What makes a movie?

             What makes a classical Hollywood film a "classic?" Many films employ such explicit and characteristic styles that there is never any question of their intended genre. If one sees a lot of explosions and fight sequences it can easily be assumed that the viewer has been witness to an action movie. In the same way, if one finds that by the end of the screening he has become overwhelmed by a sense of anticipation, it is an indicator that the viewer has just witnessed a suspense thriller. Yet, the difficulty in identifying a film as being part of classical Hollywood cinema is that the characteristics of this genre are not always as obvious. It is rather easy to sit back and explain classical cinema as being: "you know, those black and white ones." But this kind of definition fails to give the artists of this genre the real respect that they deserve for it fails to recognize an artist's intentions and motives. Many understand the term classical cinema to refer to a period of film making beginning in 1908 and concluding with the birth of the independent film (Bordwell and Thompson 445). Yet, the problem of understanding classical cinema in this fashion is that this criteria is too general to fully understand the real foundations of a classical film (Bordwell and Thompson 441). Many different film movements occurred at this time simultaneously, all with distinct differences in style and narrative principles, thus making it impossible to identify classical Hollywood cinema merely as occurring during a specific time range (Bordwell and Thompson 441). How then does one understand how to classify a film as being a classic?.
             The best way to identify classical cinema is to understand a classical film as having an overwhelming commitment to the telling of a story (Bordwell and Thompson 108 - 109). As the main purpose of any film is to present a specific narrative to its audience, this criteria may seem a little weak (Bordwell and Thompson 90 - 91).