Reformulating the romantic comedy

MAYBE the reason the movies today are so ordinary and lacking in imagination is because filmmakers don’t want to take a chance, thinking that it may be too costly. [“Not in the Mood for Love,” Feb. 11].

Ideas for screenplays have to be put through a battery of scientific tests, analyzed, focus grouped to death, meet a certain demographic probably even the moon has to be at a certain place in the sky at midnight. Then it has to appeal to a certain age group before it can even see the light of day. How sad that all the wonderful stories out there won’t get an opportunity to succeed because of this so-called Hollywood standard. That is the nature of show business. It is first and foremost a business.

Yet the films of the ‘40s made by Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder and Leo McCarey were great. Their movies were made with risk, confidence, imagination and fun. They took a chance that always paid off, even today. They are the lasting ones you never forget. These giants of filmmaking left a legacy and set a high standard of what is possible for any generation of film makers. What a gift!

FRANCES TERRELL LIPPMAN

Los Angeles