The restored film makes it possible to travel back in time to a world that has passed. It’s one thing to see photos that capture the right moment. But movies with motion and sound revive a past that was long dead.
According to notes on the NASS YouTube channel, the setting is a world premiere Grand Hotels at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in 1930s Hollywood. Soon you hear traffic noise and cars clattering. The sound is artificial but adds realism to the setting. The movie premiere’s spotlights paint the night in gold that reflects off the chrome radiators and headlights of the cars. You can feel the excitement and pressure of the crowd, bending over the tightrope to see a movie star.
As for the car itself, it’s hard to identify what it is. Huge and stately sedans roll off to send people to the event. The streets are full of cars, a reminder of how bad LA traffic is. These are no ordinary cars but cars like Cadillacs and Packards, wheeled jewels that are made to fit in. Cars paraded like the people they brought.
There are glimpses of the car that looks like a Ford Model A roadster. It’s there and gone so fast, it’s hard to tell. But the short wheelbase and open roof stand out among the long line of shiny saloons or sedans as the British call them, which seem better suited to their formal majesty.
The eight-minute film trailer is just a glimpse into a world 90 years ago. Like the other videos on the NASS YouTube channel, they are amazing because the scenes are so ordinary. Hence, the scenes convey a sense of familiarity. Whether it’s 1932 or 2022, there’s a parallel between the tense crowds watching people walking the red carpet and those on the red carpet stopping to socialize.
It’s the mix of the ordinary setting with a sense of familiarity and familiarity that makes this video so amazing. Like a NASS video in 1930s New York, you can feel it, making it easy to imagine you’re part of that crowd. Or better yet, someone pulled up to one of those long, shiny, chrome-plated cars and stepped into the bright lights.
