Peeping Into Period Films - Part I : Hollywood

Click here To Peep Into The Period Films Of Indian Cinema - Part I



Period Films have been primarily of a couple of types. Most importantly, the essence deals with shooting of films of different times, in different times. The ideology of most filmmakers for making such films can again be of two reasons - 1) To register their version of a yesteryear era with their current know-how, 2) To have a mere fondness in making/viewing those films. The typical list goes from The Heavenly Creatures(1994) that held a 50's backdrop to the Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. Producing Hollywood period films is always considered a very expensive task. However, the possible reason claimed by critics was the necessity to prepare grandeur sets. The common myth amongst the critics was that, whenever screenwriters lacked subjects, they would go for period films. Despite the logic in the argument, the key is that those period films fetch them more success than the others. Filmmakers believe that making period films is a critical job. Sometimes, artists will have to go through extensive research to get a feel of the characters from epics. Portrayal of the same on screen is a tough task for both the actors and directors.


As described earlier, it is either epically structured or just that the film has its own findings in the respective era.




Rising from the 300 Spartans, the world monitored the deluge of period films in and around the Hollywood circle. Then, The Last Of Mohicans did the trick to highlight the significance of what a period film could do. The Mortal Storm saw the Nazi-Hollywood era, starring the most self-effacing star and the MGM contract star Jimmy Stewart. The Romeo- Juliet in this list looks highly ineluctable. Alexandre Dumas' novel was filmed in 1949 as The Black Magic and then came the series of countryside films including The Blood Beast Terror. Musical busters like Cabaret and Chicago also showed their part in working with the 'times'
.

With unintentional anachronism, these films held their way to mark the early 90's with a few other films. Since half a decade, it rained in the Agathas, the Elizabeths and the Alexanders and the Vendettas. The most frightfully romantic characterizing Juilet Holme's true story set the tone in Heavenly Creatures. The french adaptation classic from Walt Disney gave us The Three Musketeers, that deals with another Dumas novel.





Lately, since the millennium took off, The Gladiator gawked the theaters with utmost expectation, since by then, the period films convinced the viewers that they had more than whatever they appeared to convey. Recently, it happened with The Wind That Shakes The Barle, The Duchess and John Adams, which held varying times in its script. Most recently, Kate Winslet, as Hanna Schmitz received the Academy award for the period film The Reader. Not just the Hollywood, but other Brazilian films like The Year My Parents Went On Vacation and Russian genres such as His Wife's Diary, plighted the streams of Period Dramas to remote stations of film-making.