The Illusion of Depth

In the early 1930s, Hollywood adopted the infamous Hays Code, setting out a strict set of moral guidelines to which all films were required to adhere. Although the Code had been drawn up several years earlier, it was not strictly enforced until June of 1934, after which, all films were required to be submitted to (and passed by) the censorship board before they could be distributed or screened in the US. If you would like to know what led to the enforcement of such a puritanical code of conduct on an industry that was doing just fine, thank you very much, I would urge you to make yourself acquainted with this man: This, ladies and gentlemen, is Ernst Lubitsch . When he died (in 1947, at the age of 55) the film director William Wyler ostensibly said, "No more Lubitsch." And his friend, the legendary director Billy Wilder, replied, "Worse than that; no more Lubitsch pictures." Lubitsch was a German-born film-maker who had been working in Hollywood since 1922. When the...

I have promised that our new series of films will showcase the comedies that Hollywood produced throughout the 1930s as their way of getting everyone through the Depression. They always say you should begin at the beginning, but I think I can do better; I'm going to begin a little before that.  With a German film. A German silent film. Please don't panic. Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday) is actually a Hollywood film. No one knew that at the time, but it is. It's a Hollywood film because it was written and directed by a very talented group of young film-makers at the very beginning of their careers. Hollywood Careers: Robert Siodmak was forced to leave Germany in 1933 when Hitler came to power. He fled initially to France and then to the United States where he established himself as one of the iconic figures in Hollywood with films such as The Killers (Burt Lancaster's unforgettable film debut) and The Spiral Staircase . Curt Siodmak ; Robert's brother, also...

Our new series of films at the Victoria Park Baptist Church is set to begin on Thursday, the 25th of January, and I can promise you it's going to be pure fun , from beginning to end. But not quite yet. Before we get to the "fun" part, I beg your indulgence while I talk to you about some personal stuff. It's relevant, I promise. I am writing this on Sunday, the 14th of January, and the BBC has just published an article noting that 100 days have passed since Hamas launched its "unthinkable" (their word) attack on Israel. I'm sorry, but "unthinkable"? Of all the words they might have used to describe what happened on the 7th of October, unthinkable is probably one of the least appropriate. It was traumatic; savage; horrific; barbaric; nightmarish. But (unfortunately) it was not even remotely unthinkable .  I was born in the United States. The reason I was born there was because about 120 years ago, the Russian Empire decided it would be a good id...