Film Forum

“If movies promised life, liberty, and the pursuit of riches,
then Art Deco provided the perfect setting.”
– Howard Mandelbaum and Eric Myers, Screen Deco: A Celebration of High Style in Hollywood

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs and Industriels Modernes in Paris, which introduced this revolutionary new design movement to the world, the festival includes over 25 films from the 1920s and 1930s, all stellar examples of movies designed in the style now known as Art Deco, a term not coined until the 1960s.

Says festival curator Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Repertory Artistic Director, “Art Deco was introduced to Hollywood movies with a vengeance by MGM’s supervising art director Cedric Gibbons – the only studio designer to have attended the Paris exhibition – in the Joan Crawford silent OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS, the opening film in our series. ‘Moderne’ remained a predominant style in Hollywood until World War II. But it’s the racy Pre-Code era that fits it like a silver lamé gown.”

In their book Screen Deco: A Celebration of Hollywood High Style, co-authors Howard Mandelbaum and Eric Myers write, “Art Deco encompasses everything from the ornate zigzags of the movement’s infancy in the early 20s through the stripped-down, streamlined geometric forms of 30s Moderne. It was closely allied to the fantasies of wealth and elegance in America between the wars. Naturally, it was right at home in Hollywood.” As part of the festival, Mr. Mandelbaum and Mr. Myers will present a 50-minute illustrated presentation on the history of Art Deco in movies on Monday, November 24 at 7:30. 

SCREEN DECO is presented in association with the Art Deco Society of New York.

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Films in this Series

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