Friday, January 29

Final day of the class.

We finished watching Full Metal Jacket.

Mr. P returned the second Outside Viewing essays.

Wednesday, January 17

We received nominations and chose Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket as the final film of the semester and began watching it.

Tuesday, January 26

Students took the final examination.

Monday, January 25

Students were reminded about tomorrow's final examination and urged to review the discussion of elements of filmcraft in the "Classical Hollywood Style" packet.

We watched several minutes of The Cutting Edge, the documentary about film editing; the section we watched discussed the breaking of the established editing formulae in such 60's films as Bonnie and Clyde.

Friday, January 22

Mr. Potratz explained the procedure for the final examination on Tuesday: students will be shown short clips from three or four films and asked to analyze the use of specific elements of filmcraft in each. They should review those elements as presented in the "Classical Hollywood Style" packet.

We finished watching Bonnie and Clyde.

Thursday, January 21

We continued watching Bonnie and Clyde, through the shootout which results in Buck's death and Bonnie's wounding.

Wednesday, January 20

New Plan: Scrap White Heat and watch Bonnie and Clyde, a groundbreaking Sixties movie about the Thirties.

We stopped at the point where Bonnie is reading the gang her "Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde."

Tuesday, January 19

Students took a brief quiz over film noir, using their handouts and their websearch worksheets (which they turned in after the quiz). We graded the quiz together.

After briefly glancing at Tom Neal's life after Detour, which paralleled that movie in many respects, we turned our attention to MGM gangster movies, in preparation for watching Jimmy Cagney in the immortal White Heat (1949).

Friday, January 15

Mr. P distributed two new handouts on film noir, asked students to hang on to their websearch worksheets, and announced a quiz on Tuesday over film noir, including all three handouts, the worksheet, and Detour.

We began to go over the "Characteristics of Film Noir" handout and to discuss how Detour does and does not conform to the noir criteria in that document.

HW due Tuesday:
Read and review all the handouts and polish the Film Noir Websearch worksheet in preparation for a quiz over fim noir. (The worksheet is also due.)

Thursday, January 14

We finished watching Detour, then very briefly discussed student reactions, especially to Vera.

HW due Friday:
Completed film noir websearch worksheet.

Wednesday, January 13

Students received two handouts: a description of the "Characteristics of Film Noir" and a websearch worksheet on noir. Students were asked to read the first handout and to keep it in mind as they watched Detour, preparing to discuss whether or not the film conforms to the characteristics listed (or vice versa). The worksheet is to be completed outside of class and turned in Friday.

We then watched the first thirty-five minutes of Detour, the B-Movie noir cult classic.

HW due Friday:
Complete the Film Noir worksheet.

Tuesday, January 12

We continued our examination of Max Steiner's musical score for Casablance, then Mr. P very briefly introduced film noir.

Monday, January 11

We discussed Casablanca, the secret of its appeal, its proaganda for political/military engagement, the resolution of its political versus romantic conflict.

We also began to look at (listen to) Max Steiner's masterful musical score.

Friday, January 8

Students competed in small groups to identify the most famous lines in Casablanca (according to the American Film Institute in 2005).

Thursday, January 7

We finished watching Casablanca.

Students were challenged to win a prize by being the first to identify the actor in the film (the most highly paid cast member) who appeared in another film we saw part of and what film that was. (It's not Peter Lorre, whom we did see earlier in M.)

Wednesday, January 6

We continued watching Casablanca, up to the point where Ferrari tells Laszlo and Ilsa that Rick has the letters of transport.

Tuesday, January 5

Students turned in the HW on Citizen Kane.

We finished watching the clip from The Great Dictator, after which Mr. P provided historical background necessary to understanding Casablana and led the class in a rousing chorus of The Marseillaise.

Following that we watched the first thirteen minutes of Casablanca.

Monday, January 4

Mr. P reminded students of the writing assignment due tomorrow (see December 18).
As introduction to our next film, the anti-fascist Casablanca, we watched several minutes of Leni Riefenstahl's famous Nazi propaganda film, Triumph of the Will, a celebration of the 1934 Party Day rallies in Nuremberg, then followed that with the satirical "newsreel" Schichelgruber does the Lambeth Walk, which uses (and abuses) footage from Riefenstahl's film. Finally, we watched part of Charlie Chaplin's parody of Hitler from The Great Dictator.

HW due Tuesday:
400-word response to online commentaries on Citizen Kane. See Friday, December 18, for details.