|
1940 |
The Grapes of Wrath, John Ford's
panoramic adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel deals with the
Great Depression, debuts on film. |
|
Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, is his first
Hollywood film following years of outstanding work in
Britain. |
|
First of the Bing Crosby / Bob Hope / Dorothy
Lamour "road" movies, Road to Singapore. |
|
Ansco, Agfa, and Sakura Natural color films are
introduced. |
|
1941 |
Orson Welles's Citizen Kane is
celebrated for its innovative use of sound and flashback
structure and for the deep-focus cinematography of Gregg
Toland. |
|
Following the German invasion of the USSR,
Mosfilm compiles short film reports, documentary sketches,
satirical scenes, and musical numbers into several "Fighting
Film Albums" to aid the war effort. |
|
Due to a nitrate fire at Svenska, the
pre-eminent preserver of its nation's film heritage, the
negatives of 95% of all films produced in Sweden in the
preceding 34 years are destroyed in minutes. |
|
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The United States
passes the declaration of war. |
|
First commercial television license is issued
in US. |
|
Eastman Kodak introduces KODACOLOR negative
film. |
|
1942 |
WW II romantic drama Casablanca,
starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, debuts as one of
the most popular films of all time. |
|
United States government establishes Office of
War Information to coordinate wartime propaganda with
Hollywood. Frank Capra's seven-part "Why We Fight" series is
produced over the next two years. |
|
Ansel Adam's Moonrise, Hernandez. |
|
1944 |
Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity starring
Barbara Stanwyck, who is declared by the Internal Revenue
Service the highest-paid woman in the United States. |
|
D-day. |
|
1945 |
Marcel Carné's and Jacques Prévert's The
Children of Paradise is released following the Liberation
of France from German Occupation. |
|
Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City
launches the Italian neorealist movement. |
|
|
Nationalization of film industries in
Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia |
|
|
Atomic bomb on Hiroshima ends fighting, opens
nuclear age. |
|
Arthur C. Clark proposes a geosynchronous
satellite. |
|
1946 |
Eastman Kodak introduces KODAK Ektachrome, the
company's first color film processable by the
photographer. |
|
|
Howard Hawks's The Big Sleep, starring
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, sets the standard for urban
American crime dramas for the next decade. |
|
|
Hollywood's most successful year in its history
in terms of motion picture attendance and box-office
earnings. |
|
Establishment in Berlin of Deutsche Film
Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), a Soviet company that will soon
pass into East German control. |
|
The first Cannes Film Festival is held, planned
to open in 1939 but cancelled because of the war. The first
winner of the Palme d'Or is Maria Candelaria, a Mexican
film photographed by one the world's greatest masters of black
and white cinematography, Gabriel Figueora. |
|
1946-50 |
New film types introduced in the late '40s:
American films dealing with social consciousness; problems of
racism, alcoholism, mental illness; semi-documentaries about
criminal cases and film noir (fatalistic, dark interpretations
of contemporary American reality). |
|
1947 |
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's
Black Narcissus, is a masterpiece of Technicolor
design. |
|
|
In the first round of House Un-American
Activities (HUAC) hearings in Hollywood, political
conservatives seek leftist content in film scripts. The
"Hollywood Ten" are held in contempt of Congress and jailed
for invoking the Fifth Amendment. |
|
|
Formation in New York of the Actors' Studio,
soon to become the centre for advancing "The Method" technique
of acting embodied in the styles of Marlon Brando, Montgomery
Clift, James Dean, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward. |
|
Also in History: Princess Elizabeth marries
Prince Philip. |
|
|
Also in History: Britain grants India
independence. |
|
|
George Eastman House, Inc., chartered as a
museum of photography. |
|
|
Dennis Gabor describes the principles of
holography. |
|
Bell Laboratories invents the transistor. |
|
1948 |
The Bicycle Thief
brings worldwide
recognition to neorealist director Vittorio De Sica and
screenwriter Cesare Zavattini. |
|
|
S. S. Vasan's historical superproduction
Chandralehka sets Indian cinema on the course of
big-budget entertainment. |
|
|
Roberto Rossellini's The Miracle is
denied an exhibition permit by the New York State of Censors
on the grounds that it is blasphemous, setting in motion a
series of ground-breaking court cases dealing with film
censorship. |
|
|
Nationalization of film industries in Bulgaria,
Hungary, and Rumania. |
|
|
Also in History: The independent Jewish state
of Israel comes into existence. |
|
|
Milton Berle begins Texaco Star Theatre. |
|
|
First 35mm Nikon camera is introduced. |
|
First U.S. cable television systems
appear. |
|
|
Edwin Land markets the Polaroid camera. |
|
|
Hasselblad 1600F introduced. |
|
1948-49 |
A wave of protectionist legislation in France,
Britain, and Italy sets quotas on American film imports or
screen time allotted to domestic product. |
|
1949 |
Britain's Ealing Studios establishes its
reputation for witty comedies with Passport to Pimlico,
Whiskey Galore!, and Kind Hearts and
Coronets. |
|
Following a decade of anti-trust litigation,
the United States Supreme Court finds Hollywood guilty of
monopolistic practices and hands down the Paramount
decision, ordering the studios to divorce and divest their
theatre chains. |
|
Columbia Pictures converts its short-subject
division to television production, beginning a trend other
Hollywood studios would soon follow. |
| |
Division of Germany |
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