1953-1957: The Swollen Story: World Cinema Bursting at the Seams
- Rebel Without a Cause (1955) dir. Nicholas Ray
- Contains use of widescreen and good color. James Dean’s emotions are “bursting at the seams”.
- Cairo Station (1958) dir. Youssef Chahine
- Chahine wrote, directed, and starred in this film, the first great African film. Portrayed sexual tension which was scorned by tradition and some peoples’ families. “Melodramatic, sexual, and about social justice…”.
- Paper Flowers (1959) dir. Guru Dutt
- One of the great Indian films. Contains a scene with a great beam of light and other great under lighting for characters.
- Raja Harishchandra (1913) dir. Dadasaheb Phalke
- A mythological film.
- Sant Tukaram (1936) dir. Vishnupant Govind Damle and Sheikh Fattelal
- Contains realistic scenes that predict Italian neo-realism.
- Pather Panchali (1955) dir. Satyajit Ray
- Great texture, tenderness. Showed a real Indian village, not an idealistic village.
- Apu’s (the main character’s) movements are relfected in the camera movements at times.
- Devi (1960) dir. Satyajit Ray
- About a girl whose father in law dreams that shes a goddess. Uses lighting and facial expression to make a lasting image of the actress’s face. Natural landscapes and soundscapes were exceptional.
- Mother India (1957) dir. Mehboob Khan
- Uses color to show different ideas, such as the brown of mud for work. Called the Indian ‘Gone with the Wind’ because of its romanticism.
- Two Stage Sisters (1964) dir. Xie Jin
- “A brilliant melodrama”. Everything is well placed. A painful drama.
- Ikiru (1952) dir. Akira Kurosawa
- Great use of long lense.
- Stray Dog (1949) dir. Akira Kurosawa
- Many of Kurosawa’s films are about the main character evolving without harming others.
- Seven Samurai (1954) (introduced in Episode 4) dir. Akira Kurosawa
- Shows the end of the era of the sword and the beginning of the era of the gun. Scenes are filmed with atmospheric affects, “the poetic rush of energy”.
- Throne of Blood (1957) dir. Akira Kurosawa
- Shows a nightmare quality in moving trees and a ghost like quality in a komono.
- The Godfather (1972) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
- Staccato death of a character, jerking.
- The Magnificent Seven (1960) dir. John Sturges
- Takes influence from Kurosawa.
- Limite (1931) (introduced in Episode 4) dir. Mário Peixoto
- Shows a woman’s freedom with a rising shot.
- Rio 40 Graus (a.k.a. Rio 100 Degrees F.) (1955) dir. Nelson Pereira dos Santos
- “Bold use of deep staging”. Influenced by neo-realism. Contains an innovative shift in story without the use of a cut.
- The Life of General Villa (1914) dir. Christy Cabanne
- Doña Bárbara (1943) dir. Fernando de Fuentes and Miguel M. Delgado
- Films Barabara from the ground when men in Mexican cinema are filmed from the sky.
- The Wild Bunch (1969) dir. Sam Peckinpah
- La perla (1947) dir. Emilio Fernández
- Great muscular story telling. A fisherman and his wife find a pearl which everyone else is jealous of, becoming a poison in their life. “Innovative combination of beaming light and dark human themes”.
- Los Olvidados (1950) dir. Luis Buñuel
- All That Heaven Allows (1955) dir. Douglas Sirk
- Reflects Eisenhower America: Middle class, christian. When the main character doesn’t live a life of charity work and tea talks and when she developed a relationship with her lower class next door neighbor, she is shunned by her friends. Attacks gloss, and fifties’ sexual sublimation.
- I’m a Stranger Here Myself (1975) dir. David Helpern
- Brought the sexuality of fifties America to a western. Added to the films political anger by having a female character with sexual deviance and seemingly fascist rants.
- Johnny Guitar (1954) dir. Nicholas Ray
- Freudian sexuality
- Fireworks (1947) dir. Kenneth Anger
- Showed that Freudian sexuality couldn’t be suppressed.
- Scorpio Rising (1964) dir. Kenneth Anger
- Combined masculine costumes with low-level costumes and rock and roll music. Would later be musically mimicked.
- Marty (television show) (1953) dir. Delbert Mann
- A lonely butcher asks a woman out by phone but his confidence is low. Character rather than gloss. Led to more character based films. One of the great method films. A method of acting were actors are told to access their fears and emotions then suppress them.
- Marty (1955) dir. Delbert Mann
- On the Waterfront (1954) dir. Elia Kazan
- Red River (1948) dir. Howard Hawks and Arthur Rosson
- Old and new cinema battled.
- Touch of Evil (1958) dir. Orson Welles
- Wide image lenses to make the imagery bulge. Hank is desperately lonely and obsessed with a woman.
- The Searchers (1956) dir. John Ford
- About a lonely man obsessed by his abducted niece.
- Vertigo (1958) (introduced in Episode 4) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
- An obsessed man over a dead woman. Puts the audience in the main characters driving seat.
- Rio Bravo (1959) (introduced in Episode 5) dir. Howard Hawks
- Filmed in warm colors.
- Great Expectations (1946) dir. David Lean
- Gothic and erotic
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962) dir. David Lean
- Hints that Lawerences attraction to Arabia was sexual to, very 50s.
- O Dreamland (1953) dir. Lindsay Anderson
- Working class people having fun at an amusement park. A hot subject filmed coolly. Conflicted a class room just like Britain itself.
- Battleship Potemkin (1925) (introduced in Episode 3) dir. Sergei Eisenstein
- Portrayed working class people as nobles.
- …And God Created Woman (1956) dir. Roger Vadim