Like music, movies have also had a “Golden Era.” Arguably, the 1950s were the apotheosis of the silver screen, as author Ws D. Gehring argues in this wonderful book about the classic comedies from that era.
Instead of discussing every comedy and actor from that era, Gehring wisely chooses to use twelve movies (as chapters) to spotlight various actors and actresses. Thus, you get Bob Hope and Bing Crosby under the microscope for 1953s Road to Bali, Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday from 1950, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis with Marilyn Monroe and Joe E. Brown in the 1959 classic Some Like it Hot, and so on. The inductive use of a single film as a description of a star’s style turns out to be a stroke of genius, and makes the reader want to visit or revisit each film to fully appreciate each chapter.
The 1950s were the last era when a film could still be humorous without resorting to vulgarity or gratuitous sexuality. Instead, clever innuendoes, hints and suggestions let the audience’s imaginations do the work to create more than was seen or stated, always the work of the highest art forms. As with artists like Miles Davis, less is almost always more.
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