MovieChat Forums > Café Society (2016) Discussion > When does this movie take place?

When does this movie take place?

posted 9 years ago by LuciaJoyce
9 replies | jump to latest

The characters name drop Billy Wilder twice, as if he's a big cheese; but mentions Judy Garland as an up 'n comer (that Uncle Phil met at one of Billy Wilder's parties). As far as I can tell, Wilder didn't hit the big time until at least he helped write Lubitsch's "Ninotchka" in 1939; wasn't Garland already a star by then? Also, people seem to speak about Hitler with some kind of hushed reverence, which certainly wouldn't be the case in the US by 1939, would it?

[–] Rheli 9 years ago

I was thinking the same. They were not very careful with the time line. Also the first house by the pool that we see seems architecturally to be 1950s style rather than 1930s.

A further problem: we're in the middle of the Great Depression -- thousands lost everything and many were starving -- but you'd never know it from this film. Not really a big criticism, but it is odd, and worth thinking about.

[–] bruce-129 9 years ago

I'd just be guessing, but I'd say early to mid 30's.

The synopsis from Amazon says:

Set in the 1930s, a young Bronx native moves to Hollywood where he falls in love with the secretary of his powerful uncle, an agent to the stars. After returning to New York he is swept up in the vibrant world of high society nightclub life.
- Written by Amazon Studios

[–] LuciaJoyce 9 years ago

I guess it's not unfair to say that it's a dreamland or mishmash of Allen's memories - Bobby and Vonnie go to see Barbara Stanwyk in Lady in Red, for example, which suggests 1935; but the music in the clubs they go are either hard bop or cool jazz, which doesn't really come into vogue until the late 1940s and early 50s. Plus did white folks really eat Chinese food so casually back then? It doesn't really bother me, since the movie goes in a rather dreamlike direction at the very end.

[–] bruce-129 9 years ago

"The Woman In Red" is probably the best evidence which was
released early in 1935.

Being a child of 60's and 70's TV I always think of Barbara Stanwyck as
Victoria Barkley in "The Big Valley". I started seeing older classic movies
years ago and there are so many good ones with Stanwyck, she was a
great actress and a beautiful woman.

According to a search on the internet about Chinese food:
Chinese restaurants began in the US in the 1800's.
In spite of the racist backlash, good food was still good food. The turn of the 20th century saw the emergence of Chop Suey joints as hip and affordable places for young urbanites to spend a night out. Like most popular Chinese dishes in the United States, this particular mélange of meat, egg and vegetable wasn’t actually Chinese. In the 1920s American eaters were shocked when they learned that “the average native of any city in China knows nothing of chop suey.” Writer Jennifer 8. Lee calls this dish the biggest culinary prank one culture has ever pulled on another; translated from the original Chinese, Chop Suey means “Odds & Ends,” more colloquially known as “leftovers.”

Sounds like any time in the 30's would have been normal for Americans to eat Chinese, and California probably had all kinds of cuisine, especially around Hollywood.

[–] mindthinkr 9 years ago

I almost think it's a WA thing. Remember when he and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) were eating it out of the carton in bed?

[–] retrogurlaz 9 years ago

I would say the movie begins in 1936. Early in the movie Jesse Eisenberg takes Kristin Stewart to the movies see 'Swing Time' (one of my all time favorite films), which was released in 1936.

[–] marga73 8 years ago

I think they mention William Wyler (not Wilder)

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[–] shintakun 8 years ago

I just started watching this movie and am only a few minutes in so far and I literally had to stop to look something up because I already started questioning the timeline. Jesse Eisenberg is exiting the Chinese theater on Hollywood Boulevard and directly in front of the entrance he stops at a section of the sidewalk that has Gloria Swanson's name and feet and hand prints in the cement.

So when I looked up the history of the Hollywood Walk of Fame it said that they didn't start doing that until at least 1957. Also, it made no mention of any actors having done such things before then either.

So, either he did his research and learned that at least this specific actress once had her imprint in the concrete there or he just added this into his movie because he thought it would be neat to imagine Hollywoodland and what it must have been like and completely somewhat failed at trying to make things accurate and authentic.

[–] LuciaJoyce 8 years ago

Interesting! That's some good detective work.

So I guess it's on VOD or streaming somewhere now? While watching it, can you see if they're name dropping Billy Wilder or if it's William Wyler? :)