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This page includes the films and readings for each week, and a list of additional recommended readings.
Most hyperlinks on the films point to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The first few films (pre-1923) are in public domain, so where a legitimate online copy could be found, it has been linked instead and noted.
Primary Course Text
Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. 3rd ed. Kingston, MA: R. S. Means Company, 1996. ISBN: 9780393969399.
Required Supplementary Readings
Agee, James. "Comedy's Greatest Era." In Agee on Film. Vol. 1. New York, NY: McDowell, 1958, pp. 2-19.
Mast, Gerald. "The Comics: Mack Sennett and the Chaplin Shorts." In A Short History of the Movies. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1981, pp. 76-92. ISBN: 9780226509822.
———. "Movie Czars and Movie Stars." In A Short History of the Movies. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1981, pp. 118-128. ISBN: 9780226509822.
Braudy, Leo. "Genre: The Conventions of Connection." In Film Theory and Criticism. Edited by Gerald Mast and Marshall Cohen. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 443-468. ISBN: 9780195025033.
Course readings.
| LEC # |
TOPICS |
REQUIRED FILMS |
SUPPORTING FILMS
(clips shown in class) |
REQUIRED READINGS |
| I. The silent era |
| 1-2 |
Introduction
Keaton
|
Porter, Edwin. S. The Great Train Robbery. (view film)
Griffith, D. W. The Lonedale Operator. (view stills)
———. A Beast at Bay. (view film)
Keaton, Buster. One Week. (view film)
———. Cops. (view film)
———. The General. (view film)
|
|
Cook. A History of Narrative Film. 4th ed. pp. 1-41, 51-85.
———. 3rd ed. pp. 177-182.
Mast. From A Short History of the Movies.
|
| 3-4 |
Chaplin |
Chaplin, Charlie. The Immigrant. (view film)
———. Easy Street. (view film)
———. Modern Times.
|
|
Agee. "Comedy's Greatest Era." |
| 5-6 |
Film as a global and cultural form: german film |
Murnau, F. W. The Last Laugh.
|
|
Cook. Chapters 4-5. |
| II. Hollywood genres |
| 7-8 |
Hollywood in the 1930s: sound comedy |
Capra, Frank. It Happened One Night. |
Ball of Fire: Stanwyck character meets Cooper and the other professors.
The Lady Eve: Stanwyck character comments on the women trying to get the attention of Fonda.
|
Cook. Chapters 7-8. |
|
Quiz |
| 9-10 |
Hitchcock |
Hitchcock. Shadow of a Doubt. |
Strangers on a Train: climactic fight on merry-go-round. |
|
| 11-12 |
The musical |
Donen, Stanely, and Gene Kelly. Singin' in the Rain .
Fosse, Bob. Cabaret.
|
Love Me Tonight: "Isn't It Romantic?"
42nd Street: "Young and Healthy."
Top Hat: "Cheek to Cheek."
|
Braudy. "Genre: The Conventions of Connection." |
| 13-14 |
The western |
Ford, John. The Searchers |
My Darling Clementine: Wyatt and Clementine at the church dedication.
High Noon: opening ballad with villains riding through town.
|
Cook. Chapter 12. |
| 15-16 |
Film in the 1970s |
Altman, Robert. McCabe and Mrs. Miller. |
Five Easy Pieces: an order of toast.
The Long Goodbye: detective Marlowe shoots a friend who got away with murder.
|
Cook. pp. 845-868. |
| III. International masters |
| 17-18 |
Renoir and poetic realism |
Renoir, Jean. Grand Illusion. |
Boudu Saved From Drowning: Boudu leaves his own wedding party on the river. |
Cook. pp. 303-326. |
|
Hour test |
|
|
| 19-20 |
Italian neorealism |
De Sica, Vittorio. Bicycle Thieves. |
Rome, Open City: child saboteurs return home to their parents. |
Cook. pp. 355-368. |
| 21 |
Fellini |
Fellini, Federico. 8 ½. |
La Strada: Zampano the strongman.
Nights of Cabiria: near drowning of Cabiria and rescue.
La Dolce Vita: statue flying over Rome.
|
Cook. pp. 531-555. |
| 22 |
Summary perspectives: film as art and artifact |
|
|
|
|
Final exam |
|
|
Recommended Readings
Brophy, Stephen. "Bicycle Thieves is a poignant neorealist work." The Tech, May 5, 1995.
On Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller: Lethem, Jonathan. "The Greatest Death Scene." The New York Times Magazine, November 10, 2007.
On John Ford's The Searchers: Stone, Robert. "The Search Party." The New York Times Magazine, November 10, 2007.
Thorburn, David, "Television as an Aesthetic Medium." Critical Studies in Mass Communication 4, no. 2 (June 1987): 161-173.
———. "Television Melodrama." In Television: The Critical View. 6th ed. Edited by Horace Newcomb. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780195301168.
———. "Web of Paradox." The American Prospect 9 no. 40, September 1, 1998 - October 1, 1998.