The first film shot in Hollywood is "In Old California," directed by the American D.W. Griffith in 1910. Quickly, Hollywood becomes an essential place for cinema thanks to its geography. This sunny city offers a diversity of landscapes such as the sea, the mountains, andthe desert, thus facilitating filming for directors. Over the years, Hollywood becomes a synonym for American cinema, which continues to gain popularity, producing films with colossal budgets and phenomenal box-office entries.
You all probably know Charlie Chaplin, and it is difficult to mention just one of his films. Nevertheless, "The Great Dictator,"released in 1940, is a significant film of World War II. In this film, Chaplin plays Adenoid Hynkel, a caricature of Adolf Hitler. Indeed, "The Great Dictator" is a satire of the Nazi regime and an ode to freedom and democracy. It is one of the first American films to be released that engages with political issues, as the film industry at that time generally avoided any political controversy. However, "The Great Dictator" helped to mobilize American public opinion in favor of democracy and against totalitarian regimes, to which many European countries were tempted to succumb.
"The Godfather" is certainly one of the most iconic films in the history of cinema. Directed in 1972 by Francis Ford Coppola and adapted from the eponymous novel by Mario Puzo, the film is set in 1945 inNew York and tells the story of the Corleone family, one of the five mafia families. "The Godfather" gave rise to a trilogy with equally emblematic sequels. This film is iconic for several reasons. Firstly, it features legendary actors like Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, and Robert De Niro in the second part of the trilogy. Secondly, "The Godfather" established the codes of gangster cinema, with archetypes such as the patriarch figure and the cowardly traitor.
The film grossed $267,398,921 and had over 78 million box-office entries worldwide, making it one of the greatest cinematic successes in history.
This film, directed by Christopher Nolan, tells the story of the 1940 Operation Dynamo, which allowed the evacuation of British and French soldiers trapped by the German army. The film is very original in the way Nolan plays with the perception of space and time. The director juggles between three spaces (the sea, the land, and the sky) and three different temporalities (a week, a day, and an hour) that intertwine. This can confuse the viewer's perception of space-time, creating a feeling of oppression and chaos. By playing with temporality, Nolan seems to want to convey to the viewer the same confusion the soldiers might have felt, thus reinforcing the nightmarish perception of war.
Unsurprisingly, "Dunkirk" received three Oscars, including Best Editing.
In conclusion, three films are not enough to illustrate the grandeur of American cinema, whose directors have tackled a multitude of subjects in various forms. Nevertheless, these three films, made at different times in the 20th and 21st centuries, show this diversity and, above all, the popularity of American cinema from its beginnings.