An advantage of Old Age

Are you skeptical that I have found something in my old age that gives me a thrill? I can't blame you, but I swear it's true. It's a very important part of our national culture that Yvette and I enjoy practically every evening. No, it's not THAT. It's old movies. And what is so remarkable about that? It's that my memory is so bad that the movies I enjoyed in the 30s and 40s have become enjoyable again, they are almost like new. That means that "Modern Times," Chaplin's masterpiece, will have scenes that I remember clearly and will make me giggle, but I can never recall what led up to his working with those huge machines and how he escaped from the factory. But seeing the movie again with the advantage of captioning means that it's like new.
I've seen "Double Indemnity" many times; Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson are superb in their roles; I know the plot well. But now I see the camera angles and the use of shadows to add to the tension, subtleties that show how Hollywood exploits lighting and the camera.
Old timers like Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and Victor McLaglen didn't need talkies to be stars. Instead of following the plots I watch their miming and appreciate how they portray feelings and action, often "chewing the drapes," but always impressive.
Old black and white movies have it all over those in color. And the early movie stars, male or female, had no wrinkles; their perfect complexions which I''ve now become aware of are due to the wonder of lighting which fools the camera and makes the actors timeless.
And the Basil Rathbone duels---always the clash of weapons where it seems someone is bound to get a swordpoint in the gut. Yet I've learned about the choreography of these scenes which permits the fighting to go on and on , always with the potential for wounds but nothing fatal until the script says so. I now see every combat as a study of dance with weapons.
I'm fascinated by film stars Valentino, Garbo, Fairbanks, Gable, and the Barrymores. They are so subtle, they mime perfectly, they capture the screen with ease. Now I concentrate on their makeup, the lighting, the camera angles and see things that my adoring childhood eyes ignored completely.
What I enjoy most out of seeing old movies are the opening scenes. I usually can recall what a movie is about but rarely can remember how the movie opens and how the plot is introduced. The Hollywood writers were masters of that: they were captivating, usually subtle, always smooth. Hollywood has come back to me; old movies are new again.