1935 Film Project

My group and I came up with a black and white screwball comedy, titled Smooth Criminal. We wanted to create something that would appeal to audiences in 1935, so we settled on a comedy that would take their minds off of the Great Depression and any other problems going on in their lives. We aimed for escapist entertainment, which, whether you like it or not, makes you laugh and entertains you.

After deciding on our genre, we chose to go with Columbia Pictures because, at that time, they were known for their comedies and smaller-scale films. One of their most successful directors was Howard Hawks, known for Scarface. Because of the success of that film, we decided to have him direct our movie because it would bring in a large audience base. We also decided upon Shirley Temple, Carole Lombard, and Clark Gable. Gable was well affiliated with Columbia, so we knew that would be a nice match. Also, Shirley Temple was immensely popular at this time and thought we could attract some families in by having her in the movie. Lombard would be our protagonist, a criminal who fails at everything she tries to do. Gable is the policeman who tracks her down, eventually landing her in jail, with the help of his daughter. We did not want any love story in this film because, with the Hays Code, we thought it wouldn't make much sense and a movie without any romance would be more entertaining and less cliche, in my opinion.

The focus of the film that we chose would be the costume/makeup work in order to create an authentic look for both the criminal and the police officer. We settled on Maurice Seiderman because it would be a jump start for his later career, leading to eventual work in Citizen Kane. Since our film is pretty simple, we didn't feel the need to highlight editing or cinematography and wanted to put the money in on something that would benefit us more.

The Hays Code didn't affect our movie too much. We thought up the plot based on the code, so we didn't have to work around it too much. Since Lombard plays a criminal who is never successful, no acts of violence or crime are actually committed. Also, she is arrested at the end of the film by Gable, so the Hays Code is followed because she is punished for her intended illegal acts.

Finally, I don't think I would change anything about our choices. We were pretty unanimous in our decisions and heard each other out before making anything final.