Older films/classics

Hamster

Hamster

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So I'm using this post as an example (I've never seen the film so cannot comment on the score and it could very well be the most brilliant film I've never seen):

cerebus said:
Notorious (1946) - 9/10

Hitchcock noir with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. Supremely well-structured plot which comes together in a brilliant ending.
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Older films seem to get much better scores than newer ones. Is this because they really were better or is there a certain nostalgia romanticism thing going on? And if they were better is that because we do not watch the crap ones that were made (selection bias) or because much fewer films were made in those days and therefor just tended to be better than the thousands of movies we have today?
 
Hamster said:
So I'm using this post as an example (I've never seen the film so cannot comment on the score and it could very well be the most brilliant film I've never seen):

Older films seem to get much better scores than newer ones. Is this because they really were better or is there a certain nostalgia romanticism thing going on? And if they were better is that because we do not watch the crap ones that were made (selection bias) or because much fewer films were made in those days and therefor just tended to be better than the thousands of movies we have today?
Click to expand...

Well, you have to remember, these aren't just 'older films', they're usually the BEST films that were made in those days, the ones that lasted because of their quality. I haven't seen the majority of films made in the 1940s and I think most of them wouldn't be worth my time. If you think in the year 2100, which movies people will remember from the 2010s, you can guarantee that Transformers, F&F, Despicable Me, and so on will be long forgotten and only maybe a handful will still be watched. So the reason something like Notorious gets such a high score is because I thoroughly enjoyed it, which is also the reason it's survived for so long. So I think the answer is yes, it's a selection bias for sure.
 
cerebus said:
Well, you have to remember, these aren't just 'older films', they're usually the BEST films that were made in those days, the ones that lasted because of their quality. I haven't seen the majority of films made in the 1940s and I think most of them wouldn't be worth my time. If you think in the year 2100, which movies people will remember from the 2010s, you can guarantee that Transformers, F&F, Despicable Me, and so on will be long forgotten and only maybe a handful will still be watched. So the reason something like Notorious gets such a high score is because I thoroughly enjoyed it, which is also the reason it's survived for so long. So I think the answer is yes, it's a selection bias for sure.
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Like Armageddon and Top Gun :cool: :p

Cool, I thought it was something like that but then I do not know many people who watch these old films nor how many of them they watch :)
 
Also, keep in mind that the 1940s were considered the golden age of Hollywood. They produced some amazing classics in that decade - see here.

I think in certain times of history, art forms do better or worse. For example, right now (2000-today) is considered to be a golden age for TV because we're getting all these incredible series like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica, The Shield, etc. That's because of certain business conditions that make it very profitable for TV channels to broadcast high quality serials, and it won't necessarily last forever. On the other hand, Hollywood is in a creative slump and is depending on sequels, nostalgic remakes and comic book adaptations because of whatever reasons that make them averse to risking money on high-caliber scripts. The 1940s in particular were a time when Hollywood was booming and there was a place for great filmmakers like Orson Welles, Hitchcock and Huston to run with their ideas and create whatever they wanted.
 
I had a colleague who prized finding, watching the older films. Black 'n white films were his preference. I could see him weighing in here and punting some of the 'masterpieces' from said ^ era.
 
Piggybacking on this thread. Never watched it. Steller reviews. Is it a must watch?

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