During the Great Depression, millions of Americans were out of work, but they still managed to make it to the movies. In fact, Hollywood didn't just survive one of our country's greatest economic downturns, it thrived.
So how did movie studios stay afloat when audiences could barely afford food? And why did people keep buying movie tickets during one of the darkest economic periods in U.S. history?
We dial up Rotten Tomatoes correspondent Mark Ellis to explore how Hollywood weathered the Great Depression and how this period changed filmmaking for rest of the 20th century. From the rise of sound films and lavish musicals to monster movies, gangster films, and sweeping epics like The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, film became a national escape during a difficult decade.
It’s a historical look at Hollywood that resonates today with new threats (like AI and consolidation) constantly emerging.
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