Group Project blog post

In our movie, The Three Little Pigs and the Big, Bad Banker, we took a spin on a classic story-book tale. The movie is about three brothers who are living during the Great Depression. They are struggling to get by in these hard times, while the bank is out to get them and their houses. The banker is trying to forclose the houses that cannot pay off their mortgages, and the youngest brother happens to be the owner of one of those houses. Robert Montgomery plays the youngest brother, who is also the main character. Coincidentally he is in love with the banker's daughter, who is played by Myrna Loy. The banker, played by Wallace Beery, will not listen to lovestruck daughter, who wishes to stay with the youngest brother, regardless of the status of his house and wealth. After the banker takes the youngest brother's house, he flees to his older brother's house, Clark Gable. Clark Gable plays a lawyer, who is having a hard time paying off his debts as a member of the middle class. They both end up fleeing to their oldest brother's house, who is played by Nelson Eddy. He is the richest and in the upper class, so the bank won't take his house. Clark Gable and the other brothers sue the bank and the evil banker, accompanied by Myrna Loy who goes against her father. They end up winning and getting their houses back.

We chose this as our movie because it addresses the financial crisis in the 1930s and provides the public with an example of bank corruption and how individuals are affected. The genre of this film is drama and romance because it is very real and conveys many serious messages. The romance part of the film between Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy is perfect because they both acted in several romantic films in the 30s. This film will be directed by King Vidor and MGM will produce it. We chose MGM because in the 30s it was an up and coming studio that was prepared to make blockbusters and high-budget films, which we want our film to be. The actors chosen all have experience with MGM and have worked together. King Vidor is a director for MGM also. Myrna Loy is chosen as the leading female role because of her beauty and good looks for the camera. Robert Mongomery and Clark Gable were chosen for their big names and experience with acting.

Cinematography will be highlighted in this movie to really influence the way the characters are portrayed to the audience. The cinematographer will be James Wong Howe because he is known for his use of shadows. We had the idea for shadows and lighting to help the viewer decide which characters were good and which were evil. The banker will have a half-lit and eerie face to give the audience a mysterious and negative emotion towards him, while the other "good" characters will be fully lit and almost glowing to show their innocence.

The Hays Code affects our movie because we couldn't go as far as we wanted to with the relationship between the youngest brother and the banker's daughter. We also couldn't go as deep with the corruption of the banker, due to the influece of American opinion. We plan to shoot this film in black and white to show the contrast of lighting between characters.

The only thing I would have done differently, if I was working on my own instead of being in a group, is making the film on a lower budget and a much- lower scale. I feel like the message would have stuck with the audience longer if it was filmed on a low-scale because it would have captured the gritty realism of the time period and harsh times. I feel like the high-budget and huge picture film sugarcoats the true message trying to be portrayed. But the big-picture film does provide the audience with a happy ending and typical Hollywood plotline, which would make us a lot of money, so it is good.