belinda (1948)
- Key Largo (1948)
- Moonrise (1948)[33]
- Red River (1948)[33]
- Unfaithfully Yours (1948)[33]
- Rope (1948)
- The Snake Pit (1948)
- State of the Union (1948)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- Adam's Rib (1949)
- All the King's Men (1949)
- Battleground (1949)
- The Heiress (1949)[33]
- Intruder in the Dust (1949)
- A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
- The Third Man (1949)
- Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
- All About Eve (1950)[33]
- Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
- Born Yesterday (1950)
- Caged (1950)
- Cinderella (1950)
- Father of the Bride (1950)
- In a Lonely Place (1950)[33]
- King Solomon's Mines (1950)
- Rio Grande (1950)
- Summer Stock (1950)
- The Furies (1950)[33]
- Sunset Boulevard (1950)
- Treasure Island (1950)
- Ace in the Hole (1951)[33]
- The African Queen (1951)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- An American in Paris (1951)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
- Decision Before Dawn (1951)
- A Place in the Sun (1951)
- Quo Vadis (1951)
- Rooty Toot Toot (1951)
- Strangers on a Train (1951)
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
- The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
- The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
- High Noon (1952)
- Ivanhoe (1952)
- Limelight (1952)
- The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)
- Monkey Business (1952)
- Moulin Rouge (1952)
- The Prisoner of Zenda (1952)
- The Quiet Man (1952)
- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
- The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952)
- Calamity Jane (1953)
- The Band Wagon (1953)
- The Big Heat (1953)
- Duck Amuck (1953)
- From Here to Eternity (1953)
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
- How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
- Julius Caesar (1953)
- Mogambo (1953)
- Peter Pan (1953)
- The Robe (1953)
- Roman Holiday (1953)
- Shane (1953)
- The Sword and the Rose (1953)
- The War of the Worlds (1953)
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
- A Star Is Born (1954)
- The Caine Mutiny (1954)
- The Country Girl (1954)
- Dial M for Murder (1954)
- On the Waterfront (1954)[33]
- Rear Window (1954)
- Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1954)
- Sabrina (1954)
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
- Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
- Vera Cruz (1954)
- When Magoo Flew (1954)
- Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
- Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
- Marty (1955)
- Mister Roberts (1955)
- Picnic (1955)
- East of Eden (1955)
- Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
- Richard III (1955)
- The Rose Tattoo (1955)
- The Seven Year Itch (1955)
- Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
- Autumn Leaves (1956)
- Forbidden Planet (1956)
- Bigger Than Life (1956)[33]
- Friendly Persuasion (1956)
- Giant (1956)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- The King and I (1956)
- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
- The Searchers (1956)
- The Swan (1956)
- The Ten Commandments (1956)
- War and Peace (1956)
- 12 Angry Men (1957)[33]
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Paths of Glory (1957)[33]
- Sweet Smell of Success (1957)[33]
- A Face in the Crowd (1957)
- Peyton Place (1957)
- Sayonara (1957)
- What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
- Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
- Auntie Mame (1958)
- The Big Country (1958)
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
- The Defiant Ones (1958)
- Gigi (1958)
- The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
- Separate Tables (1958)
- Touch of Evil (1958)
- Vertigo (1958)
- A Hole in the Head (1959)
- Anatomy of a Murder (1959)[33]
- Ben-Hur (1959)
- Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
- The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
- North by Northwest (1959)
- The Nun's Story (1959)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- Some Like It Hot (1959)[33]
- Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
- The Time Machine (1960)
- The Alamo (1960)
- The Apartment (1960)
- Elmer Gantry (1960)
- The Magnificent Seven (1960)
- Psycho (1960)
- Spartacus (1960)
- The Sundowners (1960)
- Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
- The Children's Hour (1961)
- Fanny (1961)
- The Guns of Navarone (1961)
- The Hustler (1961)
- Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
- Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
- West Side Story (1961)
- King of Kings (1961)
- The Misfits (1961)
- Dr. No (1962)
- Gay Purr-ee (1962)
- How the West Was Won (1962)
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- The Longest Day (1962)
- The Music Man (1962)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
- Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
- Gypsy (1962)
- America America (1963)
- The Birds (1963)
- Charade (1963)
- Cleopatra (1963)
- The Great Escape (1963)
- From Russia With Love (1963)
- Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
- Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
- Lilies of the Field (1963)
- The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
- Irma la Douce (1963)
- Move Over, Darling (1963)
- Hud (1963)
- Becket (1964)
- Dr. Strangelove (1964)
- Goldfinger (1964)
- Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
- Mary Poppins (1964)
- My Fair Lady (1964)
- Zorba the Greek (1964)
- Send Me No Flowers (1964)
- Viva Las Vegas (1964)
- The Night of the Iguana (1964)
- The Sound of Music (1965)
- Doctor Zhivago (1965)
- The Great Race (1965)
- Cat Ballou (1965)
- Shenandoah (1965)
- Thunderball (1965)
- The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)
- Hawaii (1966)
- The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966)
- Torn Curtain (1966)
- This Property Is Condemned (1966)
- Penelope (1966)
- How to Steal a Million (1966)
- The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
- Dr. Dolittle (1967)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
- Valley of the Dolls (1967)
- You Only Live Twice (1967)
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
- Star (1968)[34]
- The Wrecking Crew (1968)
- Cactus Flower (1969)
- Hello, Dolly! (1969)[35]
Selected international films made during the Golden Age
- Nosferatu (1922, Germany)
- Battleship Potemkin (1925, U.S.S.R.)
- The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926, Germany)
- Metropolis (1927, Germany)
- M (1931, Germany)
- Grand Illusion (1937, France)
- The Lady Vanishes (1938, U.K.)
- The Rules of the Game (1939, France)
- Brief Encounter (1945, U.K.)
- A Matter of Life and Death (1946, U.K.)
- Black Narcissus (1947, U.K.)
- Hamlet (1948, U.K.)
- The Red Shoes (1948, U.K.)
- Rashomon (1950, Japan)
- Ikiru (1952, Japan)
- Godzilla (1954, Japan)
- Seven Samurai (1954, Japan)
- La Strada (1954, Italy)
- A King in New York (1957, U.K.)
- Mother India (1957, India)
- The Snow Queen (1957, U.S.S.R.)
- Room at the Top (1959, U.K.)
- Sons and Lovers (1960, U.K.)
- Surogat (1961, Yugoslavia)
- Yojimbo (1961, Japan)
- Sanjuro (1962, Japan)
- 8½ (1963, Italy/France)
- Tom Jones (1963, U.K.)
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964, Italy/West Germany/Spain)
- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, France/West Germany)
- For a Few Dollars More (1965, Italy/West Germany/Spain)
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Italy)
- A Man for All Seasons (1966, U.K.)
- Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (1967, U.K.)
See also
- New Hollywood – overlapping/succeeding age from 1965–83
- Golden Age of Television — overlapping age from 1947–57
- Golden age of American animation — overlapping age from 1928–69
- List of living actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood - All known remaining living actors who starred in Hollywood films from 1927-1959.
- Poverty Row-B movies during this era
References
- "Classical and Post-Classical Hollywood Cinema Essay -- History Hollywo". www.123helpme.com.
- "The Ancient Art of Falling DownVaudeville Cinema between Hollywood and China". MCLC Resource Center. 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2017-12-14.
- German Expressionist Cinema- The World of Light and Shadow-Columbia University Press
- "Music and Cinema, Classical Hollywood". Oxford Bibliographies Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- Goldburg, Michael. "Classical Hollywood Cinema (Internet Archive)". Archived from the original on 31 May 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
- The Classic Hollywood Narrative Style at the Department of History, University of San Diego.
- "The "golden age" of silent film – Sweden – bio, actress, children, wife, cinema, role, story".
- Georges Sadoul. Всеобщая история кино. Moscow, Iskustvo, 1958. Т. 3. p. 178
- Evgenii Bauer (1865–1917)
- Brownlow, Kevin (1968). The Parade's Gone By..., University of California Press, p. 78. ISBN 0-520-03068-0.
- "Golden Age of Hollywood: Movies, Actors and Actresses ***". www.american-historama.org.
- "Expressive Experimentalism in Silent Cinema 1926–1929-Lucia Maria Pier".
- Bordwell, David; Staiger, Janet; Thompson, Kristin (1985): The Classical Hollywood Cinema. Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960. New York: Columbia University Press. 1–59
- Bordwell: 24
- "The idea of "classic Hollywood narration" derives from The Classical Hollywood Cinema (1985), by David Bordwell, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson".
- Miller, Lisa. "The male gaze in classical Hollywood films" – via www.academia.edu. Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - New Hollywood -JT Esterkamp - Medium
- French New Wave: The Influencing of the Influencers - The Film Stage
- The Directors, Producers, and Money Men – Hollywood's Golden Age.com
- Bordwell: p. 1897
- "A Brief History On The Golden Age Of Animation". The Odyssey Online. August 1, 2016.
- McGilligan: pp. 21, 54, 200, 269, 293
- Davis: p. 209
- Dixon (2013), p. 179
- "Manny Farber, 91, 'Eccentric' Film Critic". The New York Sun.
- William Stott. Agee, James Rufus, American National Biography Online, February 2000. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
- Scott Bradley at Walter Lantz|Cartoon Brew
- Robey, Tim (August 24, 2013). "The music behind Hollywood's golden age" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- "Early WB Scores: The Depression Era (1936-1941)" – via www.youtube.com.
- "The Movies". www.hollywoodsgoldenage.com.
- "Classic Hollywood". The Criterion Collection.
- Star! (1968)- Articles - TCM.com
- "Hello, Dolly!". Turner Classic Movies.
Further reading
- Bordwell, David; Staiger, Janet; Thompson, Kristin (1985). The Classical Hollywood Cinema. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-06055-6.
- Davis, Blair (2012). The Battle for the Bs: 1950s Hollywood and the Rebirth of Low-Budget Cinema. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813552538.
- Fawell, John. (2008) The Hidden Art of Hollywood. Westport Conn.: Praeger Press.
- McGilligan, Patrick (1985). Backstory 1: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age (No. 1). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520056893.
- Salt, Barry. Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis.
- Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2013). Cinema at the Margins. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-0-85728-186-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
External links
- David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, "Happy Birthday, classical cinema!", December 28, 2007. Analysis of classical continuity in narrative film from 1917 to this day.
- The Movies-Hollywood's Golden Age.com
- The Golden Age of Hollywood: Crash Course Film History #11 by Crash Course on YouTube