Writing

Yes, I noticed the clipped dialogue and the lack of british accents. I figured that was a sign of the times. In these classic movies everyone's accent and way of speaking seems to fall into a different pattern than what we hear today. They also seem to speak at an accelerated pace.

I notice the same kind of thing when I see old news reel footage and news stories from that time. I have always figured this was done in an attempt to get more dialogue into less time. As time goes by I suppose the screenwriters and newswriters have learned to use fewer words to make their point.

What really stood out to me though is how the issue of sex was dealt with in the movie. It's not something I thought was ever allowed. The word sex, of course, was never used and all references to it were very veiled but for the idea of it to find its way into the popular movies of this era surprises me.

I had always heard stories of what was and was not allowed into movies (and on TV) but lately when I see these older movies and programs I'm noticing they dealt with a far wider range of issues and topics than I would have expected. What's most fascinating is, even though times, values and what's acceptable in our culture has changed a great deal since these movies were made, these movies could be remade today. Naturally some tweaking would be required but, for the most part, a great number of the plots would still work.