A Selection of Cultural Activities (15/11/10 – 21/11/10)

Films

Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, Carlyle Productions, USA, 1959)

The Devil is a Woman (Josef von Sternberg, Paramount Pictures, USA, 1935)

L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (‘Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno’) (Serge Bromberg/Ruxandra Medrea, Lobster Films/France 2 Cinéma/Canal+, France, 2009)

Hable Con Ella (‘Talk To Her’) (Pedro Almodóvar, El Deseo S.A./Antena 3 Televisión/Good Machine, Spain, 2002)

 

Il Gatto a Nove Code (‘The Cat O’ Nine Tails’) (Dario Argento, Labrador Films/Seda Spetacoli/Terra-Filmkunst, Italy, 1971)

I Shot Andy Warhol (Mary Harron, BBC Arena/Playhouse International Pictures/The Samuel Goldwyn Company, UK/USA, 1996)

My Dad is 100 Years Old (Guy Maddin, Documentary Channel/Spanky Productions, Canada, 2005)

Nine (Rob Marshall, Marc Platt Productions/Relativity Media/The Weinstein Company, Italy/USA, 2009)

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, Paramount Pictures/Patron Inc., USA, 1954)

Reazione a Catena (‘Bay of Blood’) (Mario Bava, Nouva Linea Cinematografica, 1971)

Savage Messiah (Ken Russell, Russ-Arts, UK, 1972)

Soldaat van Oranje (‘Soldiers of Orange’) (Paul Verhoeven, Excelsior Films/Film Holland/The Rank Organisation, Belgium/Netherlands, 1977)

Le Sceicco Bianco (‘The White Sheik’) (Federico Fellini, OFI/P.D.C, Italy, 1952)

A Zed and Two Noughts (Peter Greenaway, British Film Institute (BFI)/Allarts Enterprises/Artificial Eye, Netherlands/UK, 1985)

Preliminary Notes: The Devil is a Woman

The female masquerade, 'Concha' (Marlene Dietrich) performs in The Devil is a Woman (Josef von Sternberg, USA, 1935)

‘Concha’ represents different figures of woman and truth throughout the film; this is combined with Sternberg’s themes of ambiguity and sexuality. Performance is important to the film, not just Dietrich’s but also ‘Concha’s’. The ‘Three Sweethearts Have I’ cabaret performance is a reflection of the narrative and the relationships ‘Concha’ has with the male characters. The female chorus, obscured in the above screenshot, could be said to represent ‘Concha’s’ conscious, or the female psyche. 

Sternberg’s visual motif of equating females with birds and feathers is evident in this scene; the stuffed gulls at the front of the stage. This could have significance to the presentation of ‘Concha’ throughout the film.

Will have to do further research on feminist film theory and gender; maybe this could be tied in with the study of semiotics with a look into the work of Mary Anne Doane.

Television Programmes

‘Plenty and Paranoid’, episode one, The American Dream, UK, BBC2, tx. 20.11.2010.

Episode one, Any Human Heart, UK, Channel 4, tx. 21.11.10.

‘Happiness Machines’, episode one, The Century of the Self, UK, BBC4, tx. 29.04.2002.

Episode fourteen, The Culture Show, UK, BBC, tx. 18.11.2010

Film 2010, UK, BBCHD, tx. 17.11.2010.

Episode four, Getting On, second series, UK, BBC4, tx. 16.11.2010.

‘Chinese Wall’, episode eleven, Mad Men, fourth series, USA, BBCHD, tx. 17.11.2010.

The Mike Wallace Interview: Diana Dors, USA, tx. 09.11.1957.

The Review Show, UK, BBC2, tx. 19.11.2010.

Radio Programmes

The Film Programme, 2010. [Radio programme] BBC, BBC Radio 4, 19 October 2010 16.30.

Italian Neo-Realism (20/11/10)

The University of Warwick Open Studies Certificate: ‘Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies’; Term 1 “1895-1950: The Birth and Development of Narrative Film"; Week 8 (20/11/10)

A father and son relationship: 'Antonio', 'Bruno' and the Fido Bicycle in The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948).

This week’s session consisted of a combined lecture and screening of The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948). As this was my introduction to the Neo-Realist movement, it was refreshing to discuss both its conventions and context. Broadly, the movement can be seen as an alternative to the classical Hollywood mode of storytelling which helped the discussion the social and political context of the movement.

We initially examined the social importance of the concept ‘Realism’. This was in relation to both the realistic and the “reality” of everyday life. We considered the Classic Realist Novel of 19^th Century Literature in relation to the presentation of social issues and the criticism of perspective. The issue of perspective presents a different argument when applied to moving-image media and the representation of reality due to society’s conventional concept that photography is objective; the audio-visual nature aiding the illusion of “truth” and the social commentary. We considered this “New” kind of realism between 1943 and 1947.  

Accordingly, we discussed Neo-Realist filmmakers (Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, De Scia and Luchino Visconti), the importance of Cesare Zavattini in the establishment of the movement and, in relation to the aesthetics of Neo-Realism and the language of cinema, the theoretical work of the French film critic André Bazin. Although it may be seen as the antipathy of the Neo-Realist movement, we were able to compare, both thematically and aesthetic, the movement to Film Noir. There was also discussion of the genesis and the conventions of Neo-Realism.

The session itself was too brief to consider the full extent of the political context of the movement and although we were able to touch on the movement’s aesthetic and technical innovation, we were not able to regard the philosophical nature of Neo-Realism. In the second term we will have the opportunity to refer back to Neo-Realism in our study of new wave cinema, especially in week 3 – which may be moved to week 4 – as we look at Italian cinema through La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1960) and my private study of Michelangelo Antonioni’s work.

Although the module was not made available, I am aware that the Neo-Realism as both National and an International could be studied during A2 Film Studies (WJEC). I was also hoping that I would be able to explore the movement during my time at University. As this is not yet the case, I will have to look into this movement in greater depth through private research.

Some areas I would like to further explore are: cinematography, verisimilitude and objectivity in Neo-Realism; Neo-Realism as a National Cinema; Italian National Cinema before Neo-realism; and in a broader context, Fascism, the implications of spectacle and film aesthetics.  

Further Research to be conducted in relation to Italian Neo-Realism:

• A.Bazin. 1997. Bazin at work: essays and reviews from the Forties and Fifties.
• R.Armes. 1971. Patterns of Realism.
• B.Cardullo. 2002. Vittorio De Sica: director, actor, screenwriter.
• H.Curle, & S.Snyder, (eds.). 2000.  Vittorio De Sica: Contemporary Perspectives.
• J.Dunnage. 2002. Twentieth Century Italy: A Social History.
• D.Forgacs, & S.Gundle. 2008. Mass Culture and Italian Society from Fascism to the Cold War.
• D.Forgacs. 1990.  Italian Culture in the Industrial Era 1880 -1980.
• P.Ginsborg. 2003. A History of Contemporary Italy, 1943-2001.
• S. Gundle. 1992. ‘From Neo-Realism to Luci Rosse: Cinema, Politics and Society, 1945-85’ in Z.Baranski and R.Lumley (eds.), Culture and Conflict in Postwar Italy, pp.195-224; extract from D.Forgacs and S.Gundle. 2008. Mass Culture and Italian Society from Fascism to the Cold War, pp.124-45
• S.Gundle, `Visions of Prosperity: Consumerism and Popular Culture in Italy from the 1920s to the 1950s' in C.Levy and M.Roseman, (eds.). 2002. Three Postwar Eras in Comparison: Western Europe 1918 – 1945 – 1989.
• Mira Liehm, “Lacrimae Rerum (1944-1948),” in Passion and Defiance: Film in Italy from 1942 to the Present (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), pp. 60-89
• D.Overbey, (ed.). 1967.  Springtime in Italy: A Reader on Neo-realism.
• C.Wagstaff. 2007. Italian Neorealist Cinema, 2007

Bibliography

Bazin, André. 1948. ‘An Aesthetic of Reality: Cinematic Realism and the Italian School of the Liberation’. From: What is Cinema? Volume 2. 1972. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 16-40.

Bazin, André. 1949. ‘Bicycle Thief’. From: What is Cinema? Volume 2. 1972. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 47-60.

Bazin, André. ‘The Evolution of the Language of Cinema’. From: What is Cinema? Volume 1. 1967. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 23-40.

Bazin, André. 1951. ‘De Sica, Metteur en Scène’. From: What is Cinema? Volume 2. 1972. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 61-78.

Bondanella, Peter. 2007. Italian Cinema: from Neo-Realism to the Present. 3^rd ed. London: Continuum International Publishing.

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2006. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 459-461.

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2009. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 330-340.

Casey Benyahia, Sarah. Gaffney, Freddie and White, .John., 2009. A2 Film Studies: The Essential Introduction. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge. pp.201-228.

Cook, Pam., ed., 2008. The Cinema Book. London: BFI Publishing. pp. 83-84; pp. 97-98; pp. 233-237.

Corrigan, Timothy., White, Patricia. 2009. The Film Experience. 2^nd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillian, pp. 90-92; pp. 253-357.

Gordon, Robert S.C.2008. Bicycle Thieves. London: BFI Publishing.

Hayward, Susan. 1996. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 227-229.

Marcus, Millicent. 1992. Italian film in the Light of Neo-Realism. Princeton: Princeton University press, ‘Chapter 2 – De Sica’s Bicycle Thief: Casting Shadows on the Visionary City’ pp. 54-75.

Monticelli, Simona. 1998. ‘Italian Postwar Cinema and Neorealism’. In: J.Hill and P.Church Gibson, (eds.), Oxford Guide to Film Studies.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 455-460.

Perkins, V.F. 1972. Film as Film. London: Penguin Books, pp. 31-32; pp. 172-173.

Shiel, Mark. 2005. Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City. Short Cuts. London: Wallflower Press.

Ruberto , Laura E., Wilson Kristi M. 2007.Italian Neo-Realism and Global Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

Sorlin, Pierre. 1991. European Cinemas, European Societies: 1939-1990. Abingdon: Routledge.

Walford, Michael. 2007. Italian Neorealism: An Introduction. [online] April 24th 2007. Available at: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/italian_neorealism_an . [Accessed 19 November 2010]


Walford, Michael. 2007. Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City. [online] September 6th 2007. Available at: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/italian_neorealism_rebuilding .[Accessed 19 November 2010]

Wallis, Tom., Pramaggiore, Maria. 2007. Film: A Critical Introduction. London:Laurence King. pp. 325-327.

Zavattini, Cesare. 1953. ‘Some Ideas on the Cinema’. In: R. Dyer MacCann ed. Film: A Montage of Theories. 1966. New York: Dutton,  pp. 216-228.

Filmography                  

The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, Produzioni De Sica, Italy, 1948)


Image Source:

‘’A father and son relationship: 'Antonio', 'Bruno' and the Fido Bicycle in The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948)” [online] Available at: http://gracchii.blogspot.com/2007/04/double-indemnity.html> [Accessed 20 November 2010].

Film Noir (13/11/10)

The University of Warwick Open Studies Certificate: ‘Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies’; Term 1 “1895-1950: The Birth and Development of Narrative Film"; Week 7 (13/11/10)


Film Noir: continued exploration of mood and atmosphere in black and white film

Flawed male protagonist, or the anti-hero, 'Walter Neff' (Fred MacMurray) and the femme  fatale 'Phyllis Dietrichson' (Barbara Stanwyck) in Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, USA, 1944)

This week as part of the Open Studies Certificate, we explored the American genre of Film Noir. We questioned the definition of Noir (is it a genre, a movement, visual style or a prevailing atmosphere?) and applied it to the films: The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941), Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) and Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947).  This was done over a 2 ½ hour illustration by Julia Larden.

The term, Film Noir, was coined in post-war France, with the flood of American crime film imports, by critic Nino Frank but we traced both its literary (the novel, detective fiction and ‘pulp’ fiction) and cinematic influences (German Expressionism, French Poetic Realism, Horror and Gangster films from 1930’s). We used David Bordwell’s definition of the genre to begin our investigation, though we mainly focused on the stylistic and thematic conventions and applied this to our previous study of German Expressionism. 

Prior to the session I had done some wider reading into the genre. Apart from usual sources (familiar books repeated throughout the bibliographies of this Certificate) I also had the chance to look through the sources posted on the module website:  ‘Noir’s Cars: Automobility and Amoral Space in American Film Noir’ (Osteen: 2008); ‘Border Crossings in Out of the Past and L.A. Confidential’ (Luhr: 1998); ‘X-Ray Visions: Radiography, Chiaroscuro, and the Fantasy of Unsuspicion in Film Noir’ (Manon: 2007); ‘Out of the Past, into the Supermarket: Consuming Film Noir’ (Dussere: 2006; ‘"The Birth of Venus" and The Death of Romantic Love in Out of the Past’ (Deutelbaum: 1987); ‘The Three Sam Spade’s: The Shifting Model of American Masculinity in the Three Films of The Maltese Falcon’ (Gates: 2008).  I may further invest in Andrew Spicer’s book, Film Noir (2002).


Interestingly, we briefly touched on how the male gaze (e.g. The Maltese Falcon, where Spade, Archer and the camera subjects ‘Miss Wunderly’) and the female masquerade (although this exact term was not used within the session) is evident in Film Noir. It was great to be able to able to have an initial reading of Laura Mulvey’s  ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ (1975) as I know I will be studied it in more depth with “Project 20: Gendering the Gaze”  (the Open College of the Arts – Visual Studies 1: Understanding Visual Culture).  I will definitely be exploring in more depth psychoanalysis’s role in the analysis of Film Noir.

I have previously engaged with this genre outside of this lecture through a BBC television season (which was both on BBC2 and BBC4: December 2009) and my study of German Expressionism and its influence on American Cinema in A2 Film Studies. Similar to the Open Studies Certificate, during A’ Level Film Studies we discussed Expressionism development into a stylistic trend and how its conventions were adopted for American genre filmmaking.

Rita Hayworth as the reluctant femme fatale, 'Gilda'. From Gilda (Charles Vidor, USA, 1946)

We discussed the conventions of Film Noir during AS Film Studies, applied to The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, USA, 1947), and then used this information, in light of our study of German Expressionism during our A2 year, and applied it to Gilda (Charles Vidor, USA, 1946).

The refraction of American in 1940’s evident through the social anxiety, especially the concept of threatened masculinity, (during and post the Second World War) that permeates onto the screen; I think an important area for further research is the influence of European émigrés on the genre. It would be a good to investigate key practitioners who would influence the visual and thematic design of the films (i.e. Directors, Cinematographers, Art Directors and even Composers). As a fan, I am obviously aware of Lang but it would be interesting to look into such individuals as Edgar Ulmer and Robert Siodmak. It would be also interesting to see the European influence on the American directors who contributed to the genre because of the hybrid nature of the medium.

An area that is also intriguing is the few films that what shot in the Noir style during the classic period (1940-1959) but instead of the conventionally using black and white, Technicolor was used instead.  For example: The Unholy Wife (John Farrow, RKO/Universal, USA, 1957) which stars Diana Dors (!).

Further Research to be conducted in relation to Film Noir:

• Sheri Chinen Biesen, “Hollywood in the Aftermath of Pearl Harbour,” in Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2005), 59-95.
•  Marc Vernet, “Film Noir on the Edge of Doom,” in Shades of Noir: A Reader, ed. Joan Copjec (London: Verso, 1993), 1-32.
• Claire Johnston, “Double Indemnity,” in Women in Film Noir, ed. E. Ann Kaplan, new ed. (London: British Film Institute, 1998), 89-98.
• Biesen, “Censorship, Hard-Boiled Fiction, and Hollywood’s ‘Red Meat’ Crime Cycle,” in Blackout, 96-12.
• Frank Krutnik, “Film Noir and America in the 1940s,” in In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity (London: Routledge, 1991), 56-72.

Bibliography

Bordwell, D., Staiger, J., Thompson, K. 1988.  The Classical Hollywood Cinema. London:  Routledge. pp. 74-77.

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2006. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 453-456.

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2009. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, pp. ‘Chapter 10: The Hollywood Studio System 1930-45’.

Copjec, Joan (ed.). 1993.  Shades of Noir: A Reader. Verso: London.

Deutelbaum, Marshall. 1987. “The Birth of Venus" and The Death of Romantic Love in Out of the Past. Literature/Film Quarterly, 15(3).

Dussere, Erik. 2006. Out of the Past, into the Supermarket: Consuming Film Noir. Film Quarterly, 60 (1).

Peterson, L.S., Place, J.A. 1974. Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir. In: B. Nichols ed. Movies and Methods, Volume 1. 1976. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 96-106, pp. 325-338.

Gates, Phillipa. 2008. The Three Sam Spade’s: The Shifting Model of American Masculinity in the Three Films of The Maltese Falcon. Framework: The Journal of Media and Film, 49(1).

Hayward, Susan. 1996. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 148-152.

Luhr, William. 1998. Border Crossings in Out of the Past and L.A.Confidential. Bilingual Review.

Luhr, William (ed.). 1955. The Maltese falcon: John Huston, director. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

Manon, Herbert.S., 2007. X-Ray Visions: Radiography, Chiaroscuro, and the Fantasy of Unsuspicion in Film Noir. Film Criticism, 32( 2).

Mulvey, Laura. 1975. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen, 16(3), pp. 6-18.

Osteen, Mark., 2008. The Noir’s Cars: Automobility and Amoral Space in American Film Noir. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 35(4).

Salt, Barry., 2009. Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis. 3rd ed. London: Starwood Press, ‘Chapter 17: Film Style and Technology in the 1940’s’ pp. 251-266.

Schatz, Thomas. 1988. The Genius of the System. London: Pantheon Books. pp. 308-11.

Wallis, Tom., Pramaggiore, Maria. 2007. Film: A Critical Introduction. London:Laurence King. pp. 382-386.


- Further films that I have viewed which may be said to belong to the Noir genre will be posted in the filmographies of ‘Cultural Activities’ posts.


Film Noir Filmography

The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, Security Pictures/Theodora Productions,  USA, 1955)

Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell, Columbia Pictures Corporation, USA, 1947)

Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, Paramount Pictures, USA, 1944)

Farewell My Lovely (Edward Dmytryk, RKO Radio Pictures, USA, 1944)

Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, Enterprise Productions/Roberts Pictures Inc, USA, 1948)

Gilda (Charles Vidor, Columbia Pictures Corporation, USA, 1946)

The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, Columbia Pictures Corporation, USA, 1947)

The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, Warner Bros. Pictures, USA,  1941)

Niagara (Henry Hathaway, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation,  USA, 1953)

On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, RKO Radio Pictures, USA, 1952)

Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, RKO Radio Pictures, USA 1947)

The Reckless Moment (Max Ophüls, Columbia Pictures Corporation, USA, 1949)

Stranger on the Third Floor (Boris Ingster,  RKO Radio Pictures, USA, 1940)

They Live By Night (Nicholas Ray, RKO Radio Pictures, USA, 1949)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA, 1946)


Billy Wilder Filmography

The Apartment (Billy Wilder, MGM, USA, 1960)

Avanti (Billy Wilder, Jalem Productions/Mirisch Corporation/ Phalanx Productions , Italy/USA, 1972)

A Foreign Affair (Billy Wilder, Paramount Pictures, USA, 1948)

The Front Page (Billy Wilder, Universal Pictures, USA, 1974)

Irma La Douce (Billy Wilder, Mirisch Corporation/Phalanx Productions , USA, 1963)

One, Two, Three (Billy Wilder, Mirisch Corporation/Pyramid Productions USA, 1961)

Sabrina (Billy Wilder, Paramount Pictures, USA, 1954)

The Seven Year Itch (Billy Wilder, Charles K. Feldman Group/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 1955)

Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, Ashton Productions/Mirisch Corporation, USA, 1959)

Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, Paramount Pictures, USA, 1950)

Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, Edward Small Productions, USA, 1957)

Image Sources:

‘' Flawed male protagonist, or the anti-hero, 'Walter Neff' (Fred MacMurray) and the femme  fatale 'Phyllis Dietrichson' (Barbara Stanwyck) in Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, USA, 1944) ' [online] Available at: http://gracchii.blogspot.com/2007/04/double-indemnity.html> [Accessed 17 November 2010]

‘' Rita Hayworth as the reluctant femme fatale, 'Gilda'. From Gilda (Charles Vidor, USA, 1946) ' [online] Available at: http://closetmelbourne.blogspot.com/2010/07/iconic-dress-rita-hayworth-in-gilda.html > [Accessed 17 November 2010]