Introduction
Interview is used by researchers for several purposes. Factually, an interview is a primary data collection method on beliefs, practices, and opinions among others. This paper presents the action movie scene in the 1950s in the view of the 72 years old Mr. Lee from Tennessee Valley. The paper explores the movie scene during the 1950s era in the elements of types of films, presentation and perception of their audience.
Action Films in the 1950s
Mr. Chung Wing Lee is a 72 years old American. Though he has a fair mastery of English language, it is apparent that his native Korean language has influence on his pronunciation of some English words. Reflectively, Mr. Lee is an enthusiast of action movies and is proud of sharing the same passion with anybody interested to listen.
He describes going to the movies in the 1950s as a very special event embraced by the whole family who had to buy the movie tickets a week before the actual screen. Mr. Lee recalls that the whole of Tennessee Valley had only two theatres called the Sunset Cinema in uptown and the Caribbean Cinema in downtown.
Unlike the present setting of the movie theatres, Mr. Lee observes that the black and white screens were relatively small and not very clear. However, action movies had a cultic following among the young adults. Movies that Mr. Lee cannot stop talking about include the Seven Samurai, Vikings, Crimson Pirate, and War of the Worlds. Though displayed on a black and white screen, Mr. Lee recalls the day when the Caribbean Cinema was filled to its capacity following the release of the Attack film in 1957.
While smiling sarcastically, Mr. Lee declared that snacks that were sold in the entrance of the movie theatres were the bambino corns, milk shakes, and Coca-Cola drink. The most expensive snack was retailing at only ten cents. Movie tickets were charged differently according to the sitting position in the theatre, number of group attendees and age limit of the audience. Theatre ushers were mainly stationed at the entrance of the movie halls and would guide the audience to their sitting position as indicated in the movie tickets.
Mr. Lee vividly recollects that the theatres in the 1950s showed two films for every admission on weekdays and three films on weekends. Generally, the movies of the 1950s had the common themes of love, family values and punishment for crimes against the society. The sound systems in these theatres were not as clear as they are at present in the view of Mr. Lee. Besides, the music in the films was generally rusty.
Mr. Lee opines that movies of the 1950s were very friendly to entire family viewing despite being action films as compared to the action movies of the present time. He argues that action film makers of their time were conscious of family values and would hide the excessive violent images through use of clever image manipulation.
However, he admits that the current movie theatres are better that the movie theatres of the 1950s. Specifically, the lighting, color and sound proofing systems are more advance and friendlier to the audience than in the 1950s. From the results of this interview, it must have been fun attending action movies in the 1950s and paying five cents for snacks.