Back to Basics

My dad likes to say that old movies are so much better than all of the "crap" that's ok tv today. More often than not, the tv in our living room is turned onto AMC or Turner Classic Movies. Most of the movies that play on these channels, I have never heard of before and I probably will never see again - unless they happen to come on tv when I am around the house. Though they are not as "visually stimulating" as today's shows and movies are, my dad does have a good point. The quality of the production is definitely far below today's standards, but old movies seem to have a certain authenticity and integrity than most of what I watch today. It isn't necessarily the content that is different, or even the acting. They just have a quality that gives them a certain feel. I have no idea what this "quality" is, and I'm not even sure if I could pin-point it if it was right in front of me. Maybe it was something about the era that they were made in. I'm curious about whether it would be possible to imitate qualities from old movies to produce something with more integrity today.