Depression Era Movies

The Black Legion (1937) This powerful film starring Humphrey Bogart reflects Americans growing anxiety over fascism both at home and abroad by depicting an anti-immigrant fascistic clan, sponsored by powerful outside forces, taking over a small town here at home. Busby Berkley musicals, such as The Gold Diggers of 1933 This musical about the struggles of young show business actors on Broadway features the unforgettable Remember My Forgotten Man number. Sullivan's Travels (1941) "A late Depression film by Preston Sturges, this movie portrays some of the harshest realities of the vagrant life and prison gangs (it's a dark version of a road movie) although it ends in a tribute to the power of comedy to take us at least temporarily out of our suffering. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) "Frank Capra's political allegory shows us the powers of benevolence, when a "naive" idealist (Gary Cooper) inherits a fortune and discovers he can resist the forces of greed and evil and instead do some good for the unemployed and destitute who come flocking to him for aid. The Lost Horizon (1937) This excellent example of depression-era escapism presents a utopian vision of life on the southeast Asian mountain monastery of Shangri La.