Course Description
An historical survey of film from the advent of commercial motion pictures in the 1890s, the proliferation of national cinema movements throughout the 20th century, and the influence of each in the formation of a global film culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Because it is impossible to survey the entire history of film in a single semester that meets once a week, we will be focusing on two broad themes in pre–World War II era and in the post-World War II era.
- Following the commercialization of motion pictures in the late nineteenth century and the development of narrative techniques in the early years of the twentieth century, national cinemas emerged throughout the world. Filmmakers working these national cinemas emphasized certain stylistic techniques in their filmmaking. For example, American cinema emphasizes storytelling over all other techniques, while filmmakers in the Soviet Union theorized that editing was the most important technique. We will focus our study in the prewar era on these national cinema tendencies. We cover this in modules 1–6.
- Following World War II, new waves of filmmaking that focused less on the differences between nations in favor of the common bonds between people. There was also an emergence of modernism in film, breaking established conventions of the previous generations. We cover this in modules 7–12.
The midterm exam divides the modules and our coverage of these broad themes.
Remote Online Course
This course will be conducted remotely over the Internet.
Most learning activities will be asynchronous, meaning that you will complete these on your own time. This includes readings, screenings, quizzes, essays, and exams.
In addition, there will be a certain number of synchronous activities, including a weekly discussion session on Zoom where we discuss the major issues relating to that week’s module on the history of film.
Instructor
Juan Monroy
Office Hours
I will be available for individual meetings on Mondays and Wednesday, between 12:00 – 1:00 PM, US Eastern Time. Sign up for an appointment at least one day in advance at:
https://juanmonroy.com/prattofficehours
After you sign up, I will email you a Zoom Meeting link for you to join the meeting.
Assignments
Please complete all of the assignments by the date noted on the course schedule
Readings
Assigned readings are listed in the course schedule below and available from the following sources:
Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction, 4th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2019.
Required readings not found in the textbook are linked on this website in the course schedule.
Reading Quizzes
Each Thursday morning, I will post a reading quiz on Canvas. The quiz will consist of true-false and multiple choice questions.
Complete each quiz by the day before our class meeting, at 11:59 PM, as noted in the course schedule.
- Due dates:
- Quiz 1, due Jan 26
- Quiz 2, due Feb 2
- Quiz 3, due Feb 9
- Quiz 4, due Feb 16
- Quiz 5, due Feb 23
- Quiz 6, due Mar 2
- Quiz 7, due Mar 16
- Quiz 8, due Mar 30
- Quiz 9, due Apr 6
- Quiz 10, due Apr 13
- Quiz 11, due Apr 20
- Quiz 12, due Apr 27
- Ten of twelve quizzes are required
- Weight: 20%
Screenings
Watch each of the films listed in the course schedule below. You will need to authenticate with your Pratt One Key credentials to access these screenings.
Some titles are available to stream from commercial services, such as The Criterion Channel, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Kanopy. Where available, I have linked to Just Watch, a service that aggregates the availability of online streaming for most movie titles.
I also have a Letterboxd list of relevant films for each module.
Lectures
Each module requires you to watch a recorded lecture. These recorded move through the course material quicker than an in-person lecture. As you watch each video, pause and rewind the video as necessary to take notes on the material. This will help ensure you’re ingesting the course material.
Each video will be available on Friday afternoon and will be linked on the course schedule below,
Live Discussion Session
We will have an hourlong, weekly discussion session on Zoom, at the following time:
In these sessions, we will discuss the major issues relating to that week’s module on the history of film and closely examine how the films we studied represent those issues.
Essay 1: Prewar National Cinema: Germany, France, Soviet Union
In this first written assignment, you will analyze a 1920s film from Germany, France or the Soviet Union and its use of mise-en-scène, cinematography, and/or editing from specific scenes, and you will contextualize those scenes in the context the greater narrative discourse of the film and the motivations of the filmmaker working in the particular national context.
Essay 2: New Wave Cinema
In this second written assignment, examine the use of one or two stylistic devices in new wave film(s) studied in class.
Midterm Exam
The midterm exam, covering our survey of early film to World War II, will consist of two parts:
- Identification of film stills from films screened in class, requiring you to identify and explain the clip in the context of the film.
- Short answer questions, requiring you to engage the screenings and readings related to the major movements and trends in film history we covered in class.
Details:
- Available on Canvas, beginning on Thursday, March 4
- Due on Wednesday, March 10, at 11:59 PM, on Canvas
- Weight: 20%
Final Exam
The final exam, covering our survey of film history after World War II, will consist of two parts:
- Identification of film stills from films screened in class, requiring you to identify and explain the clip in the context of the film.
- Short answer questions, requiring you to engage the screenings and readings related to the major movements and trends in film history we covered in class.
Details:
- Available on Canvas, beginning on Thursday, April 29
- Due on Wednesday, May 5, at 5:00 PM, on Canvas
- Weight: 20%
Course Schedule
Complete each assigned activity—readings, quizzes, and screenings—by the date listed for each module.
Introduction, January 20
With our attention focused on Washington, D.C. and on the inauguration, we will not be having a synchronous meeting today. Please complete the tasks within the next week. We will begin our first synchronous meeting on Wednesday, January 27.
- Read the Welcome Message I sent to enrolled students
- Get the required textbook: Film History, 4th ed.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell, Chapter 1, “The Invention and Early Years of the Cinema," available on Vitalsource
- Introduce yourself and ask a question about the course, if you have one, on the discussion board on Canvas
Module 1: Invention of Cinema, January 27
The invention of motion pictures in the late 19th century was a combination of breakthroughs in photography, persistence of vision, industrialization, and a commercial fascination with visual entertainment. By the early years of the 20th century, filmmakers developed novel techniques to tell stories that would keep audiences interested in the movies and an entire industry to exhibit these films.
All films in this module are silent films. Any music or other sounds were added years later. The soundtrack you may hear should not be considered part of the original filmmakers’ work.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell, Chapter 2, “The International Expansion of the Cinema, 1905–1912," available on Vitalsource
- Watch the recorded lectures:
- Motion Picture Terminology (5 min.)
- Invention of Motion Pictures (7 min.)
- Edison and American Film Industry (5 min.)
- Beyond the Peepshow (13 min.)
- Edison’s Cartel and the Independents (10 min.)
- Watch Edison films
- Dickson Greeting (1891, less than a min.) The video repeats the original film, first in slow motion, then again at full speed.
- Men Boxing (1891, less than a min.)
- Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894, less than a min.)
- Athlete with Wand (1894, less than a min.)
- The Boxing Cats (Prof. Welton’s) (1894, less than a min.) Cat videos appeared prior to the Internet and this one was made to film Professor Welton’s cat circus.
- Fire Rescue Scene (1894, less than a min.) The first of many, many films made at the time involving firemen rescuing people from fires.
- John C. Rise–Mary Irwin Kiss (1896, less than a min.) An onscreen kiss between two famous stage actors of the time.
- Firemen Rescuing Men and Women (1899, less than a min.) Another film of firemen rescuing people from a burning blaze.
- A Wringing Good Joke (1899, less than a min.) A prank that would work well on a stage; notice the use of deep space so the woman doesn’t see the kid pulling the prank.
- Watch Lumière Brothers films
- Workers Leaving the Factory (1895, less than a min.) Note the amount of motion that is captured, especially the large number of people walking in various outfits.
- Feeding the Baby (1895, less than a min.) Note the amount of motion, including the trees reflected in the adjacent window.
- Arrival of a Train at Ciotat (1895, less than a min.) The myth that people jumped out of their seats when they saw films like this is not true, but it may have been a marketing gimmick about the realism of these motion pictures.
- The Sprinkler Sprinkled (1895, less than a min.) One of my all time favorites because it looks like something prepared for the stage where the actors hit their marks. Note that the kid and the gardener never walk outside of the frame.
- Snowball Fight (1896, less than a min.) A quick prank that seems right from a stage. Note how the bicycle never leaves the frame.
- Demolition of a Wall (1896, less than a min.) This shows us the possibilities of film in not just demonstrating how it can capture reality but also how it can manipulate time and space.
- Leaving Jerusalem by Railway (1896, less than a min.) The legend of the first tracking shot was that it was captured on accident.
- Watch Edwin S. Porter films
- Jack and the Beanstalk (1902, 9 min.) Porter’s interpretation of the famous fable.
- Life of an American Fireman (1903, 7 min.) Yes, another fire rescue film. But this one is set across various scenes as film narration develops.
- The Great Train Robbery (1903, 10 min.) This is the most famous film of the early silent era and one that was copied many times. Rescue scenes were—and still remain—a common dramatic trick for most movies. The color tinting was done by hand.
- Rescued from an Eagle’s Nest (1908, 7 min.) I can imagine that they needed to make another rescue film and, Porter, who is likely exhausted every other story idea for a rescue film, asks, “what if an eagle kidnaps a baby?” The heroic father is played by D.W. Griffith.
- Watch George Méliès trick films
- A Trip to the Moon (1902, 12 min.) Méliès’s best-known film based on the science fiction of Jules Verne. Note that the moon-dwellers resemble native Africans, which has some resonance for France’s colonial history.
- The Black Imp (1905, 4 min.). One of my favorite films by Méliès for its playfulness of having a mysterious imp (a devil) appear and disappear to haunt a hotel guest.
- The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon (1907, 9 min.) There are some great optical tricks here to give the sun and moon some personalities.
- Watch An Unseen Enemy (D.W. Griffith, USA, 1912, 15 min.) It’s hard to justify Griffith’s racist views, but I think it’s unwise to dismiss the ingenuity of this film.
- Watch The Cheat (Cecil B. deMille, USA, 1915, 60 min.) Content warning: depicts man branding a woman.
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 1 on Canvas, due January 26, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 2: Weimar Germany and Mise-en-Scène, February 3
In the years following its defeat in World War I, German filmmakers borrowed from painting and theater to craft a distinct style that would influence filmmakers throughout the world for many decades.
All films in this module are silent films. Any music or other sounds were added years later. The soundtrack you may hear should not be considered part of the original filmmakers’ work.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell, Chapter 5, “Germany in the 1920s," available on Vitalsource
- Watch the recorded lectures:
- Rise of the Weimar German Film Industry (7 min.)
- Art of Expressionism (8 min.)
- Caligari and Nosferatu (6 min.)
- Kammerspiel and Murnau (6 min.)
- Fall of Weimar German Cinema (5 min.)
- Sunrise: Expressionism in Hollywood (7 min.)
- Watch Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror [Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens] (F.W. Murnau, Germany, 1922, 94 min.)
- Watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari [Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari] (Robert Weine, Germany, 1920, 78 min.)
- Watch The Last Laugh [Der letzte Mann] (F.W. Murnau, Germany, 1924, 90 min.)
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 2 on Canvas, due February 2, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 3: France, the Avant-Garde, and Cinematography, February 10
All films in this module are silent films. Any music or other sounds were added years later. The soundtrack you may hear should not be considered part of the original filmmakers’ work.
French filmmakers in the 1920s fostered a film culture that treated film in the tradition of fine arts, not commercial entertainment as was common in the previous decade.
Module 4: Soviet Union and Montage, February 17
Editing allowed filmmakers in the Soviet Union to combine shots not only for the purpose of storytelling but for communicating complex themes and concepts relevant to the Russian Revolutions.
All films in this module are silent films. Any music or other sounds were added years later. The soundtrack you may hear should not be considered part of the original filmmakers’ work.
Module 5: 1930s Hollywood and the Studio System, February 24
American filmmaking was dominated by a streamlined, assembly-line production system that would largely prioritize storytelling ahead of exploiting the visual possibilities of filmmaking.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell, Chapter 10, “The Hollywood Studio System, 1930–1945,” available on Vitalsource
- Watch the recorded lecture, available Friday, February 19
- Coming of Sound (13 min.)
- Hollywood Studio System (15 min.)
- Classical Hollywood Cinema (11 min.)
- Watch Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy, USA, 1931, 79 min.)
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 5 on Canvas, due February 23, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 6: World War II and Documentary, March 3
Between the two world wars, documentary filmmakers forged narrative and experimental traditions for nonfiction filmmaking. When World War II broke out, the form was well suited for promoting the causes of Great Britain and of the United States against fascism and the Nazis.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell, Chapter 14, “Leftist, Documentary, and Experimental Cinemas, 1930–1945,” available on Vitalsource
- Watch the recorded lecture
- Prewar Documentary Traditions (10 min.)
- British Documentary Movement (8 min.)
- Prewar Documentary in the United States (14 min.)
- War Documentary in Great Britain and the United States (14 min.)
- Watch “Prelude to War,” Part 1 of Why We Fight (Frank Capra, USA, 1942, 52 min.)
- Watch Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, UK, 1942, 19 min.)
- Watch Triumph of the Will [Triumph des Willens: das Dokument vom Reichsparteitag 1934] (Leni Riefenstahl, Germany, 1935, 57 min.)
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 6 on Canvas, due March 2, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Midterm Exam: March 10
The midterm exam will be available on Thursday, March 4, and due today at 5:00 PM.
Module 7: Italy and Neorealism, March 17
Following the aftermath of World War II, Italian filmmakers disavowed the polished look of their predecessors in favor exploring the struggle and anguish of everyday postwar life.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell, Chapter 16, “Postwar European Cinema: Neorealism and its Context, 1945–1959," available on Vitalsource
- Watch the recorded lecture, available Friday, March 12
- Rebuilding European Film Industries (11 min.)
- Modernist Filmmaking Practices (3 min.)
- Postwar Italy (5 min.)
- Italian Neorealism (9 min.)
- Watch Rome, Open City [Roma, città aperta] (Roberto Rossellini, Italy, 1945, 103 min.)
- Watch The Bicycle Thieves [Ladri di biciclette] (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1948, 93 min.)
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 7 on Canvas, due March 16, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 8: France and the New Waves, March 31
At the end of the 1950s, a new wave of mostly young, first-time filmmakers excited international audiences with films that simultaneously portrayed their philosophical and literary concerns and borrowed from Hollywood films of the war years with their own distinct personal styles.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell,
- Chapter 17, “French Cinema of the Postwar Decade,” available on Vitalsource
- Chapter 20, “France: New Wave and New Cinema,” available on Vitalsource
- Watch the recorded lecture
- Portable Filmmaking Technologies (3 min.)
- French Cinephilia (6 min.)
- Rive Gauche Filmmakers (11 min.)
- Nouvelle Vague Filmmakers (10 min.)
- Watch La Jetée [The Pier] (Chris Marker, France, 1963, 28 min.)
- Watch Cleo from 5 to 7 [Cléo de 5 à 7] (Agnès Varda, France, 1962, 90 min.)
- Watch Breathless [À bout de souffle] (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1960, 90 min.)
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 8 on Canvas, due March 30, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 9: Latin America and Third Cinema, April 7
Latin American cinema surged in the 1930s, after the coming of sound, particularly in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. But Hollywood, like the US government and industry, also dominated Latin American nations. In the wake of the New Waves and Neorealism, some nations, particularly Cuba and Argentina, rejected the cinemas of the First and Second Worlds in favor of unique, experimental style that would be used for engaging the public with revolutionary ideas.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell
- Read Fernando Solanas and Octavio Gettino, “Towards a Third Cinema” (1968)
- Watch the recorded lecture
- Hollywood and the “Good Neighbor” Years (10 min.)
- Postwar Latin American Film (8 min.)
- Postcolonial Latin America (3 min.)
- Revolutionary Cuban Cinema (7 min.)
- Third Cinema (10 min.)
- Watch The Young and the Damned [Los Olividados] (Luis Buñuel, Mexico, 1950, 72 min.)
- Watch Throw a Dime [Tire Dié] (Fernando Birri, Argentina, 1958, 33 min.)
- Watch Now! (Santiago Alvarez, Cuba, 1965, 5 min.)
- Watch Now! Again! (Alex Johnson, USA, 2014, 5 min.): a remake of Now! that invokes the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri
- Watch Cuban filmmaker Julio Garcia Espinosa recall the influences of European and documentary film on Cuban filmmaking after the revolution and their attempt to create their own filmmaking practices
- Watch One Way or Another [De Cierta Manera] (Sara Gómez, Cuba, 1974, 72 min.)
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 9 on Canvas, due April 6, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 10: West German and Eastern European New Waves, April 14
While most filmmaking behind the “iron curtain” was state-controlled, some intrepid filmmakers in Eastern European nations developed experimental techniques to craft a political cinema that could skirt the scrutiny of state censors.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell
- Chapter 20, “Young German Film,” available on Vitalsource
- Chapter 20, “New Cinema in the USSR and Eastern Europe,” available on Vitalsource
- Chapter 23, “Political Filmmaking in the First and Second Worlds,” available on Vitalsource
- Watch the recorded lecture
- West Germany and Das Neue Kino (6 min.)
- Soviet Union and Goskino (4 min.)
- Poland and the New Wave (4 min.)
- Czechoslovakia and the Czech New Wave (9 min.)
- Yugoslavia and Novi Film (6 min.)
- Watch Daisies [Sedmikársky] (Vera Chytilová, Czechoslovakia, 1966, 74 min.)
- Watch WR: Mysteries of the Organism [W.R. Misterije organizma] (Dusan Macavejev, Yugoslavia, 1971, 84 min.) Content warning: nudity, explicit sex, decapitated head.
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 10 on Canvas, due April 13, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 11: New Hollywood, April 21
The fall of studio system in the late 1960s allowed filmmakers, inspired by the work of the European New Waves, to challenge the established practices and style of Hollywood in favor of an artistically minded cinema.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell, Chapter 22, “Hollywood’s Rise and Fall, 1960–1980,” available on Vitalsource
- Read Pauline Kael, “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967)
- Watch the recorded lecture:
- Golden Age of New Hollywood (21 min.)
- Watch Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, USA, 1966, 131 min.)
- Watch Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, USA, 1967, 111 min.)
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 11 on Canvas, due April 22, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 12: East-Asian Cinemas, April 28
Following the Chinese Revolution of 1949, cinema would evolve as an isolated, state-sponsored propaganda model on the Mainland and as a commercial, narrative system critical of the Revolution in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
- Read Thompson and Bordwell, Chapter 27, “Cinema Rising: Pacific Asia and Oceania Since 1970,” 625–650, available on Vitalsource
- Watch the recorded lecture
- East Asian Cinema (14 min.)
- Watch Raise the Red Lantern [Da hong deng long gao gao gua] (Yimou Zhang, PRC, 1991, 125 min.)
- Watch Chungking Express [Chung Hing sam lam] (Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong, 1994, 102 min.)
- Reference my list of relevant films on Letterboxd
- Complete Quiz 12 on Canvas, due April 27, 11:59 PM
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Final Exam: May 5
The final exam will be available on Thursday, April 30, and due today at 5:00 PM.