You're majoring in computer science and one of those darned general education requirements you had to take was History of Film 101.

 

Oh well, you think. It'll be easy. I'm a big movie buff...I've seen all the Kevin Smith movies and I can recite pages of Quentin Tarantino dialogue from memory. Heck, I've even seen a couple of the movies that were on the AFI list, like The Godfather and Star Wars. Plus all we have to do is watch movies. This'll be easy, right?

 

Until that first day when you find out the first four weeks of the course will focus on silent film. And some guy named W.D. Griffin, or something like that. Not to mention a Russian movie about a battleship with lots of people running down steps at one point, which is supposed to be the paragon of montage film editing but looks less impressive to you than your average MTV music video. And all these other names...and films...and terms...

It's only the end of the second week and you're not sure if you can even keep going to midterms.

 

Well, fear not. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed. True, History of Film is an incredibly complex, complicated art form with literally thousands and thousands of films that should be seen, along with literally hundreds of filmmakers worthy of note, and twice as many actors, actresses and other names that should be mentioned. Films from countries you can't even find on a map...

 

But don't worry. Unless you're in a major film school, chances are the farthest out you'll go in foreign film is the Soviet montage editing of POTEMKIN, or maybe the post-war neorealism films from Italy, like THE BICYCLE THIEF. You may even hit on a few major French films while you're there.

 

But the truth is, most history of film classes are notoriously ethnocentric, fortunately(?) Plus, they focus on the standard "Great People" approach to history. You know, like American history is basically Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Kennedy? Well, film is very much the same way (in the classroom, that is).

 

This page is designed to help you maneuver through the information and stay on a clear course for what you really need. Even though I personally think all history of film courses should include information on the Czech New Wave, I understand most of you would disagree with me there. Professors will heap on lots of information; the key is to "cut through the crap", so to speak, and not get all tangled up in the theoretical claptrap like the auteur theory (The what theory? Don't worry, we'll get to that).

 

This section will be broken up into subtopics detailing the major points you will hit on the journey through History of Film 101.

 

UPDATE:

OK...so here's the plan. I didn't have this up and running in time for Fall 04.

In serving as a guide, I have decided I have to keep this section fairly general. In most colleges, there is a history of film class that focuses on the major portions of film history, usually with a good dose of foreign films.

The type of course I'm outlining here will include 12 sections as you would find in a college class. However, I'm sticking only to American film on this one. Many colleges offer History of American film (even if its just called History of Film) as the introductory level class. I could write out a guide for History of French films of the Cahiers du Cinema filmmakers of the 1950s, but that would be getting too specific.

For all intents and purposes, what follows is the new outline of the basic History of American Film. It starts out with an intro, moves into silent film, transition to sound, the studio years (with emphasis on genre study), the 1950s-independent turnaround, and finally the years following the studio system collapse to the current filmmakers (roughly 1964 up to 1976).

In each section I will include recommended readings (and documentaries when applicable), as well as representative films.

Keep in mind, this is somewhat broad. The Studio Years section in particular will cover alot, including the history of censorship, the movie moguls, the star system, and the different prevalent genres, followed by two sections devoted strictly to studying genres, and one on the major filmmakers of the pre-auteur era.

 

Sections:

The Early Years (1890-1908)

D.W. Griffith

Silent Film, Part 1

Silent Film, Part 2

The Transition to Sound/Studio Era, Part 1

The Studio Era, Part 2

Comedy

Musical

Horror

Western

Film Noir

The Postwar Years and 1950s

The Rise of the Auteur

 

Additional Resources for Foreign Films:

The Early French Film/Early British Narrative Films

The Italian Epic

Soviet Montage

The German Studio Era

Spain

France

Post-war Italy

The French New Wave

The German New Cinema

India

The Czech New Wave

Sweden and Denmark

Japan