I figure it was the death of the studio system, which was killed in the Paramount decision of 1948, but which took another 20 years to die. The intense training that was forced upon studio-contract players helped provide a great pool of talent in the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's, and the eventual loosening of studio strings produced a handful of great movies in the 60's and early 70's. The talent turned from studios to auteurs -- Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Martin Scorcese, etc. -- who pulled the top actors and made more good movies, while the studios that still existed turned to television programming. But the studio-trained talent started to thin in the 1990's, and producers increasingly turned to shock value to impress audiences. Modern musicals are laughable, because the stars can't sing or dance. Or would be laughable, if they were at all funny. Compare to MGM's 1952 "Singing in the Rain", or the 1936 Paramount musical "Swing Time".
I just cannot stand the violence, etc., of so many current "offerings".
RM
We can still give thanks for movies like "Past Lives", "Poor Things", and "Anatomy of a Fall", though. Not to mention "Oppenheimer". All in the last year.
Statistics: Posted by littlerfish — Thu Sep 12, 2024 9:50 pm