AS TIME GOES BY

It has been said that the older one gets, the quicker time seems to fly by, a saddening fact of life I have found to be true; and for film aficionados, the passing years build up a storehouse of memories, often brought to mind by the films that form the milestones in our lives.

Most of the films that remain fondly embedded in my mind were made before 1970. Despite the incredible technical advances since then, contemporary films too often rely on visual shock and frequently overlook the basic essentials of any good film - namely, an outstanding script, subtle direction and a story that touches us. The films made in the first half of this century are my favorites, while those made in the second half are mostly forgettable, except for some major epics that may stand the test of time.

I find most of today's films chase my thoughts back to earlier movies when one wasn't blasted from one's seat with deafening surround sound, or visually disoriented by the ridiculously fast editing and blurred, out-of-focus camera work.

I am thankful we have video stores where the older films are still available to be enjoyed in the relative quiet of one's living room.

Often I think back to all the films I have enjoyed over the years. I cannot possibly list them all, but some spring instantly to mind, such as the very first film I ever saw when I was barely out of diapers.

I accompanied my parents to visit my aunt in the small town of Bloemhof, on the diamond fields north of Johannesburg in South Africa. On Saturday night we all went to the town hall where the weekly movie was screened; which happened to be GREED, directed by Erich Von Stroheim, produced in 1925. I recall sitting entranced as I watched the flickering images on the screen. I can still recall some of the scenes, and have never forgotten that movie.

As the years passed, more and more movie houses sprang up in the city of Durban, where we lived in the 30's. Then one day, miracle of miracle, suddenly the movies had sound! I was hooked. People sang, danced and emoted, and now you could hear them! I can still hear Al Jolson doing his bit in "The Jazz Singer."

Having spent my very early years as a vaudeville singer and dancer, I understandably leaned towards musicals, especially those wonderful MGM musicals with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. But as I began maturing, I discovered the dramas. Who can ever forget Jimmy Stewart in MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, and one immortal film that will be watched and enjoyed for many milleniums ahead - THE WIZARD OF OZ.

The climax of my early love affair with films occurred in 1939, when I attended the premiere of a film destined to become the greatest movie ever made - GONE WITH THE WIND. Little did I imagine that twenty years later I would have left the land where I was born and be living in Hollywood, banging my typewriter in the script department of the studio where Scarlett and Rhett became immortal - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, undeniably the greatest studio that has ever existed.

During my school years, I spent many an afternoon in a cinema, totally enraptured by the magic of the movies, storing up memorable moments that sparked my burgeoning ambitions to become a writer. Alfred Hitchcock crept into my consciousness in 1940 with REBECCA, never thinking that Mr. Hitchcock was destined to become one of the screen immortals with a series of films that firmly established him as a unique master of cinema that many would try to emulate but never equal.

The 40's were also responsible for what has become the most watched film in history and the most rented video today - CASABLANCA, which is remarkable for its content - no gratuitous violence, no explicit sex scenes, no profanity, no special effects, no exploding buildings. Doesn't this tell you something?

Moving on to the 50's, MGM gave us SINGING IN THE RAIN, a number one top-rated film with many critics and most mature viewing audiences. I consider this the epitome of movie making - a flawless script, impeccable direction and superb music. This film fulfills the prime purpose of a movie for me, namely, entertainment that is totally enjoyable, enabling one to leave the theater with spirits soaring and a happy glow in one's heart. The post-war period fostered many musicals, the most prestigious one being Gene Kelly's Oscar-winner AN AMERICAN IN PARIS.

The 50's gave us more films from Alfred Hitchcock that serve as examples of how great a movie can be when written with skill, is directed flawlessly and produced with painstaking care - films like REAR WINDOW, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, VERTIGO.

Moving on to the 60's David Lean gave audiences his timeless productions: THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DR. ZHIVAGO, all done with taste and discretion and with incredibly impressive imagery. Incidentally, all his films feature real actors and real locations. What you see is the real thing, not computer imagery, which was non-existent back then.

For the frightening story of the rigors of film making, read Kevin Brownlow's magnificent biography of Sir David Lean, which illustrates that it was a miracle that Lean's films were ever completed as he envisioned them. They are a tribute to this great man's tenacity and perseverance against impossible odds and financial dictates from the studio.

For film buffs, the 30's and 40's are memorable for the hundreds of outstanding films that graced theater screens across the world, many of which are still viewed on late-night television and which are as affecting, impressive and memorable as they were fifty years ago. A good, well-told story is never out-of-date, witness William Shakespeare, who seems to be enjoying a resurgence of exposure on film.

In the 50's, one of my top all-time favorites hit the screen - the remake of "A Star is Born" with Judy Garland and James Mason - a touching, incredibly affecting film that combines George Gershwin's music with Moss Hart's superb script and George Cukor's direction in a masterful tale for which Judy Garland should have received the Oscar, something that studio politics precluded at the time. Paramount was pushing newcomer Grace Kelly, who received the coveted statuette; not that she didn't give a good performance in "The Country Girl" but most film fans, myself included, felt it should have gone to Miss Garland.

And let's not forget another multiple Oscar-winner in the 50's - Joseph Mankiewitz' ALL ABOUT EVE, a crowning achievement for Bette Davis, the all-time queen of cinema. Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart also charmed audiences in THE AFRICAN QUEEN, while Billy Wilder gave audiences a chance to see veteran actress Gloria Swanson once more in his superb SUNSET BOULEVARD.

In the 70's came CHINATOWN with Jack Nicholson giving one of his best performances. But the 70's was when the overall thematic content of films began to change and there was a sudden proliferation of storylines that were in distinct conflict with traditional standards of taste and discretion. More "way-out" ideas found their way into films, such as Stanley Kubrick's CLOCKWORK ORANGE, a well done effort but still a little too weird for many people. Writers and directors stepped over the line, and in general, storylines became more questionable, explicitness crept into scenes and as for suitable and melodic background music, well...it gradually disappeared from soundtracks. The glorious scores of Victor Young and Erich Wolfgang Korngold gave way to the unmelodic abrasive sound called rock that has assaulted our ears ever since, much to the dismay of lovers of good music.

Which brings me to the main thought that has prompted this article: why is it that contemporary films, which admittedly have advanced technically to a mind-boggling degree, so often lack the basic essentials that make a truly memorable film, namely, a strong story, solid characterization, unobtrusive direction and photography.

I realize that audiences have changed. Kids weaned on MTV grow up with a distorted idea of how a film should look. As long as a movie is considered "cool," nothing else matters. It truly saddens me, remembering how gloriously affecting most films used to be...

Another trend that has caused this basic change in films has been the marketplace. Originally, films were made to be shown in theaters. Today there is television, and many producers aim their product strictly at the small screen. A lot of films are never shown in theaters. Check out your video store, and you'll see many familiar titles, but there are many more movies that are simply two hours of mindless pap, sex and violence churned out for couch potatoes who have nothing better to do, and who are not too particular what they watch.

Television has, in my opinion, affected the film industry to the point where producers are not so concerned as they once were over the content of a film. The bottom line is: will it sell? Will it drag the gullible public into theaters? Will it bring in the bucks? And the bottom line being the buck, producers lean more toward the commercial potential rather than attempting to add to the world's storehouse of memorable movies.

Here's an example showing that I am not alone in my preference for traditional films, and my criticism of so many contemporary movies. Some months ago in my screen writing class at Richland College in Dallas, I screened NOW VOYAGER, starring Bette David and Paul Henreid. By the time that final gut-wrenching scene faded out, the entire class was weeping uncontrollably, as I was, just as I did over fifty years ago when I first viewed this film. One student, a young man of only nineteen, dried his tears and asked me: "Why don't they make films like that any more?" That is my ongoing question today: Why don't they?

However, some directors are; so let me recommend one recent contemporary drama that affected me very deeply; and it is not a Hollywood production. It is the Brazilian film CENTRAL STATION, directed by Walter Salles - a ten-Kleenex Oscar winner that embodies all the elements that make a truly great, affecting, memorable film. No special effects, no exploding buildings, just a plain simple story of human beings that we can all relate to. It's brilliant....

If you haven't seen it yet, rent it and realize what is missing in too many Hollywood productions these days, and why, now that the millenium has dawned, there will be many who will look back nostalgically on the films made in the first half of the 20th Century, and feel a twinge of apprehension over what lies ahead for us all in the 21st Century.

Harry Preston, a veteran author/screenwriter, formerly with MGM in Hollywood, now lives in Garland, a suburb of Dallas, where he teaches screenwriting at Richland College and works closely with the Texas film and literary communities. His web site