1930's Glamour

[poetman]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some suggestions on films from the 1930's that display all that art deco glamour!(If they were made in the 40's that could slide to.) I need to see more 30's on my screen. Where should I start?

Thanks!

 

[Philip Adams]

I know it's before your 'start date' but 'Metropolis' (1927) is interesting and 'Our Modern Maidens' (1929) has loads of art deco glam.

Hope this helps

 

[Stanley Doble]

Don't miss "Topper". It is a great movie, one of the most entertaining ever made and the one that made Cary Grant a major star. Plus it has the best cars, clothes and interiors.

Topper's mansion, the Kirby apartment, the stores, night clubs, Topper's bank and the resort hotel are all terrific.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Any Fred Astaire - Ginger Rogers picture will do too. These were all low budget pictures in their day (including Topper) but the set designers and costume designers pulled off some great looks.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Any Busby Berkeley musical from that era will blow your mind. Look up Lullaby of Broadway on Youtube.

Did it for you Lullaby of Broadway Part 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZws4r7IQPk

Part 2. Big production number.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gGVryQDvv4&feature=related

 

[Atomic Age]

The Thin Man (and its sequels)

King Kong

Chinatown (a movie from 74, but takes place in 1937 with lots of art deco)

Grand Hotel

Dinner at Eight


Just a few.
Doug

 

[poetman]

Topper was on my list, so I'm looking forward to seeing that. Any others come to mind as really evocative of the 1930's decade?

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Trouble in Paradise," a 1932 Ernst Lubitsch extravaganza for Paramount. Legend has it that many of the sets were handed down to the Marx Brothers, to be trashed in "Duck Soup."

 

[lolly_loisides]

I'll second "Trouble in Paradise". The sets, the clothes, everything about it screams art deco.

"Roberta" is another good one.

 

[HadleyH]

I'd add to the already mentioned ones, and on the other side of the 1930s, 1928 to be exact, the film "Our Dancing Daughters" I'd also keep my eyes open for one name: Cedric Gibbons art director and the "most powerful arbiter of style" at MGM, everything he did is OK by me! . In 1925 Gibbons visited the Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs and this had a great influence in his work. He designed the Oscar itself, winning it 11 of the 37 times he was nominated for it. The man had impeccable style!


Silent film "Our Dancing Daughters"

 

[Philip Adams]

Hadley, thanks for the information about Cedric Gibbons. I didn't know that.

I'm not sure about the trousers the gent is wearing in the picture. With those stripes, they could be just half of a pair of well pressed pyjamas.

 

[HadleyH]

Hadley, thanks for the information about Cedric Gibbons. I didn't know that.

You are welcome!

 

[Mrs Chaddsley_Corbett]

Screen Deco is an excellent source

http://www.amazon.com/Screen-Deco-Celebration-Hollywood-Architecture/dp/0940512270

 

[rue]

Girls About Town (1931)

As our head bartender Scott (Scotrace) said "That one is a full semester course in art deco design. Light fixtures, furniture. All some of the best to be found."

 

[Stray Cat]

"Trouble in Paradise," a 1932 Ernst Lubitsch extravaganza for Paramount. Legend has it that many of the sets were handed down to the Marx Brothers, to be trashed in "Duck Soup."

I have immediately put this on my "MUST SEE" list. :hail:

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Pretty much any movie made between 1927 and 1941 will be delightfully art deco/moderne. SOMETHING with stand out. I'm always finding myself being fixated with mundane things in movies made between these years.

 

[Haversack]

I would also recommend the Warner Bros. cartoon, Page Miss Glory, 1936. The dream sequence that makes up the majority of the cartoon is an art deco extravaganza.