What’s in a year? We all can recall the defining moments in history, where we were, what we were doing, etc. But did cinema, the most popular medium, join us in those thoughts and feelings? Was cinema able to represent its times, or was it too far behind? Below is a list of possibly the five greatest years in cinema, not just in terms of money but in aesthetic quality, and a look into the events at the time to ask at that age-old question of whether art reflects life or not.
1939
In 2000 a survey amongst film experts and fans discovered that most felt 1939 was the best year in cinema’s history, the start of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Indeed, Gone With the Wind is not only a household name, but it remains the best selling film of all time, adjusting for inflation of course, making an equivalent of 1.4 billion dollars in the US alone. The Wizard of Oz barely looks its age, as it’s so ingrained in our collective consciousness. Plus, three of the USA’s most enduring and liked actors were becoming huge by this year, with Cary Grant’s Only Angels Have Wings, John Wayne’s Stagecoach, and Jimmy Stewart’s rousing tale of one man inspiring the government, in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But perhaps the true highlight of the year was Jean Renoir’s La Regle du Jeu, a pointed satire on the insincerity of upper classes, which remains unequalled in its biting satire. Read the rest of this entry »
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