Writer Needs Help On Period Movies

[Brian Sheridan]

I am doing an article and need to pick Lounger's brains.

What movies were made in the 1970's but set in the 30s & 40s?

So far, I recall:

Chinatown
Murder of the Orient Express
Farewell My Lovely
Paper Moon
New York, New York.


Thanks for the help!

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

"The Sting"

 

[Brian Sheridan]

The Sting! OMG! How could I have forgotten one of my favorite films? Thanks.

 

[Caroline]

The Day of the Locust (1975)

This is one that many have missed but it is one of my favorite films. A really great performance by Donald Sutherland, and it has those funky seventies film effects that make everything look misty and/or hottish. A pretty decent adaptation of the book as well, and I'm fairly nitty about that stuff.


from IMDB

"Tod Hackett, fresh out of Yale, wants to make it as an art director in late 1930's Hollywood - but he finds himself increasingly distracted by his new neighbor Faye, a would-be starlet with possible designs of her own on a lonely, morose accountant. As Tod is drawn deeper into the lurid private lives of studio bosses and film industry workers, he gradually becomes desperate to know if Faye - or anyone - is capable of real love."

 

[Doctor Strange]

That also brings to mind The Last Tycoon.

And we can't forget The Godfather! (And Part II ... though it's set mostly in the decades on either side of the 30s/40s!)

 

[just_me]

Another Hercule Poirot movie - Death on the Nile.
70s remake of The Lady Vanishes

 

[Hemingway Jones]

"Patton"
"The Big Red One"
"Tora! Tora! Tora!"
"Hard Times" Charles Bronson, awesome!

I want to say, "The Great Gatsby," but it's the wrong decade!

 

[skyvue]

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (I think it's set in the '30s)
AT LONG LAST LOVE
THE CHEAP DETECTIVE
1941

 

[Brian Sheridan]

I want to say, "The Great Gatsby," but it's the wrong decade!

Gatsby still works especially because of the huge studio push behind it. They tried to resurrect period dress in the fashion mainstream because of this movie.

 

[Paisley]

Little Miss Marker with Walter Matthau was released in 1980.

 

[just_me]

Murder by Death, though I'm not sure if it was set in the 30s or 40s.

 

[Feraud]

Dillinger
Tomorrow
The Great Waldo Pepper. This one might not quality. I believe the timeframe is post WWI.

 

[Senator Jack]

Lee Marvin and Borgnine in
Emperor of the North Pole 1973 film about Depression era hobos.

Oh, and They Shoot Horses Don't They about the dance marathon. Released in 1970.

 

[Feraud]

Violette.

 

[Jedburgh OSS]

I wholeheartedly concur with The Day of the Locust from 1975. I would love to see this again; someone on its IMDB message board mentioned finding it for $5 but didn't say where.
Also from 1975, The Hindenburg; forget whether its theory is right or wrong, just fun to watch due to its recreation of such a historic event.
And then there's Bound for Glory from 1976 about folk singer Woody Guthrie which does a great job of capturing the Depression, especially the migrant workers' camp.
Capone also from 1975 with Ben Gazzara in the title role and a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone. Watch for the working semaphore-type traffic signal.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Cabaret

 

[Gary D.]

This is one that many have missed but it is one of my favorite films. A really great performance by Donald Sutherland, and it has those funky seventies film effects that make everything look misty and/or hottish. A pretty decent adaptation of the book as well, and I'm fairly nitty about that stuff.

I]

The Day of the Locust remains a must-see, and it really captures the period. For a while I didn't know that the little brat Sutherland's character stomps to death was a boy--I was thinking it was a girl--until someone pointed it out to me.

The Thirteenth Floor--another movie that at least, in part, captures the 1930s that you might want to check out--although it is science fiction. It goes in and out of 1937 and the atmosphere is very moody. I was impressed with how they portrayed 1937 Hollywood. The costumes seem very authentic, to my untutored eye, as well.

I don't like those films, generally made in the 1950s, when the time period is the 1920s or 1930s, and all the women seem to be wearing 1950s-style hairdoes and clothes. These days, thankfully, they pay more attention to authentic styles.

 

[Feraud]

And then there's Bound for Glory from 1976 about folk singer Woody Guthrie which does a great job of capturing the Depression, especially the migrant workers' camp.

This recently played on TCM and is running On Demand if anyone has the service. Good film.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Phillip Marlowe TV series with Boothe Powers. Hammett with Frederick Forrest. Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie (wasn't there a movie version with Hugh O'Brien & Elke Sommers in the 70s?). Jeeves & Wooster. Mapp & Lucia. Midway.