Could a new 'old' movie work today?

[JohnL]

Often, things I see or read will inspire strange thoughts that I just can't help wondering about.

 The topic about the game that had a fictional B-movie director and his films gave me an image of a small group of people somewhere secretly shooting an old style horror or SF movie and then passing it off as a lost film. They could say it was shot by a small group of friends back in the 50's through 70's, but never released and they found the only surviving copy.

Of course they wouldn't be able to keep up the hoax for very long as I'm sure people would spot mistakes in the film, friends would come forward to ID the actors etc. But this also gave me another image; a group of people getting together to intentionally film old style horror/SF movies. Not just in the same spirit as some of the classics, but created to actually LOOK like they were made back in the 50's to 70's, complete with outdated technology, bad acting, silly dialog etc. If done correctly, such a film would end up looking indistinguishable from one that was made 30-50 years ago.

What I'm wondering is, would any fan of B-movies be able to enjoy such a film knowing that it's a fake, or could you just enjoy it as you would any other old movie that you've never seen before?

If you're having trouble picturing what I mean, think of the SF segments of the movie Amazon Women on the Moon, but an entire film made like that without the other comedy segments.

[lester1/2jr]

One of the main problems with forgery is that it's hard to tell how of the times you are when you're doing it.  Like in the early 20th century there were these fake rembrandts that eventually got exposed as fake.  When they examined them years later, it was so easy to tell when they'd been made, simply because he used so much modern stuff unconsciously.   But to the non discerning eye, yeah you could probably do it.

[Flangepart]

Hummmm....intresting challange. Capturing the spirit of those times , on a sub conconsious level, would be the biggest challange. Its hard to explain what i mean, but lester1/2jr hits part of it. The unconscious inclusions of elements of thought, as well as behavior, would show up to some, but not to others.

[Scott]

Being a big fan of 50-70,s films, I really like your idea JohnL. .Some where between not trying to convince the public its a lost film and that terrible film AMAZON WOMEN OF THE MOON might have a chance, but people are bored to death by the old films. They need something to jump out at them every moment or explode or something.

I have often thought about opening a B-Movie DVD rental store, but I don't think it would be profitable, unless you had a chain of them. At best I might be able to make enough to pay for my own private collection of older movies that would cost me about $40,000 dollars. There are ways to make a store of sorts be cost efficient, but I think Netflix has me beat and is doing a great job. Netflix has alot of our favorite rare films.

[AndyC]

The hard pard would probably be doing it with a straight face.

I would imagine an actor of today would have some difficulty playing the stiff-jawed hero of the 50s without it coming off like a parody.

Same deal with a writer who knows a thing or two about science and technology. Can he write authentic sounding 50s techno-jibberish without a wink-wink-nudge-nudge feel to it?

Things like smoking on a spacecraft and female astronauts doing the dishes would have to be done as if there were nothing at all strange about it.

In general, someone would have to be very careful to include all of the outdated things, cultural, social and technological, that would simply have been taken for granted in the 50s.

[Fearless Freep]

I would imagine an actor of today would have some difficulty playing the stiff-jawed hero of the 50s without it coming off like a parody.

Bruce Cambell might be able to do it seriously, but because of so many of his roles, I don't think anyone else could take him seriously.

[lester1/2jr]

Like you can tell if you're watching a period piece like say "chinatown" you can tell when it was made, even if you're not familiar with the film.  Having long sideburns and gross oily hair was considered totally normal and attractive in the 70's or whatever, so they didn't go get buzzcuts or bowl cuts or whatever.  

          Still, it would be awesome to make a movie and then put a "something weird" jacket on it and just return it to your video store.  If you spent 3 seconds making it it would be 2 more than "Space Thing" or "Voodoo Garden" or any of the other real bottom of the barrel stuff they do.

[raj]

I think that is all definitely doable.  Look at 50s movies, and then design your sets around them.  Get some good costumers and hair & makeup folks
Just (or use your imagination to) look at Merchant & Ivory "period pieces."  Perhaps they don't mimic the mannerisms of the 18th century, but then we don't have movies, etc. from those times.  I'm sure actors could play the parts of 1950s sc-fi actors, it is, well, acting.  Admittedly you'd have to get good actors for that.

The challenge I think is in getting the movie making equipment from back then.  Does anyone still make 35 mm film & cameras (if that was what was used).  It makes no sense to redo The Day the Earth Stood Still if you film it on video tape.  You need the type and quality of equipment from back then to really make it feel like a lost film.

[Vermin Boy]

Yeah, to my knowledge, most of the professional stuff today is 35mm (though, if you wanna go for the Corman stuff, 16 might be the way to go).

I heard in the commentary on the Simpsons episode with the "Smilin' Joe Fission" film, Groening got it to look "aged" by dragging the film from behind his car. That could boost the film's credibility...

[Chadzilla]

I heard Woody Allen did a similar thing to make his new footage in Zelig blend with the older/archive documentary material.

[JohnL]

Thanks for all the opinions. For myself, I think I might have a hard time enjoying such a movie if I knew it was intentionally made to look like an old one. When movies like Destination Moon were made, I'm sure some of them really believed that's what a trip to the moon would look like in the future. If that same exact movie were made today, even if it looked the same, I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about how the actors, the writer, the director, all know better.

[Goon]

I point you all in the general direction of "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra"  (SP?)  plug that one into google.  For those who don't want to do that, it's a film exactly like what you've been describing.  Modern film in black and white done up to look like an old movie, supposedly without any "nudge nudge, wink wink, etc..."  might be worth having a look at.

----ooo-'U'-ooo--------Kilroy was here.