1.
- 3 "isms": Dadaism, Cubism, Surrealism
- Art mirrored irrationality of post-WWI world
- 3 Kinds of Films: pure visual form; surrealistic fantasies; naturalistic studies: French Avant-Garde in the 1920's
2.
- A kind of realism that is not realistic
- Inspired by Freud; finding the logic in a dream
- Dark humor; the irony of life
- The only type of avant-garde film still used in more modern cinema (i.e. influenced Hitchcock): Surrealism
3.
- Background in theatre
- Produced most famous radio show in history - "War of the Worlds"
- Not too interested in movies; simply wanted to make them so he could fund his theatre ventures
- All his notoriety rests on one film: "Citizen Kane"
- His character, Charles Foster Kane, was inspired by William Randolph Hearst
- Welles participated in every production detail of "Citizen Kane": Orson Welles
4.
- Chamber dramas: focused on the psychology of a few characters in the middle or upper classes
- New Seriousness: reaction to expressionism; fatalistic and grimy lower-class realism, a world of pimps and criminals: Chamber Dramas/Kammerspielfilm and The New Seriousness/Die deue Sachlichkeit
5.
- Common themes in movies: female suffering, religious issues, use of light, natural acting, experimenting with film language
- Most famous film: "The Passion of Joan of Arc"
- Directed for Nordisk Film in Denmark, but ended up going to Sweden: Carl Dreyer
6.
- Directed "Ingeborg Holm"
- Also an actor
- Other famous Swedish films: "The Outlaw and His Wife" (1918) and "The Phantom Carriage" (1920)
- Went to Hollywood but eventually returned to Sweden
- Themes within his films: more serious than Stiller's, focus on actors' performances: Victor Sjöström
7.
- Directed by De Sica in 1948
- Did not intend to be partisan with his film
- A search for dignity and justice
- Some mysterious/surrealist elements: clairvoyant, epilepsy: "The Bicycle Thief"
8.
- Directed by Dreyer in 1928
- Famous for its many close-ups
- Stylized - lots of white walls
- Focus not on history or Joan as a heroine, but on suffering: "The Passion of Joan of Arc"
9.
- Directed by Eisenstein in 1925
- No one protagonist; all the sailors are the protagonists. This promotes the communist ideology that the group is more important than the individual
- Odessa Staircase Scene: During massacre, we see a baby carriage on the stairs. Represents the innocents who lost their lives: "Battleship Potemkin"
10.
- Directed by Jean Renoir in 1937
- Social classes/background divide people moreso than nationality does
- Famous for its classical humanism (German guards' treatment of French POWs)
- Nazis hated this film
- Shows that soldiers on both sides are only doing their duty; the individual soldier is no villian
- Realistic use of language: "The Grand Illusion"
11.
- Directed by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí in 1928
- Gruesome opening sequence: man slits woman's eye, and the woman doesn't protest. Metaphor: viewer's eyes are about to be in for a shock
- Built on Freudian free association
- Based on the dreams of the directors
- All aspects of the film were meant to be irrational, so that the only method of analyzing the film was through psychoanalysis: "An Andalusian Dog"
12.
- Directed by Robert Wiene in 1920
- Introduced modern art into a new medium
- Both avant-garde and a classical commercial horror film
- Characters are stylized, but at the same time so psychologically interesting that we identify with them
- Instance of an "unreliable narrator"
- The frame story: does it really occur? What statement does it make on authority figures?: "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"
13.
- Directed J'accuse and Napoleon
- Known for using superimposition and split-screen imagery in Napoleon: Abel Gance
14.
- Director
- Cinematic trickster: liked to turn the realistic world into one of fantasy and song
- 2 favorite targets: social convention and money
- Directed "Entr'acte" in1924
- Film was shown at intermission of ballet; begins in pure form than moves towards surrealistic dream/fantasy
- Uses slow motion, freeze frames, traveling shots, etc: René Clair
15.
- Eisenstein
- Pudovkin
- Vertov
- Dovzhenko
- Kuleshov: Five Most Important Soviet Directors in the 1920's
16.
- Emphasis on editing (mainly due to lack of raw filmstock)
- The Kuleshov Effect: shooting an actor with a "neutral" look and juxtaposing them against 3 different emotionally charged shots. Every time, audiences believed the actor was responding appropriately: Soviet Montage
17.
- Famous for creating action/suspense through editing and use of shadow/light effects
- Had his own independent production company
- Made films in Germany, Sweden and US
- In US, movies mostly in the horror genre: Benjamin Christensen
18.
- Famous for use of deep-focus and low-angle shots that capture ceilings
- Commentary on the American dream - does success equal happiness?
- Used metaphorical shots - i.e. when Kane's image is reflected infinitely in the mirror
- Opening newsreel, "voice of God" sequence, gives us a chronological skeleton for an unchronological film
- Film is structured like a jigsaw puzzle: "Citizen Kane"
19.
- Famous opening title represents a new hero in cinema: the working man
- Takes an anarchistic approach to society: i.e. turning conveyer belt into ballet. Therefore, loved by absurdists
- Film is commentary of the dying genre of silent films. Case in point: every time there is talking, it has to do with something negative
- Montage sequences (after he's released from the mental hospital)
- Irony: prefers prison to real life: "Modern Times"
20.
- Fantastic/Mystical: In tradition of German Romanticism. Focus on the occult, the metaphysical, life after death, dream kingdoms
- Realistic/Psychological: Revealed intellectual currents of Freud and Weber. Focus on thoughts/feelings of characters and their frustrations/lusts/jobs: Two Types of German Silent Cinema
21.
- Grew up in Finland
- More technical director than Sjöström
- Made many comedies
- Discovered Greta Garbo, responsible for bringing her to Hollywood
- Never made it in Hollywood; returned to Sweden: Mauritz Stiller
22.
- Inspired by French Poetic Realism
- Use of non-professional actors; just everyday people
- Realistic dialogue and places - no false sets
- Emphasis on the struggle of everyday people; presenting the characters in relation to the real social, political and economic environments
- Editing is not an important tool - instead, long takes
- Plotline is usually simple: Italian Neorealism
23.
- Jean Renoir: a humanist with political messages
- Marcel Carné: most pure example of poetic realism. More naive, not so political
- Jean Vigo: Major theme - freedom. Characters overcome their society that confines them
- René Clair: Most optimistic one; made romantic musicals: Four Most Important Poetic Realism Directors
24.
- Last from 1919 to 1933
- Part of Modernism
- Inspired by German Romanticism: focus on insanity, madness, people expressing extreme feelings
- Also inspired by philosophers like Nietzsche and psychologists like Freud
- Reflects chaotic German society of the Weimar Republic
- Stylization instead of realism
- Inner chaos is expressed through an outer visual distortion
- Extreme uses of shadow and light: German Expressionism
25.
- Made in 1913 by Sjöström
- First classic of Swedish cinema
- Foreshadows the Golden Age of Swedish cinema
- Famous for it's Swedish naturalistic style: Ingeborg Holm
26.
- More pure form than surrealism; experimenting with shapes
- No meaning other than the forms themselves
- More fun/optimistic than surrealism; accepts that life may be fragmented but goes along with/laughs at it: Dadaism
27.
- Most famous Hollywood silent comedian
- Famous for his "Tramp" character - characteristic bowler cap, tuxedo: Charlie Chaplin
28.
- Not really a wave/current, but more common shared elements in movies
- Effective, poetic dialogue and provocative visual imagery
- Social analysis/Philosophical implications
- Wit and charm; recreated realism
- Often with marginalized characters who get a last stab at love, but ultimately lose it
- Tone of nostalgia/bitterness: French Poetic Realism
29.
- Scriptwriter on all of De Sica's neorealist films
- Wanted to take neorealism a step further: actors play themselves: Cesare Zavattini
30.
- Use of impressive landscapes as a metaphor for characters' inner feelings
- Nordic Melancholy: loneliness in the deep pine forests
- A critical attitude towards religion and metaphysics
- "The Swedish Sin": sex and nudity: What Scandinavian Cinema is Most Famous For
31.
- Very poetic
- Obsessed with fatalism and death, but also made light comedies
- Believed that admirable men died for no other reason than that men die
- Believed that people are dragged into complicated webs of human interaction from which there is no escape
- Had many symbolic figures of death in his films: Marcel Carné
32.
- Vittorio De Sica: Melodramas w/political and sentimental stories
- Roberto Rossellini: More philosophical, intellectual. Did the War Trilogy
- Luchino Visconti: Focused most on beautiful visuals; commentary on social classes: Three Most Important Neorealist Directors
33.
A style of acting present in movies from the Silent Era, characterized by less melodrama and more realism: Swedish Naturalism
34.
Carl Dreyer and Benjamin Christensen: Two Important Directors in Danish Cinema
35.
Fritz Lang, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, and Georg Wilhelm Pabst: Three Most Important Expressionist Directors
36.
Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller: Two Important Scandinavian Pioneers
