Two new genres that were important in American movies came from Broadway in the 1930's; the musical and the ganster picture. Both of these came to symbolize Hollywood's impression on national culture during the Great Depression tha followed the stock market crash of 1929. Musicals such as "Gold Diggers of 1933" (1933) showed a spirit of optimism and cooperation that inteded to fight the economoc depression. This film was one of many Hollywood musicals in the 1930's that had spectacular dance sequences created by none other than Busby Berkeley. Gangster films such as "The Public Enemy" (1931), directed by William Wellman, and "Scarface" (1932), directed by Howard Hawks, dramatized the violence that came with the illegal distributing of alcoholic beverages during the prohibition era (1919-1933).
The Great Depression had a strong impact on the American film industry. In the late 1920's, the intrest in sound pictures had almost doubled the movie theater attendance. But the economic crisis reduced attendace greatly, and many movie theaters had to shut down. Almost all of the movie companies lost money, and a few went bankrupt. None of the major studios shut down, though.
Around the mid-1930's, the movie companies began to make money again. They started what many consider the greatest times of popular entertainment. During the middle and late 1930's, Hollywood put out major hist in nearly all of the familiar genres. An example of this would be the horror films. The horror films actually started in 1931 with "Dracula", directed by Tod Browning, and "Frankenstein", directed by James Whale.
Among the comedy films of the 1930's, one of the most popular types was the screwball comedy. These movies often contained the crazy antics of wealthy characters. One classic screwball comedy was "It Happened One Night" (1934), directed by Frank Capra, and starred Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Another good example is "Bringing Up Baby" (1938), directed by Howard Hawks, and starred Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.
The introduction of sound gave new emphasis to the role of language in the movies. Many countries enlarged their film industries minly out of national pride in their language and culture. A few countries restricted the number of American movies that could be imported into their countries, so that they could encourage the film industry in those countries. In most countries, the dialogue of foreign films was usually translated into the home language. In the United States, though, these types of films were always played in their original version, with printed English subtitles on the bottom of the film.
Germany and the Soviet Union, the major film producing nations of Europe in the silent era, were replaced during the first decade of sound movies by Great Britain and France. Alfred Hitchcock led the way of British cinema. Hitchcock directed a many of internationally successful thrillers, including "The Thirty-nine Steps (1935) and "The Lady Vanishes" (1938). Jean Renoir made quite a few of movies during the 1930's that shrewdly observed social attitudes of the time. Examples of this would be "Grand Illusion" (1937) and "Rules of the Game" (1939).
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