Cinema Class

Watch a film from the Film Viewing Master List – for this week’s Discussion Board assignment, it can be from either the 1940s or 1950s. You must then answer 2 questions that relate to the topic and the film you watched from the list provided. Take a little time after you watch your film to search on the web, read other sources, consider the questions, watch other films or clips, talk to people about the film, consider it in historical context and think about your personal views on the assignment.

Then, when you are ready, you must Post your answers to the Discussion by Saturday 11:59PM. Answer each question in a couple of paragraphs or so. Use specific details to make your points and be prepared to elaborate on them during the discussions if others ask further questions about what you wrote.

To get the full points, you must clearly put the film title at the very top, clearly number and separate your answers, state a clear thesis about your opinion, cite specific examples from the film you watched or real world experiences – preferably your own – to bolster your ideas, correctly use any outside research to further prove your opinions, and make sure you correctly employ the terms and concepts from the textbook and online lectures to back up your points.

You should do some outside research to fully think through and competently answer the questions. You must describe any outside information and provide specific links about where to find it (a website, article, film or video clip on YouTube, news story or explain how it is a personal experience or how it happened to someone you know, etc.). You must type your answers directly into the dialogue box for the Discussions – NO attachments are accepted in this class.

Here is the list of movies the teacher has provided, so please pick ONE movie from THIS list. 

Citizen Kane 1941 Orson Welles

Casablanca 1942 Michael Curtiz

It’s a Wonderful Life 1946 Frank Capra

The Third Man 1949 Carol Reed

Double Indemnity 1944 Billy Wilder

The Maltese Falcon 1941 John Huston

The Bicycle Thief 1948 Vittorio De Sica

His Girl Friday 1940 Howard Hawks

Notorious 1946 Alfred Hitchcock

The Philadelphia Story 1940 George Cukor

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 John Huston

The Grapes of Wrath 1940 John Ford

Brief Encounter 1945 David Lean

Children of Paradise 1945 Marcel Carné

Sullivan’s Travels 1941 Preston Sturges

The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 William Wyler

The Lady Eve 1941 Preston Sturges

The Red Shoes 1948 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Rome, Open City 1945 Roberto Rossellini

Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949 Robert Hamer

The Big Sleep 1946 Howard Hawks

Beauty and the Beast 1946 Jean Cocteau

Fantasia 1940 James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norman Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, and Paul Satterfield

Rebecca 1940 Alfred Hitchcock

Red River 1948 Howard Hawks

Meet Me in St. Louis 1944 Vincente Minnelli

Stairway to Heaven 1946 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

To Be or Not to Be 1942 Ernst Lubitsch

Out of the Past 1947 Jacques Tourneur

Laura 1944 Otto Preminger

My Darling Clementine 1946 John Ford

Black Narcissus 1947 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

The Magnificent Ambersons 1942 Orson Welles

Great Expectations 1946 David Lean

White Heat 1949 Raoul Walsh

The Great Dictator 1940 Charles Chaplin

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Ivan the Terrible 1944 Sergei M. Eisenstein

Adam’s Rib 1949 George Cukor

Letter from an Unknown Woman 1948 Max Ophüls

Mildred Pierce 1945 Michael Curtiz

The Shop around the Corner 1940 Ernst Lubitsch

Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Alfred Hitchcock

The Lost Weekend 1945 Billy Wilder

Cat People 1942 Jacques Tourneur

Now, Voyager 1942 Irving Rapper

Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 Michael Curtiz

Henry V 1944 Laurence Olivier

How Green Was My Valley 1941 John Ford

Day of Wrath 1943 Carl Theodor Dreyer

To Have and Have Not 1944 Howard Hawks

Miracle on 34th Street 1947 George Seaton

On the Town 1949 Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly

The Ox-Bow Incident 1943 William A. Wellman

The Bank Dick 1940 Edward F. Cline

Late Spring 1949 Yasujiro Ozu

‘I Know Where I’m Going!’ 1945 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

The Killers 1946 Robert Siodmak

The Palm Beach Story 1942 Preston Sturges

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek 1944 Preston Sturges

Paisan 1946 Roberto Rossellini

Meshes of the Afternoon 1943 Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid

Gilda 1946 Charles Vidor

Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 Frank Capra

I Walked with a Zombie 1943 Jacques Tourneur

Dead of Night 1945 Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer

Detour 1945 Edgar G. Ulmer

National Velvet 1944 Clarence Brown

The Thief of Bagdad 1940 Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan

Monsieur Verdoux 1947 Charles Chaplin

The Pride of the Yankees 1942 Sam Wood

They Live by Night 1948 Nicholas Ray

The Lady from Shanghai 1947 Orson Welles

Force of Evil 1948 Abraham Polonsky

Brighton Rock 1947 John Boulting

Ossessione 1943 Luchino Visconti

Body and Soul 1947 Robert Rossen

Rope 1948 Alfred Hitchcock

Hamlet 1948 Laurence Olivier

In Which We Serve 1942 Noel Coward and David Lean

Duel in the Sun 1946 King Vidor

Sergeant York 1941 Howard Hawks

Woman of the Year 1942 George Stevens

La Terra Trema 1948 Luchino Visconti

Oliver Twist 1948 David Lean

Gaslight 1944 George Cukor

Mrs. Miniver 1942 William Wyler

Odd Man Out 1947 Carol Reed

The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946 Tay Garnett

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 John Ford

Went the Day Well? 1942 Alberto Cavalcanti

The Wolf Man 1941 George Waggner

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948 Charles Barton

Twelve O’Clock High 1949 Henry King

The Heiress 1949 William Wyler

Ball of Fire 1941 Howard Hawks

All the King’s Men 1949 Robert Rossen

Fort Apache 1948 John Ford

Hail the Conquering Hero 1944 Preston Sturges

Tight Little Island 1949 Alexander Mackendrick

The Set-Up 1949 Robert Wise

Key Largo 1948 John Huston

DISCUSSION BOARD 3 1940s-1950s QUESTIONS – answer any 2:(Pick only 2 questions and answer them with 2-3 paragraphs each)

1. How does the film deal with the War? Focus on a scene and discuss if it seems patriotic, propagandistic, unfair, cruel, bleak or powerful.
2. Discuss the attitude of the film toward race or ethnicity – does it seem to deal with the issue fairly, or does it seem biased? Focus on a scene and discuss how you feel about it.
3. Does the film seem to have a dark, pessimistic or bleak world view? Focus on a scene and discuss what you think the film is saying about that era.
4. Does the film handle social problems of the day openly, or do you feel it ignores them? Focus on a scene dealing with social ills and how you feel about the depiction.
5. How does the film depict the relations between men and women? Focus on a scene and discuss if it treats them equally or not, and how you feel about that.
6. Does the acting seem realistic or exaggerated and stylized? Focus on a scene and discuss how effective you think the performance is for the era and what you think about it.
7. Does the film tackle controversial taboos or is it escapist entertainment? Focus on scene and discuss how you feel about that for the era.
8. Does the film try to use spectacles like 3D, lavish color, widescreen, huge action or dance numbers and so on to grab attention? If so, focus on a scene and discuss if you think it works well.
9. Is the film an exploitation film dealing with sex, violence and crime? Focus on a scene and analyze how you feel about the way the film handles those subjects.
10. Is the film an art film? Focus on a scene and discuss how you feel about the film’s subjective, personal, experimental, self aware tendencies.
11. Does the film seem realistic? Focus on a scene and discuss how you feel about the film’s techniques like shooting in real locales, using handheld camera, improvisation.