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Film class

posted 18 years ago by jewellrunner
16 replies | jump to latest

A couple of years back I took a film class in college that was really the start of my highly increased interest in film. Before the class, I knew nothing of good film. And now, as I look back, I really knew little after the class. My professor did show films such as Citizen Kane, Rashomon, The Seventh Seal, and M. But he also showed movies such as Philadelphia, Do the Right Thing, The Celluoid Closet, Orlando, and Juliet of the Spirits. While the latter-mentioned are quality films, they are not ones that I would expect to make the cut for a semester long film class. My question is, if you taught an introduction film class (say, for a gen ed program), what films would you show? I think 25 is a good amount for one semester.

Personally, I would show no more than one per director, and I would try to cover all time periods. Here's what I would show:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene)
Faust (1926, F.W. Murnau)
Un chien andalou (1929, Luis Buñuel)
M (1931, Fritz Lang)
Modern Times (1936, Charles Chaplin)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orsen Welles)
The Raven (1943, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
Diary of a Country Priest (1951, Robert Bresson)
12 Angry Men (1957, Sidney Lumet)
The Seventh Seal (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
The 400 Blows (1959, François Truffaut)
Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Sergio Leone)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman)
The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)
The Passenger (1975, Michelangelo Antonioni)
Barry Lydon (1975, Stanley Kubrick)
Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)
Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch)
Chungking Express (1994, Kar Wai Wong)
Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
A.I. (2001, Steven Spielberg)
The New World (2005, Terrence Malick)

My Reviews - http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/journal_view.php?journalid=195926&view=public

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] john-2087 18 years ago

Um, Barry Lyndon was a cinematographic breakthrough in cinematography (it also bagged the oscar for the DP). It's a triumph of natural light photography, especially in the tricky indoor scenes lighted ONLY with candle light (I mean, consider the retrofitted Zeiss lenses which were meant to be used for NASA!). And to top it all off, the landscape photography is absolutely beautiful.

Definately show Barry Lyndon if you feel your class could use some "schooling" on the less seen Kubrick film.

[–] jerz280-1 18 years ago

Which movies you show all depends on what you are trying to accomplish by the end of the semester. I am a high school TV Tech teacher and these are the films I try to expose my kids to over the two years of my classes. If I were to teach a college course stickly on film history, it might be different, but as far as appreciation these are the ones that I try to stick with (of course parental permission is required for some on the high school level).

Fred Ott's Sneeze (Edison)
The Kiss (Edison)
Animal Locomotion Experiments (Muybridge)
The Sprinkler Sprinkled (Lumiere Brothers)
The Great Train Robbery (Porter)
Life of an American Fireman (Porter)
Le Voyage dans las Lune (Melies)
Nanook of the North (Flaherty)
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein)
Modern Times (Chaplin)
It Happened One Night (Capra)
The Wizard of Oz (Fleming)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Rashomen (Kurokawa)
On the Waterfront (Kazan)
Spartacus (Kubrick)
Psycho (Hitchcock)
The Graduate (Nichols)
The Godfather (Coppola)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Forman)
Network (Chayefsky)
Jaws (Speilberg)yes there are better but this has societal influence as well
The Breakfast Club (Hughes)
Batman (Burton)
Toy Story (Lassater)
Clerks (Smith)

[–] chord6boy 18 years ago

VERY NICE POST! Great question, and I like your entries too, particularly Once Upon a Time in the West which I feel is the finest Western by a long way. I will stick to your rule of one per director because that will force me to choose some stuff that I don't love but think is important.

These aren't in any order and they aren't necessarily films I like, or even the films that I feel are the director's best. Oh and also I choose them with the assumption that we will get to discuss them in some detail, which is why some things that everyone has seen are in there anyway.

1. The Goldrush (Chaplin)
2. Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone)
3. A Clockwork Orange (I don't like Kubrick but I figure he has to be in there)
4. The Godfather (Coppola)
5. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
6. Chicago (Rob Marshall - check the editing of that film!)
7. Psycho (Hitchcock)
8. Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
9. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)
10. It's A Wonderful Life (Capra)
11. Orphans of the Storm (D.W. Griffiths)
12. The Matrix (The Wachowski Bros)
13. The Talented Mr Ripley (Anthony Minghella)
14. The Green Mile (Frank Darabont)
15. Adaptation. (Spike Jonze)
16. The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
17. 8 and 1/2 (Fellini)
18. Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
19. Memento (Christopher Nolan)
20. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder)
21. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
22. The Lion King (Roger Allers + Rob Minkoff)
23. Repulsion (Polanski)
24. Phone Booth (Joel Schumacher)
25. The Third Man (Orson Welles)

A very mixed list I know, and I know what you are thinking about some of the entries (you're thinking "WHAT THE HELL?! That was just a summer flick!") but I really think that some less noticeables techniues have been pulled off with pure genius in some of those films, and if I had a chance to point this out to my class... I think it might be something that some film classes would overlook.

[–] winterzs 18 years ago

I am taking a film class right now and I don't think there is enough time to show that many films in one semester. At my school, Le Moyne College, the History of Film classes are split into two sections. The first one goes from the beginnings to 1940s. The second one goes from 1940s to present day. This is to allow for discussion time, viewing time, and realted work (quizes, preentations, etc.). Even still, we've had to cut films out for time. So, I don't know how you're planning to run you're class, but I think you're being a bit optimisic fitting in 25 films for one semester (just my opinion based on experience, I'm trying to be an ass). These are the films we watched for History of Film 1 by class:

A Trip to the Moon (1902, Melies)
The Great Train Robbery (1904, Porter)
Edison shorts and Lumiere brothers shorts

Way Down East (1920, Griffith)
clips from Birth of a Nation (1915, Griffith)

M (1931, Lang)

Metropolis ( 1926, Lang)
clips from Nosforatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Pandora's Box (1929, Pabst)

Battleship Potempkin

The General

Modern Times
clips of Gold Rush

Blackmail

Little Ceaser

It Happened One Night

Un Chien Andalou

Grapes of Wrath

(sorry I got lazy and didn't feel like including the directors and dates after a while)
We could only fit in 14 films, two of which are quite short. It also only spanned about 40 years.

[–] jewellrunner 18 years ago

Well, I don't actually have a class. This is hypothetical. But from experience, I know that 25 can fit in one semester if the students are made to have outside work. Really, the only thing that needs to be done in class is the viewing of the film and discussion. Writings on the films can be done out of class and I wouldn't bother with quizzes/tests (except for the final).

My Reviews - http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/journal_view.php?journalid=195926&view=public

[–] zacp223 18 years ago

I know that I would definitly show The Graduate by Mike Nichols. That movie is very good and definitly underrated. Also 2001: A Space Oydessey because I love Kubrick. I watched parts of both of these films in my film class, and possible Rear Window by Hitchcock.

[–] Foot_Freakin_Master 18 years ago

I guess I will add mine, not commenting on others. Who knows? This is just a spur 1927of the moment list. Most semester classes I have had are 3 hours per week for sixtenn weeks. I wll pick 12 movies for in class, and 4 for out of class. I think 16 is enought to watch.

Greed-1924
Potemkin-1924
The General-1927
Modern Times-1936
Lost Horizon-1937
Mister Smith goes to Washington-1939
Casablanca(as good as it gets)-1942
The Best Years of our Lives-1946
Rear Window-1954
12 Angry Men-1957
Judgment at Nuremberg-1961
Once upon a Time in the West-1968
Jaws-1975
Halloween-1978
Das Boot-1981
Glory-1989
Schindler's List-1993
Fargo-1996

I added more. I just couldn't stop. I could make a whole different list. Who knows?

[–] Jeremy-124 18 years ago

Very interesting post and a nice list. I majored in film in college myself back in the '70s and saw several of those films in classes.

Here's my list. I went with basically the same strategy - no more than one film per director, trying to represent all eras and as many genres as possible. This is really tough!

Intolerance (1916, D.W. Griffith)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene)
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang)
The General (1927, Buster Keaton)
Modern Times (1936, Charles Chaplin)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford)
His Girl Friday (1940, Howard Hawks)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
The Bicycle Thief (1948, Vittorio De Sica)
High Noon (1952, Fred Zinnemann)
On the Waterfront (1954, Elia Kazan)
The 400 Blows (1959, François Truffaut)
Some Like It Hot (1959, Billy Wilder)
Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Robert Mulligan)
8½ (1963, Federico Fellini)
Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)
The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese)
Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanksi)
Days of Heaven (1978, Terence Malick)
Fargo (1996, Joel Coen)

[–] saarijas 18 years ago

Wow! That list is near identicle to my own. The only differences, I would choose not to show High Noon, replace that with Do The Right Thing (no 80's on your list) and replace Metropolis iwth M. Only because you already have german expresonism represented on your list with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Otherwiese a near perfect list!

[–] Jeremy-124 18 years ago

"Do the Right Thing" would be a decent choice, although personally I find it an interesting and thought-provoking movie rather than a great one. I find it kind of uneven, like most of Spike Lee's movies. If I had to choose one '80s movie, it would probably be "Raging Bull." Or "Blade Runner."

In defense of "High Noon," I find it a timeless classic that transcends the western genre. The image of the lone lawman facing down evil is, I think, very powerful. It plays on the feeling that we all have at times in our lives -- that we're alone against the world.

I'd gladly toss a coin and include either "Metropolis" or "M." They're both wonderful. Another silent movie is was hard to omit was "Pandora's Box." Louise Brooks was one of the most indelible personalities in movie history.

Another movie I left off the list that I consider a landmark is "Bonnie and Clyde." Problem is, there are a lot more than 25 great and influential movies!

[–] devoelodi 17 years ago

im taking a film class now, and imdb is my friend.

[–] ebobrow 17 years ago

What about Blade Runner?

Why is that not on anyone's lists?

[–] devoelodi 17 years ago

that movie is an extra credit that we have an option to write about. i have never seen it. but had a roomate that had it. i suck.

[–] ebobrow 17 years ago

See it as soon as possible

[–] devoelodi 17 years ago

will do.

netflix is my friend.