Arts: Un-American Activities

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Culturebox Un-American Activities John Ford's Westerns, Hitchcock's North by Northwest, Woody Allen's Upper East Side: American movies used to be set in America. Not anymore. By Tom Shone Posted Thursday, Jul 19, 2012, at 10:07 AM ET So Spiderman is a Brit and Batman is Welsh. Woody Allen sends postcards home from Paris, Barcelona, London, Rome. After collecting hosannahs on the international festival circuit, Wes Anderson recently made his first film set on American soil in 10 years; next he shoots a movie inspired by his love of Europe. For his latest movie, Martin Scorsese came over all Parisian. James Cameron is looking to shoot Avatars 2 and 3 with Chinese money. Oh, and the French cleaned up at the Oscars last year. America is having a moment at the movies—an absent moment, a Scarlet Pimpernel moment, a rain check. It used to be one of the great advantages of being a filmmaker working in North America: North America. As a setting and a subject, a material source and myth bank, America was in a class of her own. John Ford made so many films in Monument Valley—seven over 25 years—that the 30,000-acre stretch of the Utah-Arizona border became known as John Ford Country. Hitchcock used to bill studios for his American vacations, so certain was he of turning up new locations. He first thought of dangling a man from Lincoln's nose on vacation in 1951, almost a decade before he finally came up with the plot of North by Northwest.  By that time the Western had picked up a nasty cough, and we had all moved to the suburbs to sink in front of our TV sets. Filmmakers, meanwhile, staked ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Bachmann Hunts for Traitorous Muslims; McCain Shames Her The New Public Ivies Get High for Free	Advertisement
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