English 378--History of Film, Part I: From the 1890s to

Texts:

Belton, John. AMERICAN CINEMA/AMERICAN CULTURE. NY: McGraw Hill, 1994.
readings on reserve at Magale Library (M)
on-line readings (hyperlinked)

Student Web Pages:

Demascal, Rachel	Lagersen, Elizabeth	Preller, Ann-Liza
Gardner, Eric	Lipscomb, Britton	Rothell, Jon
Hansen, Line	Maples, Hollye-Faye	Sorensen, Catrine
Hemelsdael, Benoit		Tooke, Michael
Holman, Lindsay	McDearmont, Tim	Vaughn, Zach
Jackson, Karla	McDowell, Miles	Westh, Thomas
Jay, Chris	Patton, Todd
Kjaergaard, Christina	Pratt, David

Course Objectives: Film History II is designed to help you:

gain a working knowledge of film history from World War II to the present, emphasizing Hollywood as the dominant film system but looking also at major directors and movements from throughout the world;
develop your cinematic literacy--in other words, to teach you to recognize and use the basic technical and critical vocabulary of motion pictures;
understand how the technology of the cinema relates to film art;
grasp the role of genre in American film history, and recognize how some of the most popular genres express American social and cultural tensions;
develop a more sophisticated conception of "realism" as it relates to motion pictures;
question your own role as a passive spectator, and increase your ability to watch films actively and critically.

Grading:

hour exam 10%	final exam 20%
web work 30%	class participation 10%
short essay 10% (on web)	longer essay 20% (on web)

Study Guide Outlines:

Belton's American Cinema/American Culture

Attendance and class participation:

This class emphasizes discussion. Therefore, you need to be in class and prepared to talk intelligently and passionately. Absences will hurt your class participation grade. You may make up for absences and also obtain extra credit by writing 1-page reviews of approved out-of-class films.

General On-Line Resources for Film History from WWII to the Present:(On-line resources marked with a "**" are required reading and might appear on exams. Nota bene: Not all web sites are created equally. Learn to evaluate them as you would more traditional print resources. The following guide from Cornell University is a good initial step in that direction: "How to Critically Analyze Information Sources." For a webliography on evaluating web sites, see this site in the UK.)

Internet Movie Database

The best site for cast and crew information; often has good reviews and biographical information.

Dictionary of New Media--Index (James Monaco)

Quite extensive dictionary of terms related to film and other media.

Film 100

Somewhat debatable but wonderfully detailed and extensive site on the 100 most influential people in the history of cinema.

Cinema History (Robert Yahnke, U. of Minnesota)

Compact but useful overview of several of the areas we'll be studying. A particular strength is a good list of the major films from each grouping.

The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture (U. of Exeter, UK)

A brief but fascinating look at some of the material objects associated with the role of film in 20th century culture--especially good is the "magic lantern" collection.

The Palace--A Site for Classic Films
A very fine site for info on classical Hollywood cinema; it goes up through the late 1950s--excellent critiques and

images. The Literature & Culture of the American 1950s

Though primarily literary and cultural, still an excellent site for primary and secondary material; from Al Filreis's course at U. of Pennsylvania

English 379: Course Schedule
Week One--Jan. 12:
"Introduction to Course: Reading Hollywood Film"

Film:

True Romance (USA, 1993; Dir. Tony Scott; Scr. Quentin Tarantino)

"If there's one thing this last week has taught me, it's better to have a
gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it."
Christian Slater as Clarence Worley

Readings:

Belton, "Classical Hollywood Narration," pp. 21-40; "Classical Hollywood Cinema: Style," pp. 41-60.

On-Line Resources for Week One:

Week Two--Jan. 19:
"'You Must Remember This': Classical Hollywood Cinema Goes to War"

Film:

Casablanca (USA, 1942; Dir. Michael Curtiz)

"Look--I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see
that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
Some day you'll understand that."
Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine Readings:

Belton, "The Studio System," pp. 61-82.

On-Line Resources for Week Two:

Week Three--Jan. 26 :
""We're Not in Kansas Anymore' (We're in Missouri!):
Nostalgia and the American Dream in the Musical Film

Film:

Meet Me in St. Louis (USA, 1944; Dir. Vincente Minnelli)

Readings:

Belton, "Genre and the Genre System," pp. 115-117; "The Star System," pp. 83-114.

On-Line Resources for Week Three:

Meet Me in St. Louis--very fine fan site, with lyrics and quotes
**Meet Me in St. Louis--extensive summary by Tim Dirks at The Greatest Films
The Great MGM Musicals Page
Movie Musicals by Year

Week Four--Feb. 2:
"Post-War Depression and American Existentialism: Film Noir"

Film:

Out of the Past (USA, 1947; Dir. Jacques Tourneur)

Readings:

Belton, "Film Noir: Somewhere in the Night," pp. 184-205

On-Line Resources:

Out of the Past--extensive summary by Tim Dirks at The Greatest Films
Review of Out of the Past--Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, 1997
Review of Out of the Past--Bob Stephens, San Francisco Examiner, 1997
**John Blaser, No Place for a Woman: The Family in Film Noir and Other Essays--a wonderfully informative and detailed site; an on-line multimedia M.A. thesis, this is a must site for noir fans
**Images: a journal of film and popular culture--a special issue #2: Ten Shades of Noir--excellent analyses of ten famous noirs
**Alain Silver, "Introduction" to the Film Noir Reader (Limelight Books, 1996)
**Alain Silver & Linda Brookover, "What is This Thing Called 'Noir',"--another essay from the Film Noir Reader
Christian Clark & Jason Delgado, The Allure of the Macabre: The Film Noir Formula
American Movie Channel (AMC)--essay on Film Noir
Film Noir and Pulp Fiction--a fine site which includes many posters and a good essay on hard-boiled fiction
Michael Mills, Out of the Past: A Critique
Michael Mills, 1946: Hollywood and the Great Directors

Week Five--Feb. 9:
"Red Stars Over Hollywood: Anti-Communism and the Blacklist in Hollywood"

Film:

Big Jim McLain (USA, 1952; Dir. Edward Ludwig)

Readings:

Belton, "Hollywood and the Cold War," pp. 233-256.

On-Line Resources:

**Dan Georgakas, "HOLLYWOOD BLACKLIST," in Buhle, Buhle, and Georgakas, ed., ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN LEFT, (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992)
**J. Edgar Hoover: The Menace of the Communist Party (1947)--excerpts
**McCarran Act or Internal Security Act of 1950
Patrick Goldstein, "Thought-Control in America: The Birth of the Blacklist"
Michael Mills at The Palace, Blacklist
K. L. Billingsley, "Hollywood Edits Out Its Communist Past" in Investors Business Daily--voices from the right
Blacklisting Hollywood's Communists: A Qualified Defense--another critique from the right
**Ellen Shrecker, "The Impact of McCarthyism"
Ellen Shrecker, "INTERPRETING McCARTHYISM: A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY"
Mark Prondzinski, "The Red Scare--The McCarthy Scandal"
**Jeanine Basinger, "HUAC and Censorship Changes, " from American Cinema: One Hundred Years of Filmmaking (1994)
The Adrian Scott Archive--very good info and beautiful site on one of the Hollywood Ten
"Seeing Red"--excerpts from the PBS documentary "The Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist" and an interview with Paul Jarrico and Marsha Hunt
Simona Sara, "The Blacklisting of Hollywood's Talent"
Bernard Weinstein (Kean University), "So Much Minutiae": Review of Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle's Tender

Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist

Peter Keough, review in the Boston Phoenix of Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle's Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist.
Grant Tracey, "Four For Wayne: Other Underappreciated Wayne Movies" (includes Big Jim McLain)
a representative John Wayne fan page
**Italian film poster of Big Jim McLain--(note the slight change in implied content)

Week Six--Feb. 16:
"NO CLASS--MARDI GRAS BREAK"

Week Seven--Feb. 23:
"Race and Sexual Anxiety: The Western and Male Hysteria" Film:

The Searchers (USA, 1956; Dir. John Ford)

Readings:

Belton, "The Making of the West," pp. 206-230.

On-Line Resources:

** Gary Johnson, "The Western: An Overview"--from a special issue of Images on the Western
The Silent Western--Early Movie Myths of the American Myth--not really in the purview of this course, but quite fascinating for anyone who likes the genre
** Tim Dirks's overview of the Western--at his Greatest Films site
** The Searchers--extensive summary by Tim Dirks at his Greatest Films site
James Kendrick's 1998 review of The Searchers
** Maria Elena de las Carreras Kuntz , "John Ford's America"--on Ford's Catholicism
** Ethan Holland, "The Searchers: Diamond In The Western Genre"--very fine and extensive undergraduate research paper at Swarthmore

Week Eight--Mar. 2:
"Paranoia and Absurdity: The Cold War Thriller as Comedy"

Film: North By Northwest (USA, 1959; Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Readings:

Belton, "Hollywood in the Age of Television," pp. 257-274.

On-Line Resources:

**Tim Dirks, North By Northwest--Greatest Films site
James Kendrick's 1998 review of North By Northwest
**Robert Baird, North By Northwest Web Study
Theodore Kamis, "North by Northwest: Echoes of The 39 Steps and Notorious"--an undergraduate research paper
Hitchcock--The Master of Suspense
Hitchcock Online
Chaplin and Hitchcock Page
The Greatest Films of 1959--Tim Dirk's Film 100 site
The Bernard Herrmann Web Pages
**David J. Bondelevitch, North By Northwest: A Case Study of the Bernard Herrmann Style
** Elizabeth Abele, "The Glory of Cary Grant and Other Girlish Delights"--from Images web journal

Week Nine--Mar. 9:
"La Nouvelle Vague: France's Homage to--and Critique of--Hollywood Filmmaking"

Film:

Shoot the Piano Player (France, 1960; Dir. Francois Truffaut)

Readings:

no print readings this week

On-Line Resources:

Iain Morrison, "The French New Wave and the Face"--from Images web journal
Stephen Nottingham, essay on "The French New Wave"
"The New Wave"--from Dorling Kindersley's Chronicle of the Cinema
Twists, Slugs and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang
A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang
a Truffaut biography sketch
**David Ehrenstein, an essay on Shoot the Piano Player

Week Ten--Mar. 16:
"This is How the World Ends....: Kubrick's Apocalyptic Humor"

Film:

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (USA/Britain, 1964; Dir. Stanley Kubrick)

Readings:

Belton, "American Comedy," pp. 135-163; "The War Film," pp. 164-183.

On-Line Resources:

Patrick J. Larkin's Kubrick Multimedia Film Guide
Stanley Kubrick: The Master Filmmaker
Kubrick site at Criterion Collection
the alt.movies.Kubrick.faq
Tim Dirks, Dr. Strangelove site @ Greatest Films
**Roger Eberts's 30th anniversary review of Dr. Strangelove
**James Berardinelli's 30th anniversary review of Dr. Strangelove
Mark Dery's commentary on Dr. Strangelove at the Criterion site
Jason Zech, review of Dr. Strangelove--Austin, Texas Chronicle

Week Eleven--Mar. 23:
"This is How the World Ends...., Part II: Black Power and the Death of the (White) Man"

Film:

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (USA, 1971; Dir. Melvin Van Peebles)

Readings:

Belton, "The 1960s: The Counterculture Strikes Back," pp. 275-297.

On-Line Resources:

Week Twelve--Mar. 30:
"Post-Humanism in the Heartland: Badlands as Midwestern Tragi-Comedy"

Film:

Badlands (USA, 1973; Dir. Terrence Malick)

Readings:

Belton, "The Film School Generation," pp. 298-321.

On-Line Resources:

Week Thirteen--Apr. 6:
"NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK"

Week Fourteen--Apr. 13:
"Before the Fall: Transcendence in the Age of the Berlin Wall" Film:

Wings of Desire (West Germany, 1987; Dir. Wim Wenders)

Readings:

no print readings this week

On-Line Resources:

**Roger Eberts' essay on Wings of Desire
**Desson Howe's Washington Post review of Wings of Desire
**Rita Kempley's Washington Post review of Wings of Desire
**Kevin Patterson's review of Wings of Desire
**Ted Prigge's review of Wings of Desire
Hyde Flippo's site on Wim Wenders
**Eric Parkinson's very good site The Films and Art of Wim Wenders

Week Fifteen--April 20:
"'Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice': Feminism and Fetishism in the 1990s"

Film:

Female Perversions (USA, 1996; Dir. Susan Streitfield)

Readings:

Belton, "Into the 1990s: Bringing It All Back Home," pp. 322-346.

On-Line Resources:

**Roger Eberts' Chicago Sun-Times review of Female Perversions
**Girls on Film review of Female Perversion
**Stephen Holden's New York Times review of Female Perversions
**Kirk Hostetter's review of Female Perversions and In the Company of Men
**Ann Gorman's review of Female Perversions, "Jungle Red"
Donna Bowman's Nashville Scene review of Female Perversions
Ken Eisner's (very negative) review of Female Perversions

Week Sixteen--Apr. 27:
"Private History, Public History: Texas as America in the 1990s" Film:

Lone Star (USA, 1996; Dir. John Sayles)

Readings:

no print readings this week

On-Line Resources:

**James Kendrick's 1997 review of Lone Star
**James Berardinelli's review of Lone Star
**Edwin Jahiel's review of Lone Star
**Scott Renshaw's review of Lone Star
**Richard Shickel's Time Magazine review of Lone Star
**Janet Maslin's New York Times review of Lone Star
**Laura Miller's Salon review of Lone Star
**Roger Eberts's review of Lone Star

Final Exam:
Wednesday May 5 -- 1:30-4:00 pm

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