> They weren't on the 24th Marvel movie in the 1950s. Sure, there was a lot of schlock, too, but the original stuff was still original, not retreads of the same old stuff.

While there was a lot of innovation, we can say "original stuff was still original" even today. How would you classify Sorry to Bother You, Beau Is Afraid, or Hundreds of Beavers?

Plot wise, cinema back then still had a lot of stuff lifted from decades previous.

Like, Westerns date to at least 1903: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Train_Robbery_(1903_...

And the first Western film was inspired by Wild West shows that started before the Old West era even finished: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_West_shows