DECEMBER 11
Films:
The Grapes of Wrath (Ford 1940) DVD 4573
excerpt from:
Fort Apache (Ford 1948) DVD 2120
Reading (to be done over the break):
Thank you all!
NOVEMBER 27
Films:
The Only Son (Ozu 1936) DVD 4342
A Page of Madness (Kinugasa 1926) personal DVD
Readings (to be done by December
4):
Thom Andersen. “Yasujiro Ozu: The Master of Time.”
Jasper Sharp and Mariann Lewinsky. “A Page of Madness.”
All short papers due via
email December 4.
NOVEMBER 20 - THIS WEEK'S PAPER IS DUE NEXT WEDNESDAY, NO EXCUSES!
Films:
Shanghai Express (Von Sternberg 1932) DVD 5266
Black and Tan Fantasy (Murphy 1929) DVD 2743
excerpts from:
Design for Living (Lubitsch 1933) DVD 1896 (1:16 to 8:41)
Notorious
(Hitchcock 1946) DVD 2026 (23:08 to 26:01)
Morocco (Von Sternberg 1930) DVD 1998 (14:12 to 20:04)
Readings (to be done by November 26):
Thomas Schatz.
“Hollywood: The Triumph of the Studio System,” in course reader.
Jack Smith. “Belated
Appreciation of V.S.,” in course reader.
Susan Delson.
Dudley Murphy, Hollywood Wild Card, in
course reader.
Wheeler Winston Dixon. “Shanghai Express.”
Paper topic (paper due November 27. Send all papers via email to elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; do not cc to Masa!):
Two more pages of progress on
your final paper. This week, I care about what you turn in – I would like two
pages of solid analysis of whatever film you’re discussing, working from a
scene within the film. Since I’ve asked all of you to dedicate at least some of
your paper to working with the films themselves, breaking down and discussing
scenes in cinematic terms, THAT is what I expect in this week’s paper. Consider
it another two pages out of the way to finishing your finals. It is also due next Wednesday.
If you are out of town for Thanksgiving, be aware that it counts as an
absence – it’s not a holiday – and that I expect you to turn in the paper to me
by email that Wednesday. I also expect you to watch the two films – Ozu’s The
Only Son and Kinugasa’s A Page of Madness as soon as possible. You need to
watch the Ozu on the biggest screen you can get. Check the website next Wednesday evening for the
assignment and the readings, both of which will be online.
Please note that the proposal, the first two pages of work on the final and these additional pages are both REQUIRED assignments; it is impossible to pass the class without turning them both in BEFORE turning in the final on the last day of class.
NOVEMBER 13 - THIS WEEK'S PAPER IS DUE NEXT WEDNESDAY, NO EXCUSES!
Films:
Maedchen in Uniform (Sagan 1931) personal DVD
Zero For Conduct (Vigo 1932) Blu-Ray 039
Reading (to be done by November 19):
Paper topic (paper due November 20. Send all papers via email to elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; do not cc to Masa!):
You need to produce two pages of work towards your paper. This can be
anything – research notes, an outline, a bibliography – but it is absolutely
due next week. Do not print the essay, email it directly to me, not Masa.
Please note that the proposal and these pages are both REQUIRED assignments; it is impossible to pass the class without turning them both in.
NOVEMBER 6
Films:
But now that you’ve had a half semester of practice, it’s time to use these tools. I’d like you to talk about L’Atalante, Las Hurdes or last week’s film, Street Angel. Talk about anything you like about the film, with two considerations: as always, “I liked it” or “I hated it” is not sufficient and you will have to rewrite your paper if that’s all you do. Second, you must root whatever you discuss in formal analysis – if, for example, you want to talk about L’Atalante as a love story, find a scene that exemplifies this and talk about it in cinematic terms – how does Vigo approach the scene as cinema to convey his meanings?
Films:
L'Atalante (Vigo 1933) Blu-Ray 039
Las Hurdes (Buñuel 1933) DVD 4149
excerpts from:
Gold Diggers of 1933 (Le Roy 1933) Cal Arts 16mm / DVD 2459 - opening through 5:03
Singin’ in the Rain (Donen/Kelly 1952) DVD 015 - 51:22 through 59:36
Love Me Tonight (Mamoulian 1932) DVD 1286 - 1:43 through 7:29, then 11:14 through 18:52
Une Femme est une femme (Godard 1960) DVD 1106 - opening through 6:00
Reading (to be done by November 12):
Farber, Manny. "White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art," in course reader.
Paper topic (paper due October 13. Graduate students send papers via email to elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates send papers also cc to TA Masahiko Fox at gracefulbrute@gmail.com):
The exercises thus
far have been about identifying and discussing formal issues in the films.
That’s because I believe that if you talk about a film without being very
specific in discussing how it achieves its effects, you’re not really talking
about the film – you’re usually just recounting plot and treating the movie as
thought it were a short story or a play rather than cinema.
But now that you’ve had a half semester of practice, it’s time to use these tools. I’d like you to talk about L’Atalante, Las Hurdes or last week’s film, Street Angel. Talk about anything you like about the film, with two considerations: as always, “I liked it” or “I hated it” is not sufficient and you will have to rewrite your paper if that’s all you do. Second, you must root whatever you discuss in formal analysis – if, for example, you want to talk about L’Atalante as a love story, find a scene that exemplifies this and talk about it in cinematic terms – how does Vigo approach the scene as cinema to convey his meanings?
What you talk about is less
important than the approach you take – think of this as practice for the final
paper, where I will expect your arguments to be developed with respect to how
the work is shot, edited, performed, etc etc, NEVER just what happens in the
story.
OCTOBER 30
SEVERAL PEOPLE MISSED CLASS BECAUSE THEY WERE SICK. PLEASE CONSIDER IT AN EXCUSED ABSENCE THIS TIME!
THERE IS A FIRM DEADLINE FOR EVERYONE, ABSENT OR NOT, FOR NEXT WEEK'S ASSIGNMENT. A LINK TO THE HANDOUT (CALLED "FINAL ASSIGNMENT") IS ON THE LOWER RIGHT OF THIS PAGE UNDER "SYLLABUS, ETC"
Films:
Street Angel (Borzage 1928) DVD 3109
Red and the White (Jansco 1964) DVD 901 1:20 - 4:52
Children of Men (Cuaron 2006) DVD 2517 26:11-30:19
La Ronde (Ophüls 1950) DVD 2982 2:26-7:36
Sunrise (Murnau 1926) DVD 3109 SIDE A 11:05-12:36, 1:09:00-1:20:36
Reading (to be done by
November 6):
Sanjek, David. “Street Angel.” (online)
McElhaney, Joe. “Frank Borzage.” (online)
OCTOBER 23
Films:
Un Chien Andalou (Buñuel/Dali 1929) DVD 1905
Les Vampires, ep. 2: The Ring That Kills (Feuillade 1916) DVD 1645
The Smiling Madame Beudet (Dulac 1922) reserve DVD
At Land (Deren 1945) DVD 1620
Ménilmontant (Kirsanoff 1926) DVD 1636
Fireworks (Anger 1947) DVD 3937
Reading (to be done by October 22):
Luis Buñuel, “Cinema, Instrument of Poetry,”" in course reader.
Germaine Dulac, “The Avant-Garde Cinema,” in course reader.
OCTOBER 9
Films:
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein 1925) DVD 984
Enthusiasm (Vertov 1930) DVD 2082
Reading (to be done by October 15):
Sergei Eisenstein, “A Dialectic Approach to Film Form,” in course reader.
Dziga Vertov, “Provisional Instructions to Kino-Eye Groups (1926),” in course reader.
Paper topic (paper due October 16. Graduate students send papers via email to elkrugamigos@earthlink.net; undergraduates send papers also cc to TA Masahiko Fox at gracefulbrute@gmail.com):
Take one short moment – just a shot or two – from one
of the films we’ve seen in the last three weeks and compare some aesthetic issue
in that moment to a short moment in one of the other films. The films you can
thus choose to compare are: Broken Blossoms, The Musketeers of Pig Alley,
Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari, Battleship Potemkin and Enthusiasm. I want you to be very
specific in what you choose to write about – don’t try to cover the entirety of
a film, or even a scene. Instead, take one particular element you’d like to
discuss (say, the use of closeups or editing style or the blocking of actors)
and find two good, contrasting scenes in two films to compare.
And a reminder, the drop dead date is
two weeks from today, October 23. Tonight’s essay is the fourth you will be
assigned, and next week’s essay is the fifth. ALL FIVE MUST BE TURNED IN BY CLASS TIME OCTOBER 23 in order for you to avoid being dropped from the class.
OCTOBER 2
Films:
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror (Murnau 1922) DVD 210
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wienes 1920) DVD 3299
Reading (to be done by October 8):
Thomas Elsaesser. “No End to Nosferatu,” in course reader.
No paper this week - I expect all readings to be done and all late papers to be turned in this week.
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