INTERNATIONAL FILM HISTORY 1

CMS 28500/48500

Fall 2010

INSTRUCTOR:        James Lastra, Rosenwald 418

   OFFICE HOURS:    M         3:30- 5:30 pm and by appointment
   COURSE ASSTS:   Adrienne Seely (MAPH) 

                 Zhang Ling (college)

CA OFFICE HR:      TBA

LECTURES:                        T/Th    1:30-2:50 pm -- Cobb 307

SCREENING:           M         7:00-10:00 pm -- Cobb 307

                                    Th       3:30-6:30 pm -- Cobb 307

DISCUSSIONS:       TBA

READINGS:              Thompson/Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction (TB)

                                    Munsterberg, The Photoplay

Eisenstein, Film Form

                                    Eisner, The Haunted Screen

                                    Articles on Chalk (ch)

REQUIREMENTS:  Lectures, readings, screenings, and discussions are essential components of the course.  Missing more than three classes or screenings can affect whether you pass this course.  You must see all of the films and should see as many as possible more than once.  Make-up screenings and close analyses can be done on video, but this cannot be considered a substitute for the scheduled screening.  You must come to class prepared to discuss the films and the readings.  Writing requirements include three short assignments and a longer paper. 

 Week 1  The Origins of an Apparatus

 

27 SEP  Screening: Films of the Lumière Company (France, 1895-1900)

                                    Early Edison Company Films (USA, 1894, 1900)

                                    Méliès Trick Films (France, 1900-1901)

                                    Impossible Voyage (Méliès, France, 1904)

Red Spectre (de Chomont, France, 1907)

                                    Butterflies (Cines, Italy, 1907?)

 

28 SEP:         Representation of Time, the Body, Spontaneity

 

Reading:        (TB) Chap. 1

                                    (ch) Gorky

                                    (ch) Winter

 

30 SEP:         Magic and Transformation

 

Reading:        (ch) Gunning. - Astonishment

                                    (ch) Méliès

 

30 SEP Screening: same as Monday

 

Week 2  From Attractions to Narrativization

 

4 OCT  Screening:   Great Train Robbery (Porter, USA, 1903)

                                    Drunkard’s Reformation (Griffith, USA 1909)

                                    Lonely Villa (Griffith, USA 1909)

                                    Country Doctor (Griffith, USA 1909)

                                    Corner in Wheat (Griffith, USA 1909)

                                    Lonedale Operator (Griffith, USA 1911)

 

5 OCT:            Edison/Biograph; devel. of editing and the spectator

Reading:        (TB) Chap.2

                                    (ch) Musser

                                    (ch) Gunning - Weaving

 

7 OCT:            Early Features; Dramatic Structures

Reading:        (ch) Tsivian – Two Stylists

                                    Munsterberg (esp. 4-10)

 

7 OCT  Screening:   Avenging Conscience (Griffith, USA, 1914)

                                    Fantomas, ep. 2 (Feuillade, France, 1913)

 

 

 Week 3  Filmic Ambitions: Epic Editing and Naturalist Staging

 

11 OCT  Screening: Ingeborg Holm (Sjöstrom, Sweden, 1913)

 

12 OCT:         European Deep Staging, Artistic Composition, Naturalism

Reading:        (TB) Chap. 3

 

14 OCT:         The Total Film; Drama of Comparisons and Montage Trope

Reading:        Eisenstein, 195-255

                                    (ch) Hansen

 

14 OCT  Screening: Intolerance (Griffith, USA, 1916)

 

 

Week 4  Weimar Cinema: Pictorial Composition and the Uncanny

 

18 OCT  Screening: Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Weine, Germany, 1920)

                                    Nosferatu (Murnau, Germany, 1922)

 

19 OCT:         Expressionism, Theatrical and Pictorial Space and Metaphor

Reading:        (TB) Chap. 5

                                    Eisner, 9-115

 

21 OCT:         Folktales and the Fantastic

Reading:        Eisner, 115-206

 

21 OCT  Screening: Destiny (Lang, Germany, 1921)

                                    Der Golem (Wegener, Germany, 1920)

 

FIRST PAPER DUE

 

 

Week 5  Hollywood Cinema: Naturalism, Classicism, Glamor

 

25 OCT  Screening: Greed (Stroheim, USA, 1923)

 

26 OCT:         Hollywood: Glamor and Anti-glamor

 

28 OCT:         Classical Style and Studio System

Reading:        (TB) Chap. 7

 

28 OCT  Screening: A Woman of the World (St. Clair, USA, 1925)

 

 

Week 6  French Impressionism and Photogenie

 

1 NOV  Screening:  Souriante Mme. Beudet (Dulac, France, 1922)

                                    Menilmontant (Kirsanov, France, 1926)

                                    Au secours! (Gance, France, 1924)

 

2 NOV:           French Cinema and Birth of Film Culture

Reading:        (TB) Chap 4

 

4 NOV:           Epstein and Dulac/Photogenie and Cinegraphie

Reading:        (ch) Epstein

                                    (ch) Dulac

                                    (ch) Gunning

 

4 NOV  Screening:  Fall of the House of Usher (Epstein, France, 1928) (DVD)

                                    La glace à trios faces (Epstein, France, 1927)

 

Week 7  The Soviet Experiment: October in Film

 

8 NOV  Screening:  Adventures of Mr. West (Kuleshov, USSR, 1924)

Mother (Pudovkin, USSR, 1926)

 

9 NOV:           Constructivism and Lessons of Montage

Reading:        (BT) Chap 6

                                    Eisenstein, 3-63

 

11 NOV:         Eisenstein and Theories of Montage: Action to Intellect

Reading:        Eisenstein, 108-121, 150-178

 

11 NOV  Screening:            Strike (Eisenstein, USSR, 1924)

                                    Potemkin (Eisenstein, USSR, 1925)

 

 

SECOND PAPER DUE

 

 

Week 8  Germany and the Soviet Union; Cinema and Modern Life

 

15 NOV  Screening:            Last Laugh (Murnau, Germany, 1924)

                                    Spies (Lang, germany, 1928)

 

16 NOV:         After Expressionism: Neue Sachlichkeit and Cinema

Reading:        Eisner, 207-299

 

18 NOV:         Montage: Forces of History and Nature

Reading:        Eisenstein, 64-107

 

18 NOV  Screening:            Earth (Dovshenko, USSR, 1928)

                                    General Line (Eisenstein, USSR, 1927)

 

 

Week 9  City Life and Cinema

 

22 NOV  Screening:            Man With a Movie Camera (Vertov, USSR, 1929)

                                    Sunrise (Rutttmann, Murnau, USA, 1927)

 

23 NOV:         Metropolis and Cinematic Life/Communitst Decoding

Reading:        (ch) Vertov

 

25 NOV:         THANKSGIVING

 

 

Week 10  Pinnacles

 

29 NOV  Screening:            Sunrise (Murnau, USA, 1927)

 

30 NOV:         Imagery and Space, Drama, and Performance; Late Silents

Reading:        (TB) Chap. 7, 8

 

2 DEC:           READING PERIOD

 

2 DEC                        No Screening

 

FINAL PAPER DUE – WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9