Lecture Notes

CTCS 200
11.29.10

I. Film noir
A. “The moral ambivalence, criminal violence, and contradictory complexity of the
situations and motives all combine to give the public a shared feeling of anguish
or insecurity, which is the identifying sign of film noir at this time”
B. 1951: Debut issue of influential French film journal Cahiers du Cinema
1. Renewed appreciation of film criticism
2. Rise of film journals and film festivals
3. New trends in international film of art cinema
II. Art Cinema
A. Key factors in the rise of Art Houses and Art Cinema
1. 1948 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling (“The Paramount Decision”)
a. Movie studiosʼ ownership of theaters constitutes a
monopoly
b. Studios forced to divest theater division
c. Forbids block-booking
d. Studiosʼ response: decrease production
e. Empowers independent movie theaters and independent movie
theater chains
f. Programming of theaters more open to competition
i. Films sold on film-by-film basis
ii. Opens competition to foreign film distributors
g. Affects production code -- seal doesnʼt mean as much because
independent theater owners will show what they want (actually
increases controversy in the 1950s)
i. Legion of Decency still operating, condemning many
foreign films
ii. But in general these films are flourishing in art houses
2. Many art films in 1950s pre-financed by American distributors
3. Art theaters in America
a. 1950: 80
b. 1963: 450
B. Art cinema vs. modernist cinema vs. Classical Hollywood
1. Modernist cinema (extreme examples, avant garde)
a. Minimal or no use of characters
b. Emphasis on pure film style over narrative factors (characters,
scenes, etc)
c. Non-narrative: style structures connections
d. Self-reflexive
e. Purity of medium
f. Foregrounds style
2. Classical Hollywood (narrative) cinema
a. Characters psychologically defined, goal-oriented
 b. Characters clear-cut traits & objectives
c. Clear links structure narratives
d. Action
e. Naturalism dictated by genre (verisimilitude, generically
appropriate)
f. “Invisible” style
3. Art cinema -- blend of modernist and classical narrative cinema
a. Characters lack defined goals and desires
b. Psychologically complex, ambiguous characters
c. Episodic, elliptical structure
d. Reaction/reflection
e. Realism: real locations and real problems
f. Authorial expressivity (directorʼs style)
III. The Third Man (1949) -- exhibits qualities of direction international film is taking
A. International co-production: American-British
B. British creators: Graham Greene (writer) & Carol Reed (director)
1. Fantastically complex thriller
2. Complicated political and moral issues related to post-WWII
environment
3. Demonstrates dual aspirations of Greene
C. Blend of art cinema and popular cinema
D. Shooting on location
E. Wild canted angles start to push stylistic excess beyond Hollywood
conventions
1. Won Academy Award for cinematography
2. Balances real locations with expressivity in camera angle and lighting
3. High contrast
4. Pushing film stock
5. Hose down streets to reflect light and provide clarity at night
F. Unusual soundtrack
1. Not orchestrated
2. Atmospheric music that relates to place
3. Excessive and at times ironic
4. Zither music
G. Early indicator of where filmmakers will push their medium and the
relationship between modernism and Hollywood in the 1950s
H. Critique of America
1. Holly an American writer who bumbles his way through suspense thriller
with continual assistance by British officers
2. Also self-reflexive in sense that they consistently refer to his novels
throughout the film and contrast the occurrence of certain events in the
narrative with the delusions that occur in his novels -- Carol Reed even
reads the narration
3. Role of culture for Popular Front as addressing populism rather than
elitism of modernism
 4. Reflection on the war and also on Fascism, but much more complex
and cynical view on drive to spread democracy and international relations
after the war
a. Large sections of film in different language and not translated
b. Sees WWII as lingering effect that changed the world and might
be blocking international relations
5. Imbued with nostalgia for the past
a. Vienna a cultured city but in ruins
b. Is culture itself not really a salvation for rise of Fascism?
i. Villain is cultured but fascist
ii. Holly Martin not particularly astute
I. Enduring influence of Expressionism
A. Silhouette, backlighting used to isolate a figure
B. Rather than extreme form of painting on set, Reed adheres to central
properties of medium itself by using the camera to interpret the scene
while shooting a real location
J. Commercial success now determined by segmented market (art house), as is
the case today