Motion Picture History & Criticism
bit.ly/jcm112s20

This is an addendum to the full syllabus.

The instructor stipulates that a student's receipt of this addendum shall act as a contract between the instructor and the student. Receipt of this addendum presupposes that a student has read and understands the policies contained here and in the full online syllabus: bit.ly/j112s20s

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Date Topic/Screening Readings
1/8 Early Cinema click for images
Le Prince Shorts (1880s)
Blacksmith Scene #1 (Edison, 1893) click for video
Something Good - Negro Kiss (Selig, 1898) click for video
Lumière Shorts (1890s) click for video
A Trip to the Moon (Méliès, 1902) click for video click for images
Batman slaps Robin
1/13 The Evolution of Narrative Film click for images
Life of an American Fireman (Edison, 1903) click for video
The Great Train Robbery
(Porter, 1903) click for video click for video
Rescued by Rover (Hepworth / Fitzhamon, 1904) click for video
The Lonedale Operator (Griffith, 1911) click for images click for video
Chs. 2, 3
1/15 The Evolution of Narrative Film, Continuedclick for images
The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915) click for images click for video (excerpt) click for video
The Artist (Hazanavicius, 2011)
 
1/20 MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY  
1/21 Recommended: Parasite (BAH), 7:30  
1/22 German Silent Film: Expressionism & Kammerspielfilm Ch. 7
  The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1920) click for images click for images click for images click for video

Recommended Kammerspiel example:
The Last Laugh (Murnau, 1924) click for video
 
1/27 Silent Film Comedy: Buster Keaton click for images click for images Ch. 4, 6
1/29 The Art of the Gag (Zhou, 2015) click for video
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Reisner, Keaton [uncredited]; 1921)
 
2/3 Russian Formalism: Sergei Eisenstein click for images Ch. 8
2/5 The Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925)
The Odessa Steps & its Descendants (barthesian; newer version) click for images
View Part 5 (final 16 minutes) online, through Blackboard.
READINGS TEST 1: Chs. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (not chapter 8)
Study Tips & Sample Questions
 
2/10 Classical Hollywood Cinema click for images Ch. 9
2/12 Sullivan's Travels (Sturges, 1941)
Recommended: How to Sleep (1935)
 
2/17 Bazinian Realism: Jean Renoir click for images click for images Ch. 10
2/18 Recommended: Tel Aviv On Fire (BAH), 7:30  
2/19 The Crime of M. Lange (Renoir, 1936) click for images click for images  
2/24 MID-TERM EXAM
Study Tips & Sample Questions
 
2/26 North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1954)
View final 30 mins. online, through Blackboard.
 
3/1, Sunday North by Northwest at the Cobb Hollywood 16 Theater One Extra Credit Point
3/2 Auteur Theory: Alfred Hitchcock click for images click for images click for images Ch. 11
3/4 Documentary Form
Nanook of the North (Flaherty, 1922) click for video, click for video
Congorilla (Johnson, 1932) click for video
Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl, 1935) click for video
The Nazis Strike (Capra, Litvak, 1943) click for video (Internet Archive version)
Date Etiquette (Peshak, 1952) click for video
Dont Look Back (Pennebaker, 1967) click for video
Taxicab Confessions (Gantz & Gantz, 1995) click for video
 
3/9 Italian Neorealism: Vittorio DeSica click for images
Ch. 12 + 13
(pp. 220-231 only)
3/11 Bicycle Thieves (DeSica, 1948)
READINGS TEST 2: Chs. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (pp. 220-231 only)
Study Tips & Sample Questions
 
3/13
-29
SPRING BREAK  
week of
3/30
Genre Study: Film Noir click for images
The Lady from Shanghai (Welles, 1947)
Ch. 15
week of
4/6
French New Wave: Jean-Luc Godard click for images click for images
Breathless (Godard, 1960) click for images
Hommage Kit (Butler, 1978) click for images
Ch. 13
(pp. 231-250 only)
canceled Gender Representation in Film click for images  
canceled She's the Man (Fickman, 2006)  
week of
4/13
New German Cinema: Werner Herzog click for images
Encounters at the End of the World (Herzog, 2007)
Ch. 16
4/15,
Wed.
READINGS TEST #3: chs. 13 (pp. 231-250 only), 15, 16, 18, 19
Study Tips & Sample Questions
 
week of
4/20
The Breakdown of Hollywood Classicism click for images click for images click for images
Booksmart (Wilde, 2019)
Chs. 18, 19
4/24,
Friday
Last day to drop a course with grade of "W".
 Postponed from March 25.
Also: 5:00 deadline for choosing the pass/fail option.
 
4/30,
Thursday
FINAL EXAM
Study Tips & Sample Questions
 
Email contact: jbutler@ua.edu
Copyright © 1994-2024 Jeremy G. Butler.
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Last revised: 30 March 2020 18:17:57