1933

Dedicated to the memory of critic, historian and cinephile ELLIOTT STEIN (1928-2012, or Hoover-Obama). At age five, he saw KING KONG in its original run at Radio City Music Hall — as his all-time favorite movie, he wound up seeing it over 200 times.

"The year 1933 was in some ways a last hurrah for America, but it also marked the dawn of a new age for Hollywood… Film Forum's series celebrates that pivotal moment in movie history and provides context for a major 20th-century cultural shift…. James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck and the Marx Brothers – all represented in the festival – were just hitting their stride."

– Matt Tyrnauer, Vanity Fair
Click here to read the full article featured in Vanity Fair's Hollywood edition.

"THE LAST FULL YEAR OF UNBRIDLED HOLLYWOOD FILMMAKING BEFORE THE CODE! As this superbly organized series attests, this was not simply a matter of silk lingerie and risqué situations, though those factors abound... This was also a period in which Hollywood was profoundly engaged with the everyday lives of Americans, to a degree it has never attained since." 
– Dave Kehr, The New York Times

"A mind-boggling salute to the movie year of 1933… goes beyond the obvious features to include cartoons, newsreels, short subjects, trailers, and even a live staged reading of the notorious “lost” pre-Code movie Convention City. If I had my druthers—and a month’s vacation—I would camp out at Film Forum."
– Leonard Maltin

"Pre-Codes having all the fun.. before-the-party-ends freedom! Whether attributable to modernist foment across the arts or silent-era innovation applied to the changing medium, the selection here puts on display renewed creative energies, including narrative experimentation."
– Nicolas Rapold, The L Magazine

Click here to view Adrian Curry's feature at Mubi on Posters of 1933