30's Movie : Murder at Winchester Mansion

1. The film itself is set around a court case regarding the murder of Eben Winchester (played by Clark Gable). The opening scene is set in the court room featuring Ed Bigby, an attorney (played by Paul Muni) and Judge Welles (played by Clarence Brown), while the story of the murder is told in a series of flashbacks during the testimony of Eben Winchester's butler, Eugene Hamiliton (played by William Haines). The story begins with Jean Harlow's character of Viona Boka, a Dutch immigrant, meeting Eben Winchester, one of the few wealthy men left in America during the Depression. Viona gets Eben to fall in love with her, as part of her scheme to murder him and inherit his fortune.
2. The genre of our movie is a romantic drama with elements of a mystery. The dramatic mood of the movie really suits the plot of our story, which takes place in a time of despair and distress, being in the midst of the Great Depression. It shows the motivation and desperation a person can feel at this time that would drive them to murder, in order to find financial security. Our main stars, Jean Harlow and Clark Gable are known for their roles in dramas, and are well-suited to this film.

3. The studio that would work best for this film is MGM because it is a big blockbuster production. It's highly dramatic and features big budget stars like Jean Harlow and Clark Gable.
4. Our cast features: Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, William Haines, Paul Muni, and Clarence Brown. Each actor was chosen specifically for their role based on their past roles in films, their appearance and ability to portray the characters, and their professional experience. Jean Harlow and Clark Gable are the leading roles. These actors have worked well together in the past, and we knew the onscreen chemistry would come together. They have much experience in dramas and have the ability to make our film be very clean cut and professional. We chose King Vidor to direct the film because he would contribute to the prominent element of our film, which is cinematography. While trying to advance and modernize our cinematography, we decided to keep the film in black and white to keep that basic and add to the mysterious, dramatic tone of the storyline.

5. When coming up with the plot of the movie, it was really important to take the Hays Code into consideration in this big blockbuster film. We needed to make sure there wouldn't be any passionate scenes that would be considered scandalous between girl and boy. The murder itself was also a delicate subject to base the film on; we couldn't use guns or show the actual murder. So, we found a way to kill Clark Gable's character without it being violent. We also needed to remove a love triangle between her, him, and the butler because it was a clear violation of the code.
6. I was considering making the film in color because it is produced by a major company like MGM, and perhaps people would be more interested in seeing a film with the new technicolor technology. Other than that, I approved of my group's decisions and the whole process.