January 23 at 8pm ET | 3 movies
Every year, the passing of time ages the beloved movies from Hollywood’s studio era. With the expansion of space between the then and now, a trove of films is lost to time while even more are rediscovered. As these films age, so does its audience, giving rise to a younger fanbase whose love of old Hollywood keeps its legacy, and that of TCM, alive for newer generations to enjoy and share. On January 23 starting at 8pm, Dave Karger will be joined by three digital creators who are sharing their love of classic movies with new audiences in creative and unique ways. These New Voices in Cinema will share a film of their choice and discuss how they are bringing renewed interest and awareness of the classics to a new generation.
Throughout the early days of Hollywood and well into the studio system, filmmakers rarely considered preserving films past their theatrical run. The unstable nature of nitrate film, which all Hollywood pictures were filmed on prior to 1952, led to the destruction of an unknowable number of movies over the years spurred mostly by nitrate’s inherently flammable nature. Furthermore, later films made using cellulose acetate plastic had a limited shelf life if stored incorrectly, causing deterioration, shrinkage and curling of the film, a decaying process known as vinegar syndrome. The push for film preservation has been a small but mighty undertaking that hit new strides beginning in the 1970s as revival theaters popped up in America’s bigger cities. This resurgence of classic movies to new audiences served as an inspiration for a new crop of directors like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, who would all go on to become the forerunners of America’s cinematic new wave, creating their own unique pictures using inspiration from old Hollywood.
Today, while streaming has seemingly provided an endless well of entertainment, many films from Hollywood’s Golden Age are not actively available to stream, leaving few avenues of discovery for newer audiences. Thankfully several efforts globally by preservation boards, revival houses and, of course, TCM are actively ensuring the preservation and exhibition of these films. But even more impressive are the young content creators using their voices on various platforms to introduce their audiences to the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Journalist and West Coast Editor for Letterboxd, Mia Vicino kicks off the night with her pick Merrily We Go to Hell (1932). Directed by one of the few female directors in cinema’s early history, Dorothy Arzner would become the only woman director working in Hollywood by 1932. Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney lead this pre-Code drama as a married couple whose relationship is affected by the husband’s growing alcoholism. After he embarks on an affair with a former flame, his newlywed wife declares she will become a “modern” wife with modern privileges that afford her to have affairs as well. Their relationship is further strained when a major life event affects them both, forcing the couple to reconsider matrimony and their love for one another. Cary Grant is featured in the film, marking it as one of his earliest appearances on screen. Like many pre-Code films of the 1930s, Merrily We Go to Hell feels fresh due to its frank conversations around taboo themes of open marriages, alcoholism and adultery.
Letterboxd is a social media website where users catalog films they’ve watched with star ratings and reviews. The site encourages interaction among its 14 million users, and members include film critics, scholars, crew members, cast and directors, including Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. Letterboxd’s most notable feature allows users to rank their top four favorite films, which is highlighted on each user’s profile. Vicino is a self-described “screwball rom-com and feminist body horror scholar” with over 115,000 followers. She was an early user of Letterboxd which opened to the public in 2013. She writes feature essays and critical analyses for Letterboxd’s online magazine “Journal” and has also interviewed several filmmakers and actors for the site, including Scorsese, Hugh Grant, Greta Gerwig, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.
Content creator Izzy Custodio follows up, moving our night into the 1940s with her pick A Foreign Affair (1948). Directed by Billy Wilder, who also co-wrote the script with Charles Brackett, Richard L. Breen and Robert Harari, the film is an adaptation of a story by David Shaw. Jean Arthur stars as a congresswoman investigating the moral corruption of American troops occupying post-war Berlin in 1947. Her investigation is impeded by a military captain, played by John Lund, who is having an affair with a German nightclub singer and Nazi sympathizer, played by Marlene Dietrich. Danger arises along with dark secrets as the three become entangled in a complicated love triangle.
After 20 years in the business, Arthur retired from Hollywood in 1944 to attend college in Missouri. "I've had to work all my life, and now I want to learn," she said. Nevertheless, she was coaxed back into movies by Wilder who offered her $175,000, top billing and a bonus of $10,000 for four additional weeks of work. During production, Arthur struggled to keep her confidence in check as she battled for Wilder’s attention, which he often reserved for Dietrich. The German-born Dietrich and Polish-born Wilder had been old friends, and Wilder had worked diligently to convince Dietrich to take the part. After becoming an American citizen in 1939 and having actively participated in anti-Nazi propaganda during the War, Dietrich initially despised the idea of playing a woman with a Nazi past. But Wilder worked his magic to great success, earning a Best Screenplay nomination in the process.
Custodio has been making in-depth video essays on YouTube under the moniker Be Kind Rewind since 2018. Her channel originally served as a historical retrospective of Oscar winners, nominations and controversies. However, her videos have since expanded to look at the historical context around specific films, stars and personalities, including Missy Piggy, Megalopolis (2024), Mank (2020) and actress-turned-directors Barbra Streisand and Ida Lupino. Custodio currently has several videos that have amassed more than 1 million views with topics ranging from Vivien Leigh’s casting as Scarlett O’Hara and her subsequent Oscar campaign to a video that compares every film version of Little Women. Custodio takes pride in her research to keep film history alive. “It's interesting to see the knowledge you take for granted be discovered by other people,” she told W Magazine online in 2022.
TikTok video creator Brandon Johnston closes out our night with his pick from 1955, All That Heaven Allows. Directed by Douglas Sirk, the film is among the apogee of 1950s melodrama. Jane Wyman stars a lonely widow with two college-aged children in a small New England town. Though she’s expected to marry an older, “safe” man, she falls in love with Rock Hudson, who plays a handsome arborist several years her junior, causing in-town gossip that complicates their blossoming relationship. Although Sirk’s works are considered canon among classic film enthusiasts today, his films, particularly All That Heaven Allows, were initially written off by critics as women’s pictures or “weepies” due to their themes of domestic issues and heavy focus on emotions. However, attitudes began to change in the late 1960s when French critics of the notable “Cahiers du cinema” publication delivered influential reprisals of Sirk's work.
Johnston is an actor, writer and director who has appeared in the series American Crime Story, Girl Meets World and The Resident. He recently wrote and produced the short film Heaven and Nature (2024). Johnston, however, has found success on TikTok where he’s garnered more than 280,000 followers under the moniker Hollywood History. On his page, he displays his passion and massive knowledge of various topics related to Hollywood’s Golden Age. Using TikTok’s platform to deliver short-form history lessons, Johnston’s deep dive into Hollywood has spread knowledge about a range of topics, like the history of the Mid-Atlantic accent, LGBTQ cast and crew, insights into early Black filmmakers and overviews of onscreen talent like Trixie Firschke and offscreen Hollywood insiders. His most popular videos have gained more than 1 million views and include such topics as Rosemary Clooney’s career, highlights on stars James Dean, Joan Crawford and Vivien Leigh, and beauty tips and tricks from Hollywood’s heyday.
Johnston has noted that his interest in Hollywood history began when he moved to Los Angeles. That interest turned into a major hobby that Johnston takes seriously, utilizing primary sources in his research to deliver up to two-minute snippets to his audience. He noted that some of his favorite Hollywood classics are those of Douglas Sirk and his collaborator, producer Ross Hunter. The duo made a successful pair thanks to what Johnston has pointed out as Hunter’s desire to bolster the American dream through lush, ornate sets and design, while Sirk visually critiqued the American dream by depicting his characters as trapped in the malaise of social confinement and restraints.
TCM is thrilled to have these three share their work with newer audiences to reveal the greatness of Old Hollywood as we’ve always known it to be.
