Notes

1918-1928: The Triumph of American Film…

• Citizen Kane (1941) dir. Orson Welles
  • Shows the power of light
• The Thief of Bagdad (1924) dir. Raoul Walsh
  • Incredibly large scale, extravagant and constructed
  • The theme is given immediately, as well as all the other components of the story. Highly digestible
• Desire (1936) dir. Frank Borzage
  • Uses lights to force shadows for story reasons
• Gone with the Wind (1939) dir. Victor Fleming
  • Dolly to make the camera glide with the wind
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) dir. Mervyn LeRoy
  • Choreography excellence
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952) dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
  • All the shadows have light in them
• The Maltese Falcon (1941) dir. John Huston
  • Hard and sharp lighting
• The Scarlet Empress (1934) dir. Josef von Sternberg
  • Sparkling and dramatic visual style
• The Cameraman (1928) dir. Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton
  • Keaton shows his own fascination in cameras
• One Week (1920) dir. Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton
  • Directs like an architect
• Sherlock Jr. (1924) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Buster Keaton
• Three Ages (1923) dir. Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline
  • Shows space to build suspense, real or not.
• Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965) dir. John Spotton
  • Improvises gags well.
• The General (1926) dir. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton
  • Comedy epic, each joke is shown two ways, one in the start of the train and one in the back.
  • Ending scene is said to be the most extravagant scene made for a comedy. 
• Divine Intervention (2002) dir. Elia Suleiman
  • Influenced heavily by Keaton, with deadpan humor
• Limelight (1952) dir. Charlie Chaplin
  • Shows how Chaplin was very into body movement
• City Lights (1931) dir. Charlie Chaplin
  • Rehearses his motions beforehand
• The Kid (1921) dir. Charlie Chaplin
  • A focus on Chaplin’s childhood
  • Made the comedy human
• Bad Timing (1980) dir. Nicolas Roeg
  • Close ups show a different story than wide shots
• The Great Dictator (1940) dir. Charlie Chaplin
  • Great metaphor for what Hitler was doing with the world
• Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953) dir. Jacques Tati
  • Very inspired by Chaplin
• Toto in Color (1953) dir. Steno
  • Also inspired by Chaplin
• Awaara (1951) dir. Raj Kapoor
  • Also inspired by Chaplin
• Sunset Boulevard (1950) dir. Billy Wilder
  • Chaplin impersonation
• Some Like It Hot (1959) dir. Billy Wilder
  • Reworks scene from The Great Dictator
• Luke’s Movie Muddle (1916) dir. Hal Roach
• Haunted Spooks (1920) dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach
  • Used a new look to contradict usual opinion of look
• Never Weaken (1921) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
  • Shows Daring of his character
• Safety Last! (1923) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
  • Lloyd does daring building climb stunt
• 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
  • All about the psychology of the actors, did not use well known faces
• The House Is Black (1963) dir. Forough Farrokhzad
  • Used tracking shots to show a family with leprosy in a better light
• Sans Soleil (1983) dir. Chris Marker
  • Made a fake commentary with real footage
• The Not Dead (2007) dir. Brian Hill
  • Turned a veteran’s words into poetry
• The Perfect Human (1967) (shown as part of The Five Obstructions) dir. Jørgen Leth
• The Five Obstructions (2003) dir. Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth
  • Constant challenges to the director
• Blind Husbands (1919) dir. Erich von Stroheim
  • Shows actor in evil light at start of the movie.
• The Lost Squadron (1932) dir. George Archainbaud and Paul Sloane
• Greed (1924) dir. Erich von Stroheim
  • Shows the lesser sides of people, uses color to show progression of theme
• Stroheim in Vienna (1948)
  • Ultra realism was stigmatized and Stroheim was shoved out of the film industry.
• Queen Kelly (1929) (shown as part of Sunset Boulevard) dir. Erich von Stroheim
  • Unreleased Stroheim movie was shown within another movie.
• The Crowd (1928) dir. King Vidor
  • Has no center villain, just realism, shows lots of human emotion
• The Apartment (1960) dir. Billy Wilder
  • Repeats shot from Vidor
• The Trial (1962) dir. Orson Welles
  • Exaggerates the shot with a swooping camera and shorter people
• Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924) dir. Yakov Protazanov
  • Shows the city life of the world as the most real aspect of the world
• Posle Smerti (1915) dir. Yevgeni Bauer
  • Uses door to make the shot look like a painting
  • Makes the movie look natural from light shown on screen
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • Joan is filmed only in close up, and only with the most natural circumstances
• Ordet (1955) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • Set was built to feel real by a true cook
• The President (1919) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • Tries to simplify and soften his imagery
• Vampyr (1932) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • The shadows of characters are given their own character
  • Uses lots of white, uncommon for hollywood.
• Gertrud (1964) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
  • White filter to create a heavenly lighting
• Dogville (2003) dir. Lars von Trier
  • Absolutely no sets in the film
• Vivre sa vie (1962) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
  • Passion of Joan of Arc shown in the movie