Dec 27, 2009

The Day of the Locust | Historical Context

Hollywood's Golden Age
Many film historians and critics consider the 1930s to be Hollywood's golden age. Though much of the world, including the United States, was suffering from economic depression and high unemployment, the movie industry flourished both technically and artistically. In fact, 1939 saw the release of two of the American Film Institute's ten most popular movies: Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

By 1932 technicians had solved most of the early problems associated with adding sound to film, and nearly all...