Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week**, 1 hour / session
Recitations: 1 session / week, 1 hour / session
Film Screening: 1 session / week, immediately after the week’s 2nd lecture
**Several weeks of this class operate in a “flipped” mode. During these weeks, one lecture will be live, while the 2nd lecture is replaced by students watching Prof. Thorburn’s prerecorded lecture videos on OpenCourseWare.
Primary Goals
This course is an introductory survey of classic films. Emphasis falls equally on cultural and on artistic matters: on films as anthropological and historical artifacts that articulate the values and assumptions of specific societies and eras and on films as works of art. The course aims to sharpen students’ analytic skills, to give them a sense of the history and cultural significance of movies, and to improve their writing.
Textbook and Readings
The primary text is Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. 4th ed. W. W. Norton & Company, 2003. ISBN: 9780393978681.
Supplementary readings will also be assigned.
Films and Videos
Film clips will be shown during lectures, and the complete version of each week’s film will be screened following the week’s second lecture.
During some weeks, students are assigned to watch precorded videos of Prof. Thorburn’s lectures from a prior version of the class.
Writing Requirements
This course satisfies the criteria for communication intensive subjects in the humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS-A 
and CI-H 
). Students are required to write three short papers, totaling a minimum of 20 double-spaced typed pages, devoted to films studied during the term.
All students must revise and resubmit at least one of their first two papers, and they are encouraged but not required to revise both. Only the grade received on the revised version of the paper will count toward the final grade in the term. Revisions must be submitted within one week of the date on which papers are returned.
A list of suggested topics will be provided for each of the papers. Students may depart from these suggestions, but the alternative must be approved by their recitation instructor.
Oral Expression
A central goal of the recitation hour in the course is to strengthen students’ powers of oral expression. Attendance at recitation is mandatory. Every student is expected to participate actively in discussion and to give at least one short presentation to the class. This presentation will may be part of a group project, in which two or three students will work as a team to lead class discussion of a particular film or a topic relevant to the course.
Exams
Exams consist of a 30-minute quiz, a one-hour midterm test, and a three-hour final exam. The quiz will consist of short identification items. Both the midterm and final will include essay questions as well as an identification segment. Material covered in lectures and in the assigned reading will supply most of the identification questions. [Exam materials are not available for OCW users.]
Grading
The course grade is calculated as follows:
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
Exams (40% of Total) |
|
| Quiz + Midterm | 15% |
| Final | 25% |
Papers (50% of Total) |
|
| Paper 1 | 15% |
| Paper 2 | 15% |
| Paper 3 | 20% |
Oral Expression (10% of Total) |
|
| Presentation | 5% |
| Recitation participation | 5% |
Calendar
| Week # | LEC # | TOPICS | Required Films | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part I. The Silent Era | ||||
| 1 | 1–2 |
Introduction Keaton |
Porter, The Great Train Robbery Griffith, A Beast at Bay Keaton, Cops, The General |
Flipped classroom with OCW video lectures |
| 2 | 3–4 | Chaplin | Chaplin, The Immigrant, Easy Street, Modern Times | Flipped classroom with OCW video lectures |
| 3 | 5–6 | Film as a Global and Cultural Form; German Film | Murnau, Nosferatu, The Last Laugh | Essay 1 due |
| Part II. Hollywood Genres | ||||
| 4 | 7–8 | Hollywood in the 1930s |
Capra, It Happened One Night Hawks, His Girl Friday |
In-class quiz |
| 5 | 9–10 | Hitchcock | Hitchcock, Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window | |
| 6 | 11–12 | The Musical |
Donen / Kelly, Singin’ in the Rain Fosse, Cabaret |
Midterm exam |
| 7 | 13–14 | The Western | Ford, The Searchers | Essay 2 due |
| 8 | 15–16 | American Film in the 1970s | Altman, McCabe and Mrs. Miller | Flipped classroom with OCW video lectures |
| Part III. International Masters | ||||
| 9 | 17–18 | Renoir and Poetic Realism | Renoir, Grand Illusion | |
| 10 | 19–20 | Italian Neorealism | DeSica, Bicycle Thieves |
Flipped classroom with OCW video lectures Essay 3 due |
| 11 | 21 | Truffaut and the New Wave | Truffaut, The 400 Blows | |
| 12 | 22 | Kurosawa’s Rashomon | Kurosawa, Rashomon | |
| 13 | 23 | Summary Perspectives: Film as Art and Artifact | ||
| Final Exam | ||||
