Ask Mick LaSalle:
Does anything break the mood for you when watching a movie?
Hey Mick: Just wondering if there’s anything that breaks the mood for you when watching a movie, whether it’s a break in continuity or something else. A curly phone cord in a ’40s film always annoys me. Trivial, perhaps, but you’d think they could get it right.
Tom Hulsey, Walnut Creek Hey Tom: The thing I notice most often is music. I was just watching a movie set in 1934, in which one of Artie Shaw’s recordings of “Any Old Time” was playing in the background. Since it didn’t get to the vocal part, it could have been the 1938 recording with Billie Holiday or the slightly later one with Helen Forrest, but it was at least four years off. It doesn’t bother me that it’s wrong — at this point I take little mistakes in stride — but it does make me wonder why nobody cares about this. I know, from my own memories, that the world that had Led Zeppelin’s “Ten Years Gone” (1975) playing on FM radio was slightly but definitely different from, say, the world that had Rickie Lee Jones’ “Coolsville” (1979) playing on the same station. Likewise, there’s an ocean between the Shirelles singing “Soldier Boy” (1962) and the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966). If you’re trying to re-create an era, all these things matter, because they all had to do with how people saw and thought about life. A world that loves wide lapels is a little different from a world that loves thin lapels, because it’s always about more than lapels. Hey Mick: What is your definition of the “Golden Age” of Hollywood ? What year does it peak? 1939? And what is the last year of that era?
P.J. Fowler, San Francisco Hey P.J.: The Golden Age of Hollywood refers to the era of the big studios, which roughly spans from around 1920 to 1960. But the real Golden Age within that period begins somewhere in the late ’20s, when all the big studios were already established, thriving and doing great work. That period ends sometime soon after 1948, when the Supreme Court, in an antitrust ruling, made the studios sell off their theaters. That decision severely cut into the studios’ power and profit. For me, if I were going to put a date to the end of Golden Age, I’d say it came in April 1949, with MGM’s 25th anniversary party. It was supposed to be a celebration of the studio’s magnificence, but a lot of the stars looked old, worn out and not happy to be there, as if the glory days were over. Watch the film of it on YouTube and you’ll realize that being a movie star in 1949 probably wasn’t much fun. As for the peak? If you mean artistically ... Warners in the 1940s, MGM and Paramount in the 1930s. If you want to pick a year, a lot of people would say 1939, but I wouldn’t. Things are usually at their best when they seem as if they can only get better. I’d pick 1933, a great year for Warners, Paramount and MGM, which are the three studios that mattered most. RKO did OK, too, launching Astaire and Rogers, and so did Columbia, with “The Bitter Tea of General Yen.” Also, a lot more good and very good movies were made in 1933 than in 1939, and good and very good movies count, too. In a way, they count even more. Dear Mick LaSalle: Now that the year is coming to a close and movie critics are putting together their lists of the top 10 films, are there any years that were especially difficult for you to put together your list, either because there were too many excellent films, or because there were too few?
Paul Sheinfeld, San Rafael Dear Paul: There are never too many. There are sometimes too few. 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2010 and 2015 weren’t all that hot. But 2002, 2004, 2009, 2012 and 2013 were fine vintages. Overall, so far, I approve of this millennium.
Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.