Wednesday, December 19

We went over the Film Noir quiz, students answered the questions as a class, and everybody who took the quiz received 100% (Merry Xmas). Then we partied and watched the first episode of the 1936 Flash Gordon serial.

HW due Friday, January 4:
Your assignment for the holidays is to write one longer or two shorter movie reviews and submit them online, either to The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) or to Amazon.com. You must write at least 500 words total. (IMDB encourages somewhat longer reviews than does Amazon; you could submit two reviews to Amazon or either one or two to IMDB.) Note: it turns out you can't post reviews on Amazon unless you have an account on which you have purchased something! (Oops.) So: unless you do have such an account: IMDB.


Tuesday, December 18:

We watched the second half of Detour and students then took a quiz on film noir.

Monday, December 17

Quiz postponed until tomorrow.
We watched the first halgf of Edgar G. Ulman's classic fim noir B-movie, Detour.

Friday, December 14
We examined a few additional scenes in Citizen Kane, then watched 15 minutes of the documentary film The Battle Over Citizen Kane depicting Wm. Randolph Hearst's campaign to destroy the film and Welles's career.

HW due Monday:
Two handouts introducing Film Noir. Quiz over them Monday.

Thursday, December 13

Brief discussion of yesterday's film on Hollywood Style, followed by discussion of the theme(s) of Citizen Kane and further revisiting of scenes from that film, up to Kane's taking over the Inquirer.


Wednesday, December 12
Mr. Potratz was absent. The class watched a documentary on classic Hollywood Style.

Tuesday, December 11

We ran the beginning of Citizen Kane again, up to the point where young Charles leaves home for the East, commenting on motifs and expressive details, transitions and connections with previous films.

Monday, December 10

Students took, and we graded, a quiz over Citizen Kane.

Friday, December 7

Having displaced Everybody Reads! with the end of Citizen Kane on Thursday, we devoted the short class period to free reading.

Quiz over Citizen Kane on Monday.

Thursday, December 6

We finished watching Citizen Kane, using the Everybody Reads! period for the purpose.
Friday's class will therefore be devoted to free reading.

There will be a quiz over Citizen Kane on Monday.

Wednesday, December 5

We listened to three minutes or so of Orson Welles's famous 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds.

Then we began watching Citizen Kane, with the admonition to watch carefully and the information that there will be a quiz over the film on Monday.

Tuesday, December 4

Fascism & Anti-Fascism in the 1930s.
Es spricht der Fuehrer: We watched the final eleven minutes of Triumph of the Will and then a clip from The Great Dictator with Charlie Chaplin imitating Hitler.
Then we watched thirteen minutes of The Battle over Citizen Kane covering Orson Welles's early theatrical triumphs in NYC, esp. the WPA voodoo MacBeth and the antifascist Julius Caesar.

Monday, December 3

Busby Berkeley & Adolf Hitler
We looked at production numbers staged by Busby Berkeley from Depression-era musicals, combining pure escapism and social commentary, then compared them with Nazi "production numbers" from Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will.

Friday, November 30

Flappers on the Silver Screen: "I Want to Be Loved by You" sung by Helen Kane, the inspiration for Betty Boop, followed by scenes from It, with Clara Bow ("The It Girl"). Finally Louise Brooks as Lulu in G.W. Pabst’s silent German masterwork Pandora’s Box.