Old Movies
Old movies may not be making big money at the box office, but for film
aficionados, the value of classic cinema productions will never diminish.
Like many innovations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, film has
a relatively short history packed with progress. A pre-cursor to movie theatres
as we know them, the first ‘Kinetoscope' parlor opened in New York City
in 1894. Since that time, movie theatres, and movies themselves, have evolved
at a tremendous rate. In addition as serving as a forum for some of film's
greatest on-screen and behind-the-camera performances, old movies also act
as a visual record of the advances and techniques that have been developed
over the years in the film industry.
Most people know about milestone performances such as Gloria Swanson's
silent screen comeback in ‘Sunset Boulevard' or Orson Welles' debut in ‘Citizen
Kane'. Fewer people realize that there were many technical advances going
on behind the scenes while audiences were being wowed by the final result
on-screen. Some of the highlights of advancement in film history include:
the first use of multiple camera positions and filming out of sequence in
the 1903 flick, ‘The Great Train Robbery'; the 1905 advent of mercury lamps
which made it possible to shoot films indoors without sunlight; the production
of the world's first feature-length film in 1906; the 1910 invention of
the kinetophone, which paved the way to later talking films; the 1912 beginnings
of Technicolor Company; the 1927 debut of a movie with dialogue; the invention
of the wide-screen Cinerama process; the 1929 production of the first all
color sound motion picture; and the beginning of dubbing foreign films in
1930. All of these innovations, which are captured in old movies, laid the
foundation for the quality of movies we see today. Cherished artwork in
their own right, old movies illustrate the history and progression and the
film industry as we know it.
