Scarface (1983) dir. Brian De Palma remade modern version of the original movie, uses the same irony of the “The world is yours sign” as he dies
Western pictures were able to evolve from sound, they were almost the opposite of gangster pictures
Cameras moved, while in gangster pictures cameras were static, gangster pictures were about law breakers, while westerns were about sheriffs, westerns are about a new land while gangsters are bout the corruption of an old society
Comedies were feminized by the coming of sound
Twentieth Century (1934) dir. Howard Hawks both characters of this film hated each other, the actors were fast, the speed was unheard of
A feeble man, a brassy woman, the characters stand out from the background
Howard Hawks was incredibly influential, he created film icons still known today
LeRoy had soldiers marching in the rain, showing the theatricality of the military
A chorus girl leads the finale, singing about the men from the war. most hollywood films were from a man’s point of view, social comment in paired with choreography
Cartoons were the final genre able to come from sound
There had been cartoon for a while, but Walt Disney created animation as we know it today
Together, Disney and a dutch cartoonist created Mickey Mouse
Disney used a new technique, so that drawing were “photocopied” onto film, which gives the black lines around everything
Early Disney films had surrealism and were innovative, however these new ideas were lost to time
…And the Brilliance of European Film
The Blood of a Poet (1931) dir. Jean Cocteau was inspired by Picasso, they played with the set so gravity pulled in strange directions, and had ominous vocals behind it
Inception (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan was clearly influenced by this, the set was built in a barrel and spun for a gravity twisting effect
Jean Vigo made non-conforming films, showed rebellion
Zéro de conduite (1933) dir. Jean Vigo was about French boys ina boarding school rebelling, and was banned until the 1940s
L’Atalante (1934) dir. Jean Vigo about a woman who marries a man and joins him on his barge, and learns about the wonders of the world
People loved the beauty of the film, but wish ed for a more conventional story
Vigo was uninterested in plot, he wanted to show the emotion of the woman as she discovered beauty and joy in the world
Poetic-realist films came from the political instability of the surge of Nazi takeovers in Paris, it was a time of non-genre films
Le Quai des brumes (1938) dir. Marcel Carné is about a gloomy man in a gloomy world that attempts to find light, the use of light and shadow was poetic
Marcel Carné was one of the master filmmakers of Paris, a realist and a romantic
Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) dir. Marcel Carné this film was set in a care-free time of Paris, it’s a love story, and theatrical, unconventional and an escape for a time when Paris was under Nazi control
Jean Renoir was rather a humanist
His films were stories of humanity and society, his shots were simple, meant to show what is depicted
La Règle du jeu (1939) (a.k.a. The Rules of the Game) dir. Jean Renoir he shows that everyone has their own reasons for their good and bad, for it’s time period, this film was brave
German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was one of the innovative of the time
Das Blaue Licht (1932) dir. Leni Riefenstahl was a movie that she starred in, soft focus, self images cut between nature shots
Triumph of the Will (1935) dir. Leni Riefenstahl a documentary of sorts about the Nazi party, she filmed a Nazi rally, the marching and music, the images were geometric, grand
Attached cameras to balloons and dug others into the ground to be at the same level as athletes
Had zoom lenses so there was a feeling of intamacy with the athletes and the crowd
Reversed and changed divers motions before they hit water so they appeared to soar in the air
In London, ALfred Hitchcock was both a genre director and an innovator, one of the best of his time
Vertigo (1958) dir. Alfred Hitchcock the camera becomes the eye of his character through his windshield
Hitchcock had the opinion that films should not be about life, he cut everyday life out of his pictures
He was taught to prove the un-provable, which gave his films an otherworldly logic
Saboteur (1942) dir. Alfred Hitchcock a man appears out of a fire on the street, just fine. Hitchcock loved story miracles, and used them often
Sabotage (1936) dir. Alfred Hitchcock showed his understanding of fear, its presence in ordinary places and it’s difference from shock
He tells us many times that the package a boy carries is a bomb, and yet nothing stops it from happening, fear comes from us knowing, and they boy not
We had fear from the situation, but shock from the explosion
The 39 Steps (1935) dir. Alfred Hitchcock his use of close-ups was new, they added drama and significance to simple things, they act as “punctuation”
Marnie (1964) dir. Alfred Hitchcock rather than starting with establishing shots and coming closer, Hitchcock started close, then showed where you were in the world, he drowned you in the details
He used high shots as a tremolo, a way of showing the shock and tension of a scene
He also used ominous and detailed sounds to add tension to scenes, letting the sound take over the story
Some movies were about the fault in escapism
Ninotchka (1939) dir. Ernst Lubitsch was about a woman who fell in love and acted like a princess while life fell apart around her
The Wizard of Oz (1939) dir. Victor Fleming used color to show the changes of worlds, and the film questions the idea of escapism, with the famous line “there’s no place like home”
Gone with the Wind (1939) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Victor Fleming a woman starts in a fantasy world but steps into the reality of world, the woman is punished for her denial of tragedy, it attacks escapism