Some notable things about much older movies (like Hitchcock): the limitations forced them to work harder at many things.
Black & white has contrast concerns, no color so you need to imply it in other ways.
Film costs influenced the length of a movie, so lots of those old movies are shorter, or often limited to 90 minutes. If you wanted to go longer you need to justify the length in film reel units.
Then you have pre-code movies where what you could show or say was less limited, then post-Code where the dialog suddenly becomes filled with innuendo, and typically fast-paced, so you have to pay attention and get the references.
I suspect many movies today are produced like pop music - the simpler it is, the broader it can reach.
Some notable things about much older movies (like Hitchcock): the limitations forced them to work harder at many things.
Black & white has contrast concerns, no color so you need to imply it in other ways.
Film costs influenced the length of a movie, so lots of those old movies are shorter, or often limited to 90 minutes. If you wanted to go longer you need to justify the length in film reel units.
Then you have pre-code movies where what you could show or say was less limited, then post-Code where the dialog suddenly becomes filled with innuendo, and typically fast-paced, so you have to pay attention and get the references.
I suspect many movies today are produced like pop music - the simpler it is, the broader it can reach.