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.