I have a fascination with the wild Pre-Code era, Hollywood movies. I just watched the documentary "Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood." Interesting how big a role technological change plays in the evolution of movies. Apparently:
The silent films required actors to express emotion with gestures and facial expressions. The advent of sound shifted the emphasis to dialogue. At first cameras that stood still enforced another limitation, though: relatively little motion. In the early 30s, boom microphones and moving cameras followed the actors around, letting loose movement around the sets - shoot outs, car chases, fisticuffs, and even a Cecil B. DeMille extravaganza labeled by one of the commentators as an "orgy" scene, a drunken/drugged party on a Zeppelin.
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