DATE TOPIC
Jan. 10 Introduction and How Movies Work
SCREENING: The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 1985; 82m).

SILENT CINEMA (1895-1930)
Jan. 12 Early Cinema
SCREENING: Selections from Landmarks of Early Film.
READING: “The Early Years” (6-12) and “Early Cinema” (13-23).
Jan. 17 Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. No Class.
Jan. 19 Transitional Cinema and The Beginning of Narrative
SCREENING: The Lonedale Operator (D.W. Griffith, 1911; 17m), Life of An American Fireman (Edwin S. Porter, 1903; 6m), and excerpts from The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915).
READING: “Transitional Cinema” (23-42) including Griffith insert.
Jan. 24 The Rise of Cinema in Hollywood and Around the World
SCREENING: Flesh and the Devil (1926; 112m).
READING: “The Hollywood Studio System” (43-52), “The World-Wide Spread of Cinema” (53-61), and Garbo excerpt (190).
Jan. 26 Silent Clowns: Keaton and Chaplin
SCREENING: Troubles of a Grasswidower (Max Linder, 1908; 10m), excerpts from Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America (PBS, 2009), and Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924; 44m).
READING: “Comedy” (78-85) including Keaton and Chaplin inserts.
Jan. 31 German Expressionism
SCREENING: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Weine, 1919; 60m).
READING: “Germany: The Weimar Years” (136-50).
Feb. 2 Soviet Montage
SCREENING: Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925; 70m).
READING: “The Soviet Union and Russian Émigrés” (162-73) and “Heyday of the Silents” (192-204).
Feb. 7 Study Day. No class.
Feb. 9 Exam 1 (Weeks 1-4).

SOUND CINEMA (1930-1960)
Feb. 14 Sound and the Studio System
SCREENING: Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952; 103m).
READING: “The Introduction of Sound” (211-19) and “The Triumph of the Studio System” (220-34).
Feb. 16 Cinema Censorship
SCREENING: Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (TCM, 2008; 68m).
READING: “Censorship and Self-Regulation” (235-48).
Feb. 21 Hollywood Innovations: Music, Color, Zooming, etc.
SCREENING: Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942; 102m) or The Adventures of Robin Hood (Curtiz, 1938; 102m).
READING: “Sound of Music” (248-59) and “Technology and Innovation” (259-67).
Feb. 23 Film Genre: Film Noir
SCREENING: Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944; 107m).
READING: “Cinema and Genre” (276-85) and “Crime Movies” (304-311).
Feb. 28 Cinema in Nazi Germany
SCREENING: The Blue Light (Riefenstahl, 1932; 85m) or Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl, 1935; 110m).
READING: “Germany: Nazism and After” (374-82).
Mar. 2 French Cinema
SCREENING: Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1934; 114m).
READING: “The Popular Art of French Cinema” (344-52) and Renoir insert (338).
Mar. 7 Spring Break: No Class.
Mar. 14 Italian Neo-Realism
SCREENING: Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica, 1948; 93m).
READING: “Italy from Fascism to Neo-Realism” (353-60).
Mar. 18 Post-War Japan
SCREENING:  Rashômon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950; 88m).
READING: “The Classical Cinema of Japan” (413-21) and Kurosawa insert (716).
Mar. 21 Study Day. No class.
Mar. 23 Exam 2 (Weeks 6-8, 10).

THE MODERN CINEMA (1960-1995)
Mar. 28 Sex and Violence in Hollywood
SCREENING: Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960; 109m).
READING: “Sex and Sensation” (490-96) and Hitchcock insert (310).
Apr. 4 The French New Wave
SCREENING: The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959; 99m).
READING: “New Directions in French Cinema” (576-86) and “The 400 Blows,” an essay: http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/528
Apr. 6 Italian Cinema in the 1960s
SCREENING: Divorce, Italian Style (Pietro Germi, 1961; 105m).
READING: “Italy: Auteurs and After” (586-96) and “The Facts and Fancies of Murder”: http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/365-divorce-italian-style-the-facts-and-fancies-of-murder
Apr. 11 African Americans in Hollywood
SCREENING: In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison, 1967; 109m).
READING: “The Black Presence in American Cinema” including Poitier insert (497-508).
Apr. 13 The New Hollywood and American Auteurs
SCREENING: Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977; 93m).
READING: “The New Hollywood” (475-82).
Apr. 15 The Hollywood Blockbuster
SCREENING: Class vote: Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985; 117m), or Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993; 127m).
READING: “Dreams and Nightmares in the Hollywood Blockbuster” (516-26).
Apr. 18 The Hollywoodization of World Cinema/Catch-Up Day
SCREENING: Class vote: Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992; 99m) or Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993; 103m).
READING: “The Resurgence of Cinema” (759-66).
Apr. 20 Dr. Marshall at a Conference: No class.
Apr. 25 Study Day: No class.
Apr. 27 Exam 3 (Weeks 12-15). Same time, same place. This is your final exam.
 

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