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| July 2008 |
| Billie Silvey |
| (Im)morality Plays |
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| Most of the products of the early film industry, with their obvious villains and heroes, can be traced back to their origins in the Morality Plays of the Middle Ages. These early dramas have a central figure who represents Everyman who is faced with a moral decision: Will he pursue virtue or vice? Early Hollywood was too engrossed with mastering the craft of movie making and making as much money as possible to do much self-examining. However, decades later, movies began to be made that examined the morality of the industry itself--mostly not to its credit. |
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| Day of the Locust |
| Based on Nathaniel West’s book of the same name, The Day of the Locust tells the story of an idealistic young set designer, Tod Hackett (played by William Atherton), who seeks fame and fortune in the Hollywood of the 30s. He falls in love with the cruel and manipulative aspiring actress Faye Greener (played by Karen Black). Burgess Meredith won an Oscar for his role as Faye’s drunken father Harry. Directed by John Schlesinger, the 1975 movie includes such memorable scenes as the collapse of a movie set of the Waterloo battlefield on extras and a riot at a premier. It presents a bleak picture of an industry that thrives on spectacle, cruelty and destruction. |
| The Cat's Meow |
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| Peter Bogdanovich directed The Cat’s Meow, a 2001 drama inspired by the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of film mogul Thomas H. Ince. It stars Edward Hermann as publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, Kirsten Dunst as his mistress, silent film star Marion Davies, and Eddie Izzard as Charlie Chaplin. The film depicts the dichotomy of appearance vs. reality, the struggle for power and wealth and the hypocrisy that characterize the industry. |
| The Last Tycoon |
| The Last Tycoon is a 1976 film based on an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It tells the story of Monroe Stahr, a 30s movie mogul based on MGM’s Irving Thalberg. Robert DeNiro stars in the Elia Kazan movie, with supporting roles by Jack Nicholson, Tony Curtis and Robert Mitchum. DeNiro plays a reclusive studio head who cares more about the quality of a film than the money it makes. The Last Tycoon treats ambition, love, and loss through Stahr's and the audience's vicarious experience at the movies. |
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| Can an industry that thrives on manipulation and hypocrisy examine itself seriously and present the results of that self-examination as modern-day Morality Plays? Can we learn from those plays, or are we blinded by the glamor and power they portray? Is the movie industry today's expounder of virtue or its example of vice? |