It's a Wonderful... Movie Set

Binge watching is an unexpected consequence of today’s world. On Demand, Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube, we can watch something 24 hours a day. I am guilty of it myself. My favorite thing is to watch old movies, the black and white ones with stars like Basil Rathbone and Gene Tierney. I admit the acting is often times over the top, but the true stars of the movies are the sets. It’s really the only place you can see what a room completely decorated in Art Deco, Mid-century Modern or Victorian would look like. When you go to a shop often times you see a mid century chair or an art deco piece of pottery, but never a fully decorated room.

I always loved the movie Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell. It’s the best example of the illusion of moving through time by use of changing the sets with furniture from the various eras. If you’ve never seen it the movie begins in the 1927 and ends in the late 1930’s.

A good example of earlier decorating is “It’s a Wonderful Life”. The dinner scene before the prom shows some wonderful decorating. The butterfly collection on the wall, the jardinière in the corner, and the silver-plate serving dishes on the table; I love it.

So here is my top 5 movies for set styles. I’m not including “It’s a wonderful Life” because we’ve all seen that and my disclaimer is they may not be good movies just good sets.