The American film industry boomed during and immediately after World War II, with more than ninety million people going to the movies each week, sometimes even twice a week or more. 1943 to 1959 have been called the “Best Years” by historians, journalists, and academics because so many of the plentiful gifts the U.S. government showered on GIs and various industries that helped win the war (military/defense, transportation/auto, agriculture/provisions, banking/credit, etc.) rippled out to all levels of society, facilitating even the lowliest of classes in gaining higher standards of living than they had ever known before.
But the same years are also called the Age of Anxiety, the Age of Doubt, the Postwar Blues, or a Period of Triumphalist Despair. The mostly B-film noirs were the truest reflections of these postwar worries, but other genres such as new musicals, satires, sci-fi/horror, and ‘swords and sandals’ Biblical epics were also a new part of Hollywood’s studio productions, reflecting this cultural bi-furcation.
This talk will discuss some of the changes and challenges Postwar American culture forced Hollywood to grapple with in those “Best of Years.”