1939-1952: The Devastation of War…And a New Movie Language

• Rome, Open City (1945) dir. Roberto Rossellini – Shows urgency and tragedy during the War. Movies had to be this raw, because life was this raw. Young women were presented under a certain beautiful lighting, yet old women are given single lighting sources, deglamorized. Utilized lenses of about 50mm. Didn’t care if the shot wasn’t in focus. Tripod was moved a lot to characterized human movement.
• Stagecoach (1939) dir. John Ford – Made a star of John Wayne. Utilized camerawork of zooming into actor’s faces. Many of the shots are filmed with back projection. Contrasts the claustrophobia of stage coaches with wide, outdoor shots. Shows how mythic the West could be. Combines deep staging and deep focus. Empathizes the distance between actors, utilizing deep focus. Kept camera low to show the ceiling.
• Directed by John Ford (1971) dir. Peter Bogdanovich – Shows how much Ford hated analysis. Shows that he didn’t want to say much. More people analyze his films than himself.
• Osaka Elegy (1936) (introduced in Episode 3) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi – Stages things in depth.
• Flesh and the Devil (1926) dir. Clarence Brown – The trend of cinema shows the flattering effect of long lenses, which shows shallow focus, eyes sharp, hair soft, background out of focus. While deep focus uses a wide angle lens, which could make actors be both close up, and far away from the camera, and both be seen crisply. Deep staging allows the audience to have a choice on where to look. This method is suggested as an alternative to editing, where the audience edits it with their eyes.
• Follow the Boys (1944) dir. A. Edward Sutherland – Shows magic within film.
• Citizen Kane (1941) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Orson Welles – Pushed deep staging as far as it could go, i.e., one types on a typewriter close to the camera, while a man approaches him from far away. This forces scale. Citizen Kane challenged the soft and romantic look of American cinema.
• Me and Orson Welles (2008) dir. Richard Linklater – Showed conflict of Welles.
• Chimes at Midnight (1965) dir. Orson Welles – Utilizes a low shot to show scale of power. Also shows scale with setting, of an empty cathedral filled with small people.
• Cabiria (1914) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Giovanni Pastrone – Utilizes tracking shots.
• Intolerance (1916) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. D. W. Griffith – Utilizes epic scale.
• The General (1926) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton – Shows outlandish production values (derailing a real train).
• The Maltese Falcon (1941) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. John Huston – Shows depth. A thumb is clearly in focus.
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) dir. William Wyler – Instead of showing the action of a person calling someone in a phone booth, the camera is shown in interest of a war veteran playing the piano. It’s as if the action has been sucked away, and we’re forced to think about the conversation ourselves.
• Code Unknown (2000) dir. Michael Haneke – Utilized deep space to show a woman getting away from harassment.
• Sátántangó (1994) dir. Béla Tarr – Utilizes deep space to move our eyes from foreground to background, then back to foreground.
• How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) dir. Jean Negulesco – Deep staging in American cinema became less fashionable in the 1950s. Cameras were not sensitive enough to suck in all the information at once.
• Un Homme et une Femme (1966) dir. Claude Lelouch – Filmed in a long lens, as to show some floatiness to the actress.
• Heat (1995) dir. Michael Mann – Utilized long lenses to create focus so shallow, the lights behind Pacino become dreamy blobs.
• Raging Bull (1980) dir. Martin Scorsese – Influenced by Rome, Open City, with it’s bare light bulbs.
• Bicycle Thieves (1948) dir. Vittorio De Sica – Utilizes harsh lighting, and camerawork far away, from a scene of a theft, this camerawork is far away as to not intrude on the theft. In Italian neorealism, some moments just happen without cause or effect. Some scenes just don’t play back into the plot.
• Pin Up Girl (1944) dir. H. Bruce Humberstone – Showed one of wartime’s most popular stars. America was still producing extravagant, and happy films, while most others were producing gritty, wartime events.
• Double Indemnity (1944) dir. Billy Wilder – An early example of film noir. A film about lust. Noir is shown throughout its setting, its characters, etc. Shows that noir is inspired by gangster films.
• Portrait of a 66% Perfect Man: Billy Wilder (1982) dir. Annie Tresgot – Utilizes zoom shots.
• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) dir. Fritz Lang – Light casting a grid of shadows.
• The Big Sleep (1946) dir. Howard Hawks – Shows the situations of noir films. Most influential film in noir since Double Indemnity.
• Rio Bravo (1959) dir. Howard Hawks – Written by Leigh Brackett, where Angie Dickensons gets the best lines.
• The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Irvin Kershner – Brackett also co-wrote this film. Utilized traditional Hollywood romance, by giving the reveal that Vader is Luke’s father.
• Out of the Past (1947) dir. Jacques Tourneur – Shows that women in noir are the dominant figures. Usually in noir, women take advantage.
• The Hitch-Hiker (1953) dir. Ida Lupino – Utilized spot lighting and suggestive camera.
• Little Caesar (1931) dir. Mervyn LeRoy – Robinson appeared disdainful, and dapper.
• Le Quai des brumes (1938) (introduced in Episode 4) dir. Marcel Carné – Utilized poetic-realism.
• La Chienne (1931) dir. Jean Renoir – France influenced America with it’s films. A man falls in love with a hard-heart woman, and was remade in Scarlet Street.
• Scarlet Street (1945) dir. Fritz Lang – Inspired by La Chienne.
• American Cinema: Film Noir (1995) dir. Alain Klarer – Joseph H. Lewis directed Gun Crazy.
• Gun Crazy (1950) dir. Joseph H. Lewis – Shows how documentary and neo-realism influenced the genre. Lewis keeps the camera behind the drivers, instead of the traditional camera showing the faces. Gave the actors button microphones. This type of scene would have taken 4 days, Lewis claimed it took 3 hours for him to film it. Stating the on-broken shot covered 2 miles. Also, it looks like it’s all shot in one shot.
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967) dir. Arthur Penn – Shows the anxiety of a couple that robs banks within  a film.
• L.A. Confidential (1997) dir. Curtis Hanson – Shows the influence of noir within the American film genre.
• Blade Runner (1982) dir. Ridley Scott – Another film that’s influenced by noir, as in the way the shadows cast upon the actors.
• The Dark Knight (2008) dir. Christopher Nolan – Influenced by noir, as in the setting, of the city that is morally dark.
• Siva (1989) dir. Ram Gopal Varma – Shadows, and low camera angles, these are influenced by noir.
• Titanic (1997) dir. James Cameron – Utilizes both sweeping cameras, and sweeping emotions. Romantic cinema continued.
• 71st Academy Awards (1999) dir. Louis J. Horvitz – Shows different reactions the audience.
• An American in Paris (1951) dir. Vincente Minnelli – Utilizes color in a way, and shows that cinema still had joy and beauty in it. Influenced by The Red Shoes.
• The Red Shoes (1948) dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger – Flashing red lights, painted backdrops, inspired An American in Paris. Included choreography.
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen – Included both choreography and comedy in one. Showed the idea of one not caring, the idea of joy.
• Flying Down to Rio (1933) dir. Thornton Freeland – An entrancing image. Inspired Donen.
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Mervyn LeRoy – Showed a unique and wonderful point of view.
• Indiscreet (1958) dir. Stanley Donen – Utilized a shot of cutting the film in half to show two people in different areas. Used this innovative technique to challenge censorship.
• Two for the Road (1967) dir. Stanley Donen – About a married couple. Inter-cut time periods.
• A Matter of Life and Death (1946) dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger – British film, shows heavy drama, romantic drama, rich color, and lighting that hides tears.
• Post Haste (1933) dir. Humphrey Jennings – Shows motivation within film.
• Listen to Britain (1942) dir. Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister – Shows the style of Britain, especially with audio. Shows how different Britain is compared to other countries through film. Style is also different.
• The Third Man (1949) dir. Carol Reed – Set in Vienna. Plants a great moral crime. Filmed many shots off the horizontal axis to show off the moral imbalance.
• The True Glory (1945) dir. Carol Reed and Garson Kanin – Shots footage of war. Connected cinema and reality.
• Taxi Driver (1976) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Martin Scorsese – Similar camerawork to that of The Third Man. Connected by Italian neo-realism.

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The 1930s: The Great American Movie Genres…

• Her Dilemma (a.k.a. Confessions of a Co-Ed) (1931) dir. Dudley Murphy – Picture became secondary, since sound was new, and more important. Scene was shot with 2 cameras at the same time for audio’s sake. The lighting was flatter. Cinema became far less cinematic.
• Love Me Tonight (1932) dir. Rouben Mamoulian – Utilized the new possibilities of sound. Used everyday noises as music. Had a single song from a single person turn into a marching song from soldiers, to fiddle music, to the ears of a princess. It was a metaphor for travel, sound is a thing that cinema follows. He mocked old ladies by putting the sounds of yapping dogs over them.
• The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920) dir. Carl Boese and Paul Wegener – Horror movie, used diagonal expressions. The Golem was made out of clay.
• Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale – Borrowed heavily from The Golem. Altered original idea, by having Frankenstein barely speak, where in the book, he speaks a lot.
• Eyes Without a Face (1960) dir. Georges Franju – Utilized a mask to make a person seem emotionless.
• Audition (1999) dir. Takashi Miike – Uses shock as a scare mechanism.
• The Public Enemy (1931) dir. William A. Wellman – One of the first great Gangster Films. Many organizations denounced the film for indulgent “gangster charm”
• Scarface (1932) dir. Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson – Turned the Gangster genre into Greek Tragedy. They thickened Paul Muni’s eyebrows to make him look more ape-like.
• Scarface (1983) dir. Brian De Palma – Utilized crane shots. Charmed well with popular culture at the time with using upbeat music.
• Seven Samurai (1954) dir. Akira Kurosawa – Mixed gangster themes with samurai themes. Scenes with rain looked like they were drawn with charcoal.
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984) dir. Sergio Leone – One scene showed a dismay of the movie gangster, his fascism, victim hood, Hubris, style, and enigma.
• The Iron Horse (1924) dir. John Ford – Shows a lot about the Western genre. Western films are about landscape, instead of cityscape. Cameras move fast in chase scenes, whereas in gangster films, the camera is always static.
• My Darling Clementine (1946) dir. John Ford – Many of the best Westerns are about Lawmakers in an idealistic age. They symbolized virgin territory
• Twentieth Century (1934) dir. Howard Hawks – Comedy, which was the greatest genre in silent films changed course with sound. Also, the speed was faster.
• Bringing Up Baby (1938) dir. Howard Hawks – Took the speed of films with audio even further. A trend shows where the man is feeble, and idiotic, while the female is brassy, and talks back. This can even be seen in comedies today. Also, they made the apartment almost entirely white, so the characters stand out. Realism was added by having characters talk over each other.
• The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks (1973) dir. Richard Schickel – Showed Hawk’s character. He made movie icons that people still remember. One critic called him the greatest optimist that cinema has produced. Yet, one refers him as having one of the most bitter outlook on life.
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Mervyn LeRoy – Wanted to show a side of war that was unique, the marching songs, and their theatricality. Most Hollywood films take the perspective of a man, but a scene is included of a woman singing about the humiliation of the generations of men.
• Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) dir. Winsor McCay – An old version of a cartoon.
• The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) dir. Lotte Reiniger – Utilized Victorian cutout techniques to create an animation.
• Plane Crazy (1928) dir. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks – Turned animation into an international art form.
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) dir. David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen – Worldwide box office hit. Disney filmed a real actress and transcribed her into animation with single images. A use of motion capture.
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) dir. Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wolfgang Reitherman – Utilized a cheaper form of animation, drawings were photocopied to film.

…And the Brilliance of European Film

• The Blood of a Poet (1931) dir. Jean Cocteau – Utilizes a lot of voices in a quiet scene for a shocking effect, not something that could be done with silent cinema. Influenced by Picasso. Utilized a scene with a set on its side.
• Inception (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan – Set was placed on a huge barrel, and spun around.
• Zéro de conduite (1933) dir. Jean Vigo – Appears to be snowing inside, yet it’s feathers in pillows, and utilized slow motion, and slow music.
• If…. (1968) dir. Lindsay Anderson – Inspired by “Zero de conduite”. Rather than buckets and books, these students had machine guns.
• L’Atalante (1934) dir. Jean Vigo – When filming, the set experienced snow midway through shooting, so they had the cameramen point upwards, so we see the sky, instead of the snow-covered ground. This was for continuity errors.
• Le Quai des brumes (1938) dir. Marcel Carné – Mist and dust can make the world that is being filmed look weary. Shot with diffusion on the lens. Defined the mood of France.
• Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) dir. Marcel Carné – Turns a street scene into a theater.
• La Règle du jeu (1939) (a.k.a. The Rules of the Game) dir. Jean Renoir – Inserted a morality quote that was important at the time it was released.
• La Grande Illusion (1937) dir. Jean Renoir – Most war films at the time had a side that was good or bad, yet Renoir saw good in both sides, portraying each character equally, with respect of both classes. He stopped his plot for a moment to discuss decency.
• Limite (1931) dir. Mário Peixoto – First surviving innovative movie. Directed by a 19 year old. Utilizes dissolve cutting.
• The Adventures of a Good Citizen (1937) dir. Stefan Themerson – First major contribution to film by Poland. Plays with light and exposure.
• Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958) dir. Roman Polanski – Inspired by Thermerson’s film.
• Das Blaue Licht (1932) dir. Leni Riefenstahl – Utilized soft lighting, mist, mountain landscapes, etc.
• Triumph of the Will (1935) dir. Leni Riefenstahl – A documentary of sorts, showed the army and Hitler in almost “mythic” terms. Images were geometric, euphoric, etc.
• Behind the Scenes of the Filming of the Olympic Games (1937) dir. Leni Riefenstahl – Attached cameras to balloons, and dug others into the ground, to get the at the same level of the athletes. Zoom lenses allowed closeups to be taken at a distance.
• Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (1938) dir. Leni Riefenstahl – Utilized zooming to pick out details within the crowd, and cut before divers hit the ground, flipped them, slowed them down, etc. To make them look cinematic.
• Tiefland (1954) dir. Leni Riefenstahl – Utilizes glossy filming techniques, moody lighting, and a tracking shot.
• The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) dir. Ray Müller – Shows that Riefenstahl never changed her style.
• Vertigo (1958) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Camera becomes the eye of an actor. Utilized by filming through a windscreen.
• Saboteur (1942) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Shows a story without telling it. i.e.: A man sets off a smoke detector, causing a sprinkler system to activate. In the scene, his clothes are wrinkled and wet, yet in the next cut you can see he’s drying them off, less wrinkled. Doesn’t utilize music during tense scenes, only whispers of voices. This was because lots of noise will distract the audience of small details, such as a sleeve being torn.
• Sabotage (1936) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Utilizes heavy music, cuts, etc. for dramatic effect and shock. Also heavily utilizes foreshadowing. Fear comes from knowing that the shock will be coming.
• The 39 Steps (1935) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Heavily utilized closeups. Not just of people’s faces, but of hands. “Closeups are crashes of cymbals, dramatic punctuation in a story.” Utilizes camerawork to show where the film takes place.
• Marnie (1964) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – “A high level shot is a tremolo.”
• Ninotchka (1939) dir. Ernst Lubitsch – Shows a character that lives in a grey reality.
• The Wizard of Oz (1939) dir. Victor Fleming – One scene is all sepia, then transitions into a colorful, saturated image, even the actress turns colorful. Starts off in reality, then turns into fantasy.
• Gone with the Wind (1939) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Victor Fleming – Another example of escapism. Starts life in a fantasy world, then turns into a grey reality. Utilizes a far away “gods eye” shot.

Image by leo-9 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A main underlying theme of this era of film is of film worldwide, not just within the confines of Hollywood, and it delves into political art.

1918-1932: The Great Rebel Filmmakers Around the World

• The Thief of Bagdad (1924) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Raoul Walsh – People neglected this.
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer – Scrubbed Hollywood of it’s glamour, and makeup.
• Robert and Bertram (1915) dir. Max Mack – Included Ernst Lubitsch, who a lot of the time, “over-acted”, and mocked how sex and love were used in movies, he made his own style.
• The Oyster Princess (1919) dir. Ernst Lubitsch – Shows Lubitsch’s mocking tone.
• The Mountain Cat (1921) dir. Ernst Lubitsch – Shows how visually daring he was. It showed a woman eating a man’s heart. Also, had some surrealism, with snowmen playing music.
• The Marriage Circle (1924) dir. Ernst Lubitsch – Lubitsch had to be inventive when showing sexuality, due to the censorship in America.
• La Roue (1923) dir. Abel Gance – Features impressionism. Shows how people would actually think in situations, as showing by fear.
• Napoléon (1927) dir. Abel Gance – Portrays it’s main character as a tragic hero. The camerawork captured the dynamism of Napoleon. Showing battle charges, storms at sea, etc, and with super shaky movement. Also utilized a 3 camera set, where 3 cameras were pointed in slightly different directions for a wide image, audiences had to turn their heads to see the full image.
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) dir. Robert Wiene – Most influential of the expressionist movies. Full of fear, and haunting murders. Also was referencing towards politics, with Caligari representing the German state, and Cesare representing the ordinary people. However, they removed this political part of it by changing the ending, showing that the whole thing was just a dream. I kinda don’t like that “It was all a dream ending” though, not gonna lie. Also was a “sharp film”, as in, sharp camera angles, sharp angles, sharp lighting, etc.
• The Tell-Tale Heart (1928) dir. Charles Klein – Influenced by Dr. Caligari, showing off it’s sharpness in angles.
• The Lodger (1927) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Utilized the shadowing and hysteria of Caligari.
• A Page of Madness (1926) dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa – Utilized fast cutting, and visual overlays. It’s main point of view of Psychotic is shown both in the characters, and how the film is edited/produced itself.
• Metropolis (1927) dir. Fritz Lang – Set in the year 2000. Utilizes flashing lights on a mannequin to make a robot. Adolf Hitler actually liked the film, and the inmates of Mauthausen compared a huge ramp they had to build to a scene in Metropolis.
• The Crowd (1928) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. King Vidor – Inspired by “Metropolis”, and shows that with it’s setting, of huge buildings.
• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) dir. F. W. Murnau – Cities were seen as both scary, and poetic ideas in the 20’s. Also utilized a technique of two people being so engrossed with each other, they don’t see the outside world around them. Also, Murnau made most of the subtle lighting affects available in Hollywood.
• Opus 1 (1921) dir. Walter Ruttmann – A form of artwork through cinema, it looked like Biology. He painted no glass, filmed the result, wiped it, added more, and filmed again. It was one of the first abstract animations.
• Entr’acte (1924) dir. René Clair – A balet type film. The camera was placed in places where a conventional balet would dream of.
• Rien que les heures (1926) dir. Alberto Cavalcanti – Described as a “Haunting, experimental film.” Utilized multiple eyes.
• Spellbound (1945) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Inspired by “Rien que les heres”, with the multiple eyes, and surrealism.
• Un Chien Andalou (1929) dir. Luis Buñuel – Starts off with a shocking image, of a razor cutting a woman’s eye. The whole film has some other shocking images, such as ants coming out of a hole in man’s hand.
• Blue Velvet (1986) dir. David Lynch – Inspired by “Un Chien Andalou”, with shocking images, such as an ant-covered ear.
• L’Age d’Or (1930) dir. Luis Buñuel – Members of the Fascist League of Patriots hurled ink at the screen.
• Kino-Pravda n. 19 (1924) dir. Dziga Vertov – Attached a camera to a train, and showed work from peasents. Also gave a quote from Lenin “Of all the Arts, Cinema is the most important.”
• Glumov’s Diary (1923) dir. Sergei Eisenstein – “Arts’s most brilliant innovator.” Commentary is mostly about Eisenstein, who was a lot of things, this part of the documentary is more so about the political side of film, and how it’s portrayed.
• Battleship Potemkin (1925) dir. Sergei Eisenstein – “Steps are like the world tilted foreward, to form a stage.” Eisenstein utilized a bunch of small shots to conform into a large image, as shown in the steps. America’s average shot length was 5 seconds, Germany’s was 9 seconds, this film had 3 second shots. Showed panic in film, which is what Eisenstein wanted, and it’s shown very clearly. It showed the image of soldiers trampling over a boy, which was to be a metaphor of the Russian military at the time with it’s citizens.
• The Untouchables (1987) dir. Brian De Palma – Scene almost mirrors a scene from “Battleship Potemkin”, where a stroller with a baby is falling down a flight of stairs. This isn’t only the similarity, since the shots are also of similar length to that of Eisenstein.
• Arsenal (1929) dir. Alexander Dovzhenko – Set in a complex time of Ukrainian political history. Shows wartime images, such as dead soldiers.
• Earth (1930) dir. Alexander Dovzhenko – Shows an image of a man laughing, and dancing, and suddenly, collapsing. Also, once Lenin died, Stalin came into power, and the art of filming died down in Russia a bit.
• I Was Born, But… (1932) dir. Yasujirō Ozu – Note about Ozu: He wasn’t married, he didn’t go to a university, and he wasn’t a common worker, yet he made films about married people, students, workers, etc. Ozu was seen as a serious director, yet this first film contradicts that. There’s also some metaphors about Japanese society at the time within the film. “Authority is controlled by ordinary people.”
• Tokyo Story (1953) dir. Yasujirō Ozu – Placed the camera in different angles, such as focusing on the floor, or the ceiling to give a three dimensional appearance. Ozu challenged the norm at the time, which was to place the camera at hip height.
• Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) dir. Chantal Akerman – Another film that used Ozu’s camera height. Also, in Ozu’s films, the characters eye placements were different, compared to what was normal at the time. The actors stared into the camera.
• The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Yasujirō Ozu – In conventional films, when actors talked, the camera would be close up, slightly to the side of the face, 45 degrees, it was to make the actor’s eyes connected across the cut within the film. While sometimes Ozu placed the camera to film both people talking, farther away, at 90 degrees. The shots matched each other. He made sure to place the camera, in a position so that when characters stand up, their heads don’t just disappear. Also utilized a 50mm lense, instead of a 20/30mm lens. Also, pauses are added within films to give both the film, and the audience a breather. Ozu could get away with deviating from these norms because Directors had more freedom.
• Osaka Elegy (1936) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi – Focused more on Japanese women, whose lives were made a misery.
• Citizen Kane (1941) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Orson Welles – Had a shot in the background be a part that leads the audience’s eyes.
• Chikamatsu Monogatari (1954) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi – In Hollywood romantic cinema, the drama within two people arguing would be shown in closeup, but Mizoguchi decides to cut away from it. This is so we don’t weep with the actors, but feel moral indignation from their situation.
• Mildred Pierce (1945) dir. Michael Curtiz – Attempted suicide is depicted beautifully, with shallow focus, beautiful lighting, etc.
• Romance of the West Chamber (1927) dir. Hou Yao and Minwei Li – Costumes were heavily utilized, as like Hollywood.
• Scenes of City Life (1935) dir. Yuan Muzhi – China’s cinema turned into a sort of “realist” form of Cinema. Ditching fantasy. It utilized camera angles, and symbolism.
• The Goddess (1934) dir. Wu Yonggang – Utilizes the “whispering” cliche thing, where people whisper one message to the next person, to the next person, etc. Shows weariness, and body language, and how it could be used in film.
• Center Stage (1991) dir. Stanley Kwan – Had an actress recreate a scene from “The Godess”, the actress had to perfectly match up things like body language, and camerawork to remake the effect.
• New Women (1935) dir. Cai Chusheng – Chinese media outlets criticized Ruan, and led to Ruan comitting suicide in 1935.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes:

1918-1928: The Triumph of American Film…

• Citizen Kane (1941) dir. Orson Welles – Utilized lighting in a cinematic way. “The beams make the library look like a sepulcher.”
• The Thief of Bagdad (1924) dir. Raoul Walsh – Directors can imagine what things would look like, as in this instance, what Menzies thought Baghdad might look like. Theme is stated upfront. “Happiness must be earned”. Utilized soft lighting, more feminine. Made Hollywood a major export industry for America. Yet made it vulnerable.
• Desire (1936) dir. Frank Borzage – Utilized new technologies, where lights can illuminate hair, eyelashes cast shadows, etc.
• Gone with the Wind (1939) dir. Victor Fleming – Utilized dollies for cameras, to make the image glide.
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) dir. Mervyn LeRoy – Utilized people for patterns that became increasingly abstract.
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952) dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen – Even the shadows had light in them. The stars were elegant. Everything was soft, and had color.
• The Maltese Falcon (1941) dir. John Huston – Warner Bros. stars were more streetwise, they were “angels with dirty faces”. Utilized harder lighting, sharper shadows, nighttime settings, etc.
• The Scarlet Empress (1934) dir. Josef von Sternberg – Sparkly, extravagant, etc. costumes. They were more romantic.
• The Cameraman (1928) dir. Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton – Shows fascination.
• One Week (1920) dir. Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton – “Thought like an architect.” Makes a house in progress to being built into a playpen. Also, he understood that movies are about looking.
• Sherlock Jr. (1924) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Buster Keaton – Utilized editing for comedic effect. In editing, a cut replaces one space with another.
• Three Ages (1923) dir. Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline – Utilized camera placement to give a different look. i.e. Placing a camera high up, but with a net just out of frame of a building, to make it look taller.
• Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965) dir. John Spotton – Keaton’s inventiveness was highly planned, but also, spontaneous. He improvised a lot.
• The General (1926) dir. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton – Every visual joke that was in the first setup, is repeated in the second, and is amplified, but in reverse order. The audience knows this. He literally burned a bridge and derailed a train into a river for comedic effect.
• Divine Intervention (2002) dir. Elia Suleiman – Filmed in deadpan, away from the action. Found grumpiness funny.
• Limelight (1952) dir. Charlie Chaplin – Less into the camera, more into body movement for comedic effect.
• City Lights (1931) dir. Charlie Chaplin – Rehearses a comic movement before filming. Showed how Chaplin’s mind worked.
• The Kid (1921) dir. Charlie Chaplin – Recreated the rooms, and relationships of Chaplin’s childhood. Showed empathy.
• Bad Timing (1980) dir. Nicolas Roeg – Showed the unconscious lives of characters. The people acted cool with each other, but their hands showed twitchy mental energy.
• The Great Dictator (1940) dir. Charlie Chaplin – Included the metaphor of Adolf Hitler kicking the world as his toy.
• Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953) dir. Jacques Tati – Where Chaplin wore long trousers and leaned back, Tati wore short trousers, and leaned forewards.
• Toto in Color (1953) dir. Steno – Another person inspired by Chaplin. Wore Chaplin’s trademark hat.
• Awaara (1951) dir. Raj Kapoor – Utilized Chaplin’s streetwise manner.
• Sunset Boulevard (1950) dir. Billy Wilder – Saw Chaplin as his master, and impersonated him.
• Some Like It Hot (1959) dir. Billy Wilder – Recreated a scene from a past work from Chaplin.
• Luke’s Movie Muddle (1916) dir. Hal Roach – Directed by the Comedian who was most influenced by Chaplin was Harold Lloyd
• Haunted Spooks (1920) dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach – Harold Lloyd sported a different fashion, known as the “nerdy look”, yet it added to his athleticism and courage.
• Never Weaken (1921) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor – Same as above.
• Safety Last! (1923) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor – Climbed a building with a lot of challenges. Includes a lot of action, and buildup.
• I Flunked, But… (1930) dir. Yasujirō Ozu – Influenced by the dreamer.

…And the First of its Rebels

• Nanook of the North (1922) dir. Robert Flaherty – Longest nonfiction film so far in film. Includes scenic shots, yet includes small, individual shots. It was about his psychology, and struggle against elements. Made the audience look more ethically. Nanook’s death in real life made headlines. This started the documentary genre.
• The House Is Black (1963) dir. Forough Farrokhzad – Utilized tracking shots to turn a home with people with leprosy into a home.
• Sans Soleil (1983) dir. Chris Marker – Filmed real places, and wrote a fictional commentary. Imagined word on top of nonfiction pictures.
• The Not Dead (2007) dir. Brian Hill – Interviewed a person about their war experiences, and turned those words into a poem, and had him speak those poems, to make them magical.
• The Perfect Human (1967) (shown as part of The Five Obstructions) dir. Jørgen Leth – Asked Leth to make him to remake it 5 times, with a new challenge each time.
• The Five Obstructions (2003) dir. Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth –
• Blind Husbands (1919) dir. Erich von Stroheim – Utilized realism to underline the Hollywood fantasy.
• The Lost Squadron (1932) dir. George Archainbaud and Paul Sloane – His drive to realism was more obsessive than flat hearty.
• Greed (1924) dir. Erich von Stroheim – Utilized color as a way of symbolism, as in showing money as yellow, and tinting the climax yellow, as if money has flooded the world of the story. It also ran for 7 hours.
• Stroheim in Vienna (1948) – Nothing came out of this film. Stating the film was dead.
• Queen Kelly (1929) (shown as part of Sunset Boulevard) dir. Erich von Stroheim – A part of Sunset Boulevard, where Norma Desmond watches one of her own movies.
• The Crowd (1928) dir. King Vidor – Another attempt of portraying America with realism. It became the greatest pre-wall-street crash picture of it’s time. Vidor also pushed realism and acting past the norm. Also utilized a crane shot to show a person out of many. Also utilized 7 endings, and picked one in the end. Utilized crowds.
• The Apartment (1960) dir. Billy Wilder – Also utilized a shot to show a person out of many, by placing the actor in the center of the frame.
• The Trial (1962) dir. Orson Welles – Exaggerated this shot of person out of many, by making the person of interest taller than everyone, and even using dolls, and small desks to force the perspective.
• Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924) dir. Yakov Protazanov – Played with the rebellious idea of realism and cities. Also utilized an idea similar to the Thief of Baghdad, by imaging a city with a specific style.
• Posle Smerti (1915) dir. Yevgeni Bauer – Utilizes an open door to make a slit similar to a painting. Also, utilized lighting. Where romantic cinema was optimistic, these early Russian films were pessimistic on the realism of grief, and loss.
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer – Films people in closeup, it was all ugly on purpose. It even made some of the electricians on set cry. The set was designed to give more attention toward the actors. The walls were blank.
• Ordet (1955) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer – Shows the simplicity of the image. Also shows the simplicity of white, given a simple white background, with a simple white dress, etc.
• The President (1919) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer – Wanted to simplify/purify his images in a Protestant way. Wanted to soften/whiten his image.
• Vampyr (1932) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer – Features shadows to represent people on a wall. The shadows move as if they have a life of their own. His symbolism of him wanting to whiten the image is utilized by having the antagonist dying in white flour.
• Gertrud (1964) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer – Dreyer’s last film. Showed how a woman’s belief in love was real by filming it through a white scrim, as if in heaven.
• Dogville (2003) dir. Lars von Trier – Opposite of romantic Hollywood cinema. Completely opposite of films like “The Thief of Baghdad”.
• Vivre sa vie (1962) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Jean-Luc Godard –