During the heyday of the STUDIO SYSTEM, "B" movies were those made on a modest budget, usually starring actors who were still on their way up or those who were on their way down. Often, the films were “programmers”— cheap westerns, gangster films, horror movies—that were simply meant to fill out the bill in a double feature. Examples of these films include Gene Autry’s Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1933) and Crime School (1938) with HUMPHREY BOGART before he became a star. After the studio system crumbled, "B" movies came to mean any cheaply made film. The BEACH PARTY MOVIES (and so many others) produced by American International Pictures to appeal to the youth market are prime examples of latter-day “B” movies.
Regardless of the tag, a fair number of B movies have become Hollywood classics. Some were instant hits, elevating lead actors and directors to stardom. High Sierra (1940), for instance, catapulted Humphrey Bogart’s career, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) galvanized director Don Siegel’s reputation. Other B movies were discovered only later and became cult favorites, such as Joseph H. Lewis’s Gun Crazy (1949), Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor (1963), and all of Budd Boetticher’s RANDOLPH SCOTT westerns of the 1950s.
A lighting technique that softens the contours of an object while making it seem more three dimensional. When lit from behind, a glow of light surrounds the edges of the filmed object, causing it to stand out from a dark background. Back lighting is generally used for two major purposes. Its primary and more dramatic use is to light an object (usually an actor) entirely from the rear. The effect can produce a ghostly silhouette rimmed by an ominous outline of light. These images are occasionally glimpsed in thrillers and horror films.
The second use of back lighting is far more pragmatic and can be observed quite regularly in romantic films. As movie stars age, they are often back lit to soften their appearance, especially in close-ups. The lighting from behind illuminates their hair and gives their appearance a soft glow. Back lighting throws gentle shadows over an actor’s face, yet doesn’t darken it because of the light surrounding the actor’s head.
A technique, also known as process shooting or rear projection, by which previously shot outdoor footage is projected onto a screen forming a backdrop behind actors being filmed in a studio. It is intended to make it appear as if the actors in the foreground are playing their scene outdoors. During the heyday of Hollywood—the 1930s and 1940s— back projection was used extensively because the cost of taking an entire crew on location to do a scene was prohibitive. Even though moviemaking has become less studio bound, back projection has continued as a means of saving both time and money. Perhaps the most gifted back projection specialist was Farciot Edouart, a special-effects man who spent most of his long career at Paramount. Among his more well-known films where back projection is used are Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), Sullivan’s Travels (1941), and Unconquered (1947).
Outdoor area on the property of a Hollywood studio where sets representing locations such as western towns, war-torn European villages, or New York City streets were built. The back lot received its name because it was generally a huge tract of land behind the studio’s main offices and soundstages where all the indoor scenes were shot. The back lot existed as an economy measure. It was cheaper to shoot at the studio than to take an entire crew on location where they would have to be fed and housed. The sets that were built on the back lot were rarely torn down; they were used over and over again in countless movies. All of the major studios, MGM, Paramount, Warner, and so on, had huge back lots. Some of them still exist today for television usage. But in an effort to create greater realism, most outdoor scenes shot for movies today are made on location rather than on a back lot.
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1. Amphibian Man was a pop culture phenomenon
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