Just as you’d find on a real piece of newsprint. You’ll note on these spinning pages how the Screaming Headline never appears alone, but is always bolstered by other, ancillary articles, presumably included for verisimilitude. Not only did they understand drama, they knew how a real news page looks.
I have to hand it to those behind-the-scenes guys, whoever they were and whatever studio department they were in, who put together those whirling news pages. (As a newsworthy aside: The phrase ‘intelligent cat’ is a tautology.)
The news headline would hang on the screen, long enough (as I recall once reading in a movie book) for an intelligent cat to read 17 times, letting us absorb its information, before whirling into offscreen oblivion-often followed immediately by another whirling headline, with even more news to absorb. It’s like a visual version of the town crier hollering at the top of his lungs. What a great narrative shorthand-an optical bang-bang!, with motion, music, and a flash of block-type print (a throwback to silent-era title cards?). And not just any news, but one that’s a a highlight on a plot twist, or a climax to a narrative crisis, or a compressed chunk of story thrown out at us, fast and furious, thereby saving time (and budget) on tedious exposition. By which I mean (some fanfare music needed here)- The Whirling Newspaper Headline!Īnyone acquainted with movies made before 1960 knows this bit: Out of seemingly nowhere, the front page of a newspaper wheels onscreen, twirling before before us like a spin cycle gone mad, then screeches to a halt (no actual soundtrack screeching, but there oughta be), with one fat line of text bulging at us, screaming the News. (Hint: They’re larger than a smart phone.)īut there’s still one place where you can actually read a newspaper. My guess is that anyone below the age of 15 has no idea what an actual newspaper is. If you are an over-achiever and need more movies to watch, check out our list of Best 90's Movies, Best Feel Good Movies, and Best Move Musicals of All Time.Who reads newspapers anymore? I mean real newspapers, printed on paper, with ink and typeface and pages and ads and bylines and “continued on,” above or below the fold or in tabloid size. Spend your evenings with the greats like Charlie Chaplin, Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando, and Humphrey Bogart and be dazzled by directors like Mike Nichols, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg.
Plus there's that little thing about being timeless. By definition, a classic film is one that is 25 years old or older and has made an impact on culture and cinematic zeitgeist. And if you thought all classic movies were black and white, don't be fooled.
So why not make your favorite movie snack and take yourself to film school by watching this must-see list of classic movies. Are you in the mood for something funny, or dramatic, or something the kids can watch too? There are so many options and streaming services at the touch of a button that it can be hard to even know where to start. With so many new television shows to binge and movies being released it seems almost every day, it can feel overwhelming when it comes down to choosing what to watch for your weekly movie night.