Ancient History Hollywood Style and Other Influences from the Past
Archaeologists recently uncovered part of an Egyptian sphinx used in Cecil B. DeMille’s epic 1923 silent movie The Ten Commandments. Given the media coverage, one would think they had found a real 4,000 year old sphinx, not a 90 year old plaster copy. It may seem a bit much at first but DeMille practically invented Hollywood and blockbuster movies. The Ten Commandments was one of the first big moneymaking epics, so there is good reason to preserve and celebrate the find. Here’s a link to the article on the discovery of DeMille’s set:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-california-unearth-large-sphinx-set-ten-commandments-180967376/
From the beginning, Americans have enjoyed movies (a slang term for “moving pictures”) as something they could not see in their daily life. Grainy black and white silent films are not always compelling today. In our world of flat screen tvs and smart phones, we forget that moving pictures were exceedingly rare in the first half of the 20th century. Most Americans did not have televisions until the 1950s so a cinema was their only outlet.
Films were cutting edge technology and were incredibly realistic for their time. In the world’s first western, The Great Train Robbery in 1903, audiences ducked or even screamed when an oncoming train came hurtling towards the camera. The need to create compelling entertainment continually drove technological filmmaking innovation. By the 1920s CGI came in the form of giant detailed sets with hundreds of extras. For 1923’s The 10 Commandments, DeMille recreated Egypt in the California desert with 80 foot high walls, grand statues and iconic murals. Set making became an important art with its own rules. For example, workers used brown paint tones scenery such as the recovered sphinx to maximize light and shadow which worked much better in black and white than bright colors.
DeMille wanted to capitalize on American interest in Biblical stories and the recent mania over the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. (Article on the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb) Gold artifacts, exotic sphinxes, pyramids and mysterious mummy’s curses excited the popular imagination. DeMille had assistants conduct extensive research for his sets which is apparent below.
In the re-created temple above, we can see a magnificent temple and rows of sphinxes lining the entry lane. I found the source, the Temple of Amun-Ra (the sun god and ruler of the Egyptian pantheon in the Middle and New Kingdoms) with its Avenue of Sphinxes at Luxor. The moviemakers added their own touches for dramatic effect. The four seated statues originate from Abu Simbel, 400 miles south of Luxor.
The rearing horses and chariots on the temple walls appear frequently in Egyptian iconography. The most famous example is Ramesses the Great’s commemoration of his victory at the Battle of Kadesh as a mural at the mortuary temple of Ramesses II – The Ramesseum. Ramesses built his tomb on the other side of the river from Luxor.
Americans would instantly recognize the pyramid in the background to the far left above but the Giza Pyramids are actually 300 miles north. Nevertheless, the detail and scope of DeMille’s sets is impressive and fairly accurate by Hollywood standards.
After filming, DeMille intentionally broke up the set and buried it in the desert. Though no one knows the reason, it is believed he wanted to prevent his sets from being used in other films. Ironically, burying the sets probably saved the pieces. DeMille feared what was a common practice then and now. I found a great example of reused sets in the Town of Mayberry created for the Andy Griffith Show. One of my favorite programs, Star Trek, re-dressed the Mayberry set for several episodes.
In reading about this story, I came across another enormous set preserved in a much different way. In 2001, Hollywood’s Highland Center Mall on Hollywood Boulevard re-created the façade of another epic, 1916’s Intolerance by filmmaker D. W. Griffiths. Part of Intolerance took place in ancient Babylon and Griffiths built the set on Sunset Boulevard which was still a dirt road. The film flopped and the Babylon façade remained for years becoming part of Hollywood lore.
As it turns out, an 1866 engraving by French artist Gustave Doré inspired Griffiths’ designs of Babylon. This revelation inspired me to look for other examples and there was no shortage. Throughout the moviemaking era, art has influenced movies.
Take a look at the slideshow gallery below where I placed artworks next to movie scenes they inspired (you can pause the pictures with the center button and use the arrows to move at your pace)
Art has inspired much more than individual scenes. Alfred Hitchcock loved the stark isolation in the work of painter Edward Hopper whose influence appeared in several Hitchcock movies. One of the most notable is Hitchcock’s classic horror film, Psycho. Hitchcock based the Bates home on Hopper’s House by a Railroad Track. The painting of a Victorian home alone, starkly rising above the horizon with railroad tracks, a more modern invention that seems to leave the building behind. Similarly, the older Bates mansion sits as an anachronism bypassed by a brand new highway. Even structures are depicted in isolation.
Hopper’s influence went far beyond the house. His paintings of individuals often portrayed a sense of isolation and frustration. Hopper often included one or more persons in his works. The individuals often appear with little emotion, lost in their thoughts looking out a window or into the distance. Multiple individuals rarely seem to be interacting. They are self-absorbed, seemingly unaware of their surroundings or other persons close by.
Many scenes in Psycho have little dialogue with long, slow shots of characters alone and engrossed in solitary, mundane activities. Several shots could easily be Hopper paintings.
Hitchcock recalled discussing the Norman Bates character with Anthony Perkins: “I told [Perkins] that I felt that Norman Bates, if he were a painting, would be painted by Hopper, and he agreed. So we had that kind of discussion, writer and actor, about the character. He had an incredible grasp on Norman Bates and the situation that he was in. I think Tony Perkins must have known what it was like to be trapped.” Perkins played the role perfectly bringing a unique interpretation of Hopper’s work to life.
Michelangelo Caravaggio created some of the most striking Baroque art. His use of realism and light and deep shadow to highlight the drama of a scene were unique. Caravaggio situated his subjects carefully to draw attention to their interactions. These masterful techniques naturally influenced artists for centuries including Francis Ford Coppola. I have alternated scenes from the Godfather movies with Caravaggio’s paintings below. In many of the important scenes of the Godfather series, Coppola copied Caravaggio’s placement of lighted faces and dark backgrounds to focus the viewer’s attention on the dramatic purpose of the scene.
I could go on and on. Art appears in all sorts of ways in films. Perhaps you might google the artistic influences of some of your favorite movies. If you find something interesting, please forward it to me in the comments or by email. In exposing some Hollywood magic, I hope I have not ruined anything the readers. I often focus on significant events, but history comes in many forms. Hopefully my research will enhance appreciation for the value of art as a source of inspiration as one more reminder of how the past still has value in our daily lives.
I will end with one more reference that combines one of my favorite artists, Gustave Doré who famously illustrated major literary works such as John Milton’s Paradise Lost with another musical favorite, David Gilmour. As you probably know, Gilmour was the guitarist, lyricist and a songwriter for Pink Floyd. Gilmore has an impressive body of solo work as well. On his most recent album, Rattle That Lock, the title song and the accompanying video are inspired by Milton and Doré. If you look carefully, you will see other influences. I noted the appearance of sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. The statue is brilliantly conceived. As one walks around the work, Bernini follows the mythological tale transforming Daphne into a laurel tree. At 2:12 mark of the video, you can see a similar transformation.
Sources:
Hitchcock quote: http://www.alfredhitchcockgeek.com/2009/11/hitchcocks-most-hopperesque-film-psycho.htm
Babylon Fallen: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Dorebabylon-fallen.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Dorebabylon-fallen.jp
Intolerance set of Babylon, Ishtar Gate –D. W. Griffiths
https://longislandarcheology.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/artificial-archaeology-and-the-cinema-griffiths-intolerance/
Edward Hopper house by the railroad track
http://www.moma.org/media/W1siZiIsIjE1NjM0OCJdLFsicCIsImNvbnZlcnQiLCItcmVzaXplIDIwMDB4MjAwMFx1MDAzZSJdXQ.jpg?sha=b7a393ca66cb34b
Bates Motel Psycho 1960
http://www.themusichall.org/assets/uploads/images/13_02_psycho_event.jpg
——————————————
John Singer Sergeant “El Jaleo”
http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/El_Jaleo.jp
Alamo 1960
http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/Nefarioso/media/cGF0aDpHVFQvZmFuZGFuZ280LmpwZw==/?ref=
————————–
“Napoleon a Sainte Helene” Francis Joseph Sandmann (1820)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Napoleon_sainthelene.jp
The Duellists (1977)
http://empireonline.media/jpg/50/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/l/uploaded/the-duellists-ridley-scott.jpg
——————————–
M. C. Escher Relativity (1953)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Escher%27s_Relativity.jp
Labyrinth (1987)
https://info.umkc.edu/unews/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/labyrinth_movie.jpg
—————————
The Death of Marat Jacques-Louis David (1793)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Jacques-Louis_David_-_Marat_assassinated_-_Google_Art_Project_2.jp
About Schmidt (2002)
http://iv1.lisimg.com/image/1480709/580full-about-schmidt-screenshot.jpg
————
Jean Hippolyte Flandrin, “A Young Man Beside The Sea (1836)—
https://pod.museoteca.com/orsay//img/web/images/00212.jp
There Will Be Blood (2007)
https://filmgrab.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/49-on-beach.png
——————–
M. C. Escher Ascending and Descending (1960)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/Ascending_and_Descending.jp
Inception (2010)
http://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2013/5/5/fd25f2b6-2b90-4198-aa8f-72ed7f4522cb.jpg
———————–
The Blue Boy Thomas Gainsborough (1779)
http:/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/The_Blue_Boy.jpg
Django Unchained 2012
http:/s1.dmcdn.net/YrVb-/1280×720-oph.jpg