Excitement in the 20th century film industry

Excitement is one of the most "cinematic" plots of the last century. It is simple in codes (cards, chips, roulette) and infinite in meanings: luck against calculation, system against personality, temptation against morality. The 20th century gave cinema a new rhythm of the city, neon and music of money - and with them a whole gallery of hero players, cheaters, bookmakers and casino owners. This article is an evolution of screen excitement: aesthetics, key films, tension techniques and how the industry spoke about freedom and addiction through the language of betting.

1) Origins: silent cinema, expressionism and a premonition of the game (1900s-1920s)

Early cinema studied the psychology of temptation and chance even before the codification of genres. The silent screen gravitated to close-ups of hands, faces, to gestures - this is how the visual grammar of bluff was born. German expressionism added shadow, diagonal, disturbing music and a manipulative figure: the game became a metaphor for power over fate. The excitement here is not just cards; it is a structure of temptation and control anticipating future noir parties.

Key period elements:

contrast of light and shadow as moral commentary;
hypertrophied scenery as "system pressure";
game as a way to show loss of identity.

2) Hayes Code, Noir and the Aesthetics of Suspicion (1930s-1950s)

In Hollywood, noir was entrenched with its rain, blinding headlights, voice-over and fatal errors. Casinos and underground games often became plot nodes: money, crime and passion converge here. With the introduction of the Hays Code, moral denouements tightened: the film could sparkle with temptation, but the system" required a reckoning. So the canon arose: the player wins the scene, but loses fate.

Ideas and techniques:

bluff as a dramatic structure (the hero hides the truth and drags on time);
light "from above" above green cloth - a visual voltage metron;
female characters as agents of risk and freedom, undermining the status quo.

Frontier films:

"Bob le flambeur" (1956) by Jean-Pierre Melville - a bridge to the European hepister and future neon;
"The Cincinnati Kid" (1965) is a textbook of psychological poker, where close-up eyes are more important than the card itself.

3) "Big Scams" and the New Wave of Discipline (1960s-1970s)

The sixties and seventies brought the scam to the screen as an orchestration of risk. The post-classical Hollywood system allowed heroes to be more ambiguous and endings less moralizing. The editing has become more nervous, the sound is more documentary, and the game is a field of social strategy.

Key titles and lessons:

"Ocean's Eleven" (1960, original) - casino as a scene for a stylish, "jazz" robbery.
"The Hustler" (1961) and "The Color of Money" (1986) - billiards as a native sister of poker: bankroll discipline, character, cost of self-esteem.
"The Sting" (1973) - a scam as a ballet: editing, music, a ritual of trust and betrayal.
"California Split" (1974) - the player's everyday life: addiction is not in the finals, but in the fabric of everyday life.
"The Gambler" (1974) - bet as a way to find the edge of life.

What is changing technically:

long plans and "hidden" editing reinforce the presence;
realism of sound (click of chips, dry cough of the audience) as a new truthfulness.

4) Neon, the Mafia and the Economics of Temptation (1980s-1990s)

The late 20th century gave cinema Las Vegas as a myth - not just a city, but a machine for processing desires. The infrastructure of excitement came to the fore: management, security, the "rule of the house," the origin of money. The camera examines not only the table, but also the back office: who counts who spies, who erases traces. Excitement ceases to be an accidental passion and turns into an industry with rules.

Key films and their tricks:

"Atlantic City" (1980) is a casino city as a mature-age character.
"The Color of Money" (1986) - Mentor/Learner: Transferring Risk Technique.
"Rain Man" (1988) - a road through Vegas as a personnel laboratory of probabilities and rituals of the game.
"Casino" (1995) - casino anatomy: from flora to reports; style of neon, slowdowns and voices-behind-the-scenes.
"Rounders" (1998) - the birth of the post-Soviet and post-Internet era of poker: reeds, bankroll management, discipline.

Period aesthetics:

neon and glass as a symbol of transparency/illusion;
steadicam-passages through the halls - the effect of a continuous bet;
soundtrack as voltage "cursor" (bits, ripple, ticking).

5) Global trajectories: not just Hollywood

XX century - the time of globalization of excitement on the screen.

France: Melville and after - Poker/Heist as a school of restraint and code of honor.

Italy and Spain: excitement is inscribed in melodrama and political context; bet is a form of destiny, not just entertainment.

Hong Kong and Japan: Macao films, yakuza dramas - a mixture of honor, duty and a demonstration of table ritual.

Eastern Europe: excitement as a metaphor for scarcity and "life bluff" under the strict rules of the system.

6) How cinema builds the tension of "game" scenes

Visually:

close-up of hands, then eye - order is important: this is how the viewer reads tactility, and then psychology;
point light from above - isolates the table, creates an "operating truth";
circle composition - the camera goes around the table, we "close" in the ritual.

Sound editing:

mix of "quiet hall" and accent click of chips - metronome of risk;
false glues (show reaction, hide map) - mounting bluff;
pause before opening - control of viewer's breathing.

Dramaturgically:

bet as a moral choice, not arithmetic;
"duty/crime/love" - three forces stretching the hero;
the price of winning is always higher than money: respect, freedom, name.

7) Economics of representation: from romance to regulations

As the industry matures, movies move from the romanticization of luck to the discourse of rules: compliance, observation, the "eye of God" above the table. Casino on the screen of the 20th century is already a corporation, where the odds algorithm is built into the interior. The hero can win once, but the expected value remains at home - and the movie honestly highlights this by shifting the balance in the finals.

8) Gender, class, migration

Gambling plots of the 20th century reveal social layers:

masculinity at the limit - checking status and risk;
female roles come out of the cliche of "fatal" agency (mentors, partners in the game, organizers of scams);
migrant optics - Vegas and Atlantic City as social chance elevators and traps at the same time.

9) The Ethical Line: Responsibility vs. Addiction

The cinema of the 20th century repeatedly shows the springboard of addiction: when the bet becomes not an instrument of choice, but an escape ritual. Even in the most stylish scams, the final chord is a warning: the death of a relationship, the loss of a face, the emptiness of winning. Screen excitement teaches us to distinguish between play as a craft of discipline and play as a spiral of self-destruction.

10) Legacy for the 21st century

The final of the XX century ("Casino," "Rounders") summed up: excitement is no longer just a case, but an ecosystem with rules, observation and mathematics. In the 21st century, online interfaces and new markets will be added to this ecosystem, but the language of tension - close-up, silence before opening, click of chips - will remain the same. It is the 20th century that sets the canon to which all modern "fiction" cinema somehow returns.

For curators, editors and producers

Selection: "Neon and Noir: 15 Films About Excitement from Melville to Scorsese."

Educational module: mini-lecture "Probabilities and editing: why bluff works on the screen."

Stage workshop: analysis of "close-up - pause - autopsy" on references of the 1960s-1990s.

The 20th century turned excitement into a universal language of cinema: through maps and roulette, it spoke about class, identity, greed, hope and discipline. The screen taught us that the game is not only a bet on the table, but also a bet on yourself: who are you when a case goes against you, and that you are ready to take risks for the sake of a name, love or freedom.