Last Installment of Syllabus!!

Wow, the end of the semester is already upon us!! There's so much that I'd still want to cover with ya'll... but here's what we've got time left to do!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “History is written by the victors.” - Winston Churchill

April 11 - WAR & CINEMA, PART I
Reading Assignment - American Cinema, American Culture, Chap. 9; Propaganda (fyi...)

In-Class Viewing

• Finish Hotel Rwanda


• Sixth Media That Matters Film Festival: "In Transit" & "Eyes on the Fair Use of the Prize"


• Introduction to Walt Disney: On the Front Lines


• Der Fuehrer's Face (1942)


• Introduction to Victory through Air Power (1943)


• Victory through Air Power trailer


• Duck Soup (1933)


• Why We Fight: War Comes to America (1943-1945)

"This is Frank Capra's classic first installment from the seven film series entitled, 'Why We Fight.' It is a masterpiece of US propaganda, shown first to soldiers, later to the US public, and eventually to our allies (including the Soviet Union). With dramatic narration and musical score, it drives home the point that "Our World, the free world" must fight "That other world." Capra's idea was to use the film archives of Japanese, German, and Italian propagandists against them with, of course, careful editing and translating." (imdb)

"Walter Huston's grandfatherly voice is used effectively to narrate most of the film with a deftly written script. In the hands of a lesser film maker, the materials presented here would be nothing but propaganda on the level used by Hitler. But Capra stirs the spirit at the same time that he is making his point -- namely, freedom is not something that can be taken for granted. Capra skillfully makes his point that if free people don't stand up for themselves, they will likely be crushed by all the darker elements in human nature -- greed, lust for power, and tyranny." (imdb)

April 18 - WAR & CINEMA, PART II

Reading Assignment - American Cinema, American Culture, Chap. 13

Also, don't forget to bring your brief analysis of one of the films from 4/11 as 1) its role in the history of cinema; 2) as a primary source; and 3) as a secondary source.

In-Class Viewing -

• The Legacy: Covering the Vietnam War


• Apocalypse Now (1979)


• Stop That Tank


• Saving Private Ryan (1998) (For more info... See D-Day FAQs)


• Fog of War (2003) (Clip and Official Website)


• The Sixth Media That Matters Film Fest - "Night Visions"

April 25 - THE COLD WAR & FILM

Reading Assignment - American Cinema, American Culture, Chap. 12

In-Class Viewing

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1953)


• Dr. Strangelove (1964)


• Manchurian Candidate (1962)


• What To Do In A Zombie Attack (2006)

May 2 - Da Vinci Code

Reading Assignment - Da Vinci Code

In-Class Viewing

• Da Vinci Code (2006)

Reading Assignment for April 4

CBC.ca - Arts - Film - Filming the Unfilmable

Assignment for Feb. 7: "Citizen Kane"

Be sure to read (and watch!) the following for Wednesday, Feb. 7. (In addition, go back over American Cinema, chapters 2 & 3... There'll be a quiz!)

• The Mavens' Word of the Day: "Yellow Journalism"
• Original 1941 Review - New York Times
• Print out and bring to class Citizen Kane: Editing in key scene/Worksheet on film techniques
• Watch Errol Morris: "The Donald" on "Citizen Kane"

Homework Viewing for 1/31

• Read here about Charlie Chaplin's Gold Rush (1925) & Modern Times (1936). Then watch this scene, that scene and this trailer!
• Don't worry about the Hitchcock documentary for this week... I don't think we're going to be able to get to Rear Window until next week!

Remember... be on the lookout not only for the main ideas presented in the video clips, but also illustrations of things we've already talked about!

UPDATED: For Tuesday, Jan. *24*!

Dear Class,

My bad... You know, after the new year, some folks have problems remembering 2007. Not me... I just have no idea what day of the month we're talking about! :-)

So, yes... I do have a Faculty Senate meeting the 31st. But, no, that's not this upcoming Wednesday. No problem... We'll just shift the writing assignment about Cinema Paradiso to homework after class, and everything else will be the same as I originally wrote down below!

To recap, the questions are:
1) What can you learn from Cinema Paradiso about the history of movies?
2) What can you learn from Cinema Paradiso about the history of Italy in the late 20th century?

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Note from IMDB: "Though not particularly noteworthy in itself, this remake of 'The Kiss' is historically of some interest in comparison with the original version. The content is only slightly different, but the responses that the two movies received are interesting. Whereas the 1896 version was met with widespread comment and controversy, inflaming public opinion and permanently changing the careers of the two performers involved, the remake seems to have come and gone with comparatively little disturbance.In comparison with the earlier version, this movie has a different, younger-looking couple, and has a somewhat different feel to it, with the actors seeming a bit more playful and flirtatious than the couple in the original. The degree of intimacy still seems about the same, and if anyone was concerned about the 1896 movie, you would think that they would object to this one also. But perhaps what caused the original controversy was not really the content itself, but the newness of motion pictures. The permanent, re-playable nature of a movie, the intimacy (compared to a stage production) of a mid-range close-up, and the completeness that a movie offers, were all brand new in 1896, but were getting to be a little more familiar in 1900. It still happens today that things that once seemed shocking on film don't seem so outrageous once they become a little more common."

Excerpt from the Battleship Potemkin directed by Sergei Eisenstein.

"Considered one of the most important films in the history of silent pictures, as well as possibly Eisenstein's greatest work, Battleship Potemkin brought Eisenstein's theories of cinema art to the world in a powerful showcase; his emphasis on montage, his stress of intellectual contact, and his treatment of the mass instead of the individual as the protagonist. The film tells the story of the mutiny on the Russian ship Prince Potemkin during the 1905 uprising" (which foreshadowed the successful Communist Revolution which had already taken place by this time! From the Internet Archive)

More about the mutiny at Odessa, Ukraine Travel - Potemkin sailor monument.

Cited in a million films... including The Godfather, Revenge of the Sith, Bananas, Love & Death, Brazil, and Naked Gun: 33 1/3. Here's The Untouchables (1987) version.

CBS "Sunday Morning" on The Jazz Singer (1927) .

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And not required but just for fun...

The Little Train Robbery (Edison K. Films 1905 parody of their original film above)

Silent Star Wars