Notes
The following material (save for my notes) is from Wikipedia:
Episode 2 – The Hollywood Dream
1918-1928: The Triumph of American Film…
Before utilized films:
The film episode is first characterized by slightly mysterious, climactic music, and by the red ornament that is to represent the new, shiny, Hollywood film industry.
- Citizen Kane (1941) dir. Orson Welles
- “Shows that Hollywood would work wonders with light.”
- Dramatic, Mysterious.
- Definitive black and whites.
- The Thief of Bagdad (1924) dir. Raoul Walsh
- Strange tint
- Gorgeous patterned setting
- Desire (1936) dir. Frank Borzage
- “Lights to make eyelashes cast shadows… in desire.”
- Gone with the Wind (1939) dir. Victor Fleming
- Colored background vs dark subjects.
- Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) dir. Mervyn LeRoy
- Cheery, strange
- “Increasingly abstract, geometric.”
- Singin’ in the Rain (1952) dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
- “Even the shadows have light in them.”
- Strange tint to it, rosy setting.
- The Maltese Falcon (1941) dir. John Huston
- “Angels with dirty faces.”
- Dark settings, “murder, melodrama.”
- The Scarlet Empress (1934) dir. Josef von Sternberg
- Grand setting, grand costumes
- The Cameraman (1928) dir. Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton
- Fascination emphasized
- One Week (1920) dir. Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton
- Unique, innovative
- New
- Bathroom scene particularly daring
- Sherlock Jr. (1924) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Buster Keaton
- Transition bettween walking in the street and walking towards the edge of a cliff – stands out.
- Three Ages (1923) dir. Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline
- Overhead shot for height
- Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965) dir. John Spotton
- Man controls train
- The General (1926) dir. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton
- “A comedy epic.”
- “We see the next joke coming, and we are laughing before it even starts.”
- Stunning visual climax: Train and Bridge set to destruction (completely real).
- Divine Intervention (2002) dir. Elia Suleiman
- Lovely shot
- Static but with enjoyable movement
- Limelight (1952) dir. Charlie Chaplin
- Body movement
- City Lights (1931) dir. Charlie Chaplin
- “thought like a dancer.”
- Yes, quite choreographed.
- Improvisation, strange themes and occurrences
- “Letting his unconscious do its work.”
- The Kid (1921) dir. Charlie Chaplin
- Elements of Chaplin’s childhood.
- Impressive child acting.
- Chaplin was “cinema’s Charles Dickens.”
- Bad Timing (1980) dir. Nicolas Roeg
- Trying to show the unconscious lives of his characters
- Twitchy energy shown with the closeup hand shots
- The Great Dictator (1940) dir. Charlie Chaplin
- A great metaphor.
- “The image is so spectacular.”
- Adolph Hitler, a difficult character to ignore, represented in a strange new light.
- Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953) dir. Jacques Tati
- Playful vibe
- What is that strange gooey thing sinking downwards?
- Toto in Color (1953) dir. Steno
- Inpiration from Chaplin
- Awaara (1951) dir. Raj Kapoor
- Complicated, rushing background (realisic?)
- Sunset Boulevard (1950) dir. Billy Wilder
- Explicit impersonation of Chaplin
- Some Like It Hot (1959) dir. Billy Wilder
- Reworking of Chaplin’s scene
- Old movie, but men dressed as women
- Luke’s Movie Muddle (1916) dir. Hal Roach
- Haunted Spooks (1920) dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach
- A nerdy look (at least back then)
- Black and white, preppy
- Never Weaken (1921) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
- “Agressive and lyrical.”
- Safety Last! (1923) dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
- Intense, breath catching drama.
- A beautiful idea on film
- Fascinating premise
- Strange, lovely idea
- I Flunked, But… (1930) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
- Humorous dancing/silliness
- bright, entertaining
…And the First of its Rebels
- Nanook of the North (1922) dir. Robert Flaherty
- The longest non-fiction so far in the stpry of film
- “Beautiful but conventional.”
- Focuses on a real man, his family, his psychology, and his mythic struggle.
- Acting would of course be more effortless, if it was not staged – however, many of the scenes were staged.
- Real, new, cheerful tone.
- The House Is Black (1963) dir. Forough Farrokhzad
- “Beautiful tracking shots.”
- Tells the story of people with leprocy…
- Sans Soleil (1983) dir. Chris Marker
- Imaginary, made up elements/words…
- The Not Dead (2007) dir. Brian Hill
- Slurred speaking, difficult to understand
- Turned his words into poetry, then used film to provide images for the 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
- Strange, robotic almost
- Distinct blacks and whites
- Blind Husbands (1919) dir. Erich von Stroheim
- Main character almost headless in the first scene because of the strange lighting
- The Lost Squadron (1932) dir. George Archainbaud and Paul Sloane
- Obsessive teachings of small details
- Greed (1924) dir. Erich von Stroheim
- Difficult to follow
- Tragic premise
- The color of yellow, the color of greed
- shows Stroheim’s contempt for hollywood romance.
- Stroheim in Vienna (1948)
- Clear
- Queen Kelly (1929) (shown as part of Sunset Boulevard) dir. Erich von Stroheim
- Lovely filming
- Crafted elements (film shadows, flames)
- The Crowd (1928) dir. King Vidor
- Realism instead of romance, once again
- Tragedy, heartbreak
- Shows “just her growing despair.”
- “The first movie to use New York extensively.”
- Magnificent overhead crane shot among other identical desks.
- Shows mass society emerging and focuses on the everyman.
- The Apartment (1960) dir. Billy Wilder
- Clever dissolve to focus on main character
- Multiple identical subjects creates deliberacy somehow
- The Trial (1962) dir. Orson Welles
- Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924) dir. Yakov Protazanov
- Fascinating geometric angles and shapes
- Modern? costumes
- Somewhat intriguing plot
- mysterious
- Posle Smerti (1915) dir. Yevgeni Bauer
- Relaxing tone and tint
- Darkened lighting
- Usage of opened door to create lighting slit
- Overall, fascinating lighting
- “Bravely natural.”
- Entrance from behind into the shot, allows for the audience to hold their breath slightly, wait for the character to notice
- Beam of intense light (following her death).
- Various tints.
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Tragic
- Wrinkles and tears distinguished
- Almost all close-up
- Filming done in silence
- “Even some of the electricians cried”
- “No depth, nothing in the background, no set, no shadows.”
- Pink painted walls to remove glare.
- Ordet (1955) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
- So static
- Simplified form of the kitchen created clarity/purification.
- The President (1919) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Strange lighting
- Haloed heads
- Vampyr (1932) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Disconnected shadows against a white wall, which have a life of their own.
- Suffocation with white flour.
- “Blank.” – a care for whiteness (Dreyer’s care)
- Gertrud (1964) dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
- White
- Darkness in select subjects
- Filmed through a white scrim?
- Dreamy poetry
- Dogville (2003) dir. Lars von Trier
- “The opposite of Hollywood romantic cinema.”
- Jerky, moving, different
- Vivre sa vie (1962) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
- Slight but bold rectangular shapes