History Of Sound Film Final

Front 1

Paramount Decision

Back 1

After about 1912, Hollywood had basically formed a monopoly system in the film industry. The largest firms were vertically integrated, allowing smaller firms to show films in the large firm theaters when possible. Hard for independent films. Justice Dept. initiated lawsuit against big 5 (Paramount, Warner, MGM, 20th and RKO) and monopolistic practices in 1948, ultimately making companies sell their chains. Stop block-booking. Still dominant distribution.

Front 2

Red Channels

Back 2

Following the decisions of blacklists, House of Un-American Activists naming Hollywood personnel somehow affiliated with comm parties from 1947. List was pamphleted by "Counterattack." Listed 150 celebs that were named.

Front 3

Soyuzkino

Back 3

Discussion of the Soviets, when Soviet studios were under the trust of the Stalinized mode of production

Front 4

Machiko Kyo

Back 4

Legendary Japanese actress whose film work occurred primarily during the 1950s. She rose to extraordinary domestic praise in Japan for her work in two of the greatest Japanese films of the 20th century, Akira Kurosawa's Rashōmon and Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu.

Front 5

Boris Shumyasky

Back 5

Head of Soyukino, prompted the neorealism reaction through style, the bourgeois has to be vilified and demonized, best social realist film is Chapayev

Front 6

Chapayev

Back 6

Brothers Visivas directed
Based on a novel of a former solider who fought in the revolution
30 million people in the USSR had seen this film at one point
It’s the USSR’s first sound film

Front 7

Cinerama

Back 7

Cinema and Panorama to get people back into the cinemas--early 50's
TV is on the rise
"Around the world in 80 days"
t was able to achieve this by having three adjacent camera lenses expose three strips of film simultaneously. The theaters then showed the films on three mechanically interlocked projectors on a curved 146-degree screen. There were some problems with this technique as projectionists faced the risks of reel's breaking and falling out of synchronization and having odd images appear, resulting from the "blend lines" separating the three panels.

Front 8

OWI and film

Back 8

Office of War Information, by Roosevelt
coordinate the release of war news for domestic use in an effort to promote patriotism and warn about foreign spies, as well as launching a large scale propaganda campaign overseas with military.
Prestigious propaganda institution

Front 9

J. Parnell Thomas

Back 9

He was a Republican who chaired a House Un-American Activities Committee(HUAC) that set out to prove that the Screen Writers' Guild was dominated by communists in September 1947. This led to the outcasting of the "Hollywood Ten" screenwriters, who had been testified against for acts of Communism by people like Jack Warner, Gary Cooper, Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor and other important people in Hollwood. In the hearing, the writers were seldom allowed to speak their views in the biased courtroom and the ten were eventually cited for contempt of Congress. Although the hearings were suspended for 4 years, the screenwriters, were blacklisted by producers and had their careers in Hollywood destroyed because of the hearings. Shifted the focus to film industry.

Front 10

Waldorf Statement

Back 10

Eric Johnson of the Motion Picture Association of America at the Waldorf hotel with the help of the congress of the blacklist going forward, they said that “they would not hire communists”
On December 3, 1947
It was more of a symbol than anything else

Front 11

Harold Russell

Back 11

Non-actor, won an oscar for Best Years. Actual war veteran, disabled, biographical role

Front 12

Centro Sperimentale de Cinematografia

Back 12

One of the oldest films schools, in Rome, Prolific founders doing 100 films a year, Production influenced by Hollywood, Mussolini adamant

Front 13

Gabriel Figueroa

Back 13

World class cinematographer, deep focus projections of mexico, did Maria Candelaria

Front 14

White Telephon films

Back 14

Light to fair melodramas, best known was 1932 La Telephonista
The government said not to films that critiqued the government, so these films worked with that policy
They did dubbing to American films like Little Caesar to Little Richie to make Irish and not Italian

Front 15

Lupe Valez

Back 15

Important to Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. Nexus between the US and Mexico because of the good neighbor policy, worked in both countries

Front 16

Daniel McGovern

Back 16

Appoint to direct all WWII Filmmakers
Filmed the aftermath of the Atomic Bombs
Focused on the effect on humans
80 Reels, Kept locked away

Front 17

Agrasanchez Film Archive

Back 17

Really big film depistory located i the Rio Grande Valley of Texas
Moving imagery, posters, still images
Private collection of most from silent period until the 80's

Front 18

Los Olvidados

Back 18

Movie set in the slums of Mexico, exploited its harshness of life
Shot by Figeuroa, all deep focus
Was called Mexican neo-realism

Front 19

"Carmen Jones"

Back 19

A play turned into a film
Based on opera
Hary Belafonte, black cast

Front 20

"Let there be light"

Back 20

1946, by John Houston
Doc about 75 soilders who were disabled by WWII, Mostly shot on location in a Long Island Hospital
Supressed by the military but GOVT commissioned

Front 21

Why did Leni claim her film was NOT propaganda?

Back 21

Riefenstahl has defended the film, saying “If you see this film again today you ascertain that it doesn't contain a single reconstructed scene. Everything in it is true. And it contains no tendentious commentary at all. It is history. A pure historical film… it is film-vérité. It reflects the truth that was then in 1934, history. It is therefore a documentary. Not a propaganda film. Oh! I know very well what propaganda is. That consists of recreating events in order to illustrate a thesis, or, in the face of certain events, to let one thing go in order to accentuate another. I found myself, me, at the heart of an event which was the reality of a certain time and a certain place. My film is composed of what stemmed from that.”
Critiques refute, saying she was more than an observer
She said that it was a documentary that was to be taken as a beautiful art form. When she was asked more about this, her beliefs on the matter can be summed up with “how can you reject beautiful art?"

Front 22

Describe three strategies blacklisted writers used to find work. How did Norma and Ben Barzman manage to find work after being blacklisted?

Back 22

Some would create work with a psuedoname
Others would have front men
The remaining fled the US to settle in Europe and find work in film and TV there

Front 23

Opening scene of "Success" as a critique of the small screen?

Back 23

The opening scene is very self-reflexive. It contains various ad-like sequences that poke fun at the way they are targeted towards their specific demographic

Front 24

Deep focus in "Days of our Lives"

Back 24

-[in the middle of the film]

-In this particular shot, we see Al Stephenson meeting with one of the veterans who wants to be given a loan in order to start a small farm. In the deep focus shot, bank tellers can be seen in the background working with their costumers, as well as the scene between Al and the veteran.

-[near the end of the film]

There is one deep focus shot in particular where Peggy and Fred face each other at Homer/Wilma's wedding ceremony. The high-angled shot is composed of the attendees and participants of the wedding procession. We see the back of the back of Peggy's head and Fred's face--attentively starring at each other.

Front 25

2 events of examples that occur in the film and not in the movie

Back 25

In the novel Indians play with Martha's severed hand and in the film they do not. The film portrays the Indians as more humane than in the novel.

When witnessing the destroyed Indian village in the novel Ethan makes a speech that the cavalry shouldn't shoot women and children and in the film he merely observes the obstruction. In the novel Ethan also never wants to kill Debbie, just rescue her, and in the film he points a gun at her. He also believes she is dead at one point in the novel, whereas in the film he knows she is alive and offers all of his possessions to Martin because he doesn't consider himself as having any family anymore.
Ford made changes to make Ethan more unrelenting, racist, and less admirable- a psychologically damaged hero.

Front 26

The 3 types of footage in "The Maelstrom" and examples

Back 26

Found-footage by Peter Forgacs, shot in Netherlands before and during WWII telling the story of the Peerbooms. Jewish family living at first unknowingly in the shadow of the holocaust.
1. Peereboom home videos by Max; daily life, first at weddings, wedding anniversary, and of the youngest son.
2. Peerboom's home videos of historical events, like the Queen's forty year jubilee.
3. The Maelstrom interweaves newsreels and contemporaneous home movies shot by the Nazi governor-general of Holland into a devastating firsthand account of one family’s tragic fate.

Front 27

Vertov's techniques and two themes to express his critique of certain institutions and activities?

Back 27

The first movement thematically depicts the elimination of the old, detritus, (specifically religion and alcoholism) to make way for the revolutionary spirit. Techniques utilized to capture the impeding nature of religion and alcoholism include low upwardly-tilted camera angles which present the church in an ominous, oppressive manner and, accompanying the images of stumbling alcoholics outside of the church, the use of sound montage and caterwauling captures the destructive nature of pre-Revolutionary times. Further examples of techniques utilized in the film include reverse motion, multiple exposures, quick intercutting, and camera rotation. These techniques were utilized to depict the exhilerating "newness" and potential accompanying the Revolution.

Front 28

The 3 Shots from Rome, Open City like a "city school"

Back 28

First scene: German soldiers marching through the dark street in Rome, singing a German song. A huge stone building rises from the shadows, giving a sense of of horror. Exterior
Final Scene: Kids looking at Rome's cityscape, with St. Peters prominently featured, after the city is taken by the nazis. Repeatedly shows the buildings.
Pina is shot and killed by the soldiers. After a nazi raid, Francesco is being taken away and as she runs down the street after him they shoot her. Scenes of the dirty street, crowded, death in the middle of the road. Broken archways

Front 29

What are two sources that led to the film "Best Years"

Back 29

TIME article and McKinley Kantor
Goldwyn's wife was motivated by his wife's reading of a Time article about the hardships experienced by war veterans returning to civilian life.
Goldwyn hired former war correspondent McKinley Kantor to write the story, first as a novel "Glory for me" then Sherword wrote the screenplay

Front 30

2 factors that contributed to the increased production of Mexican films?

Back 30

Actors, actresses, and directors became popular icons and even figures with political influence on diverse spheres of Mexican life. The industry received a boost as a consequence of Hollywood redirecting its efforts towards propagandistic films and European countries focusing on the war, which left an open field for other industries. Mexico dominated the film market in Latin America for most of the 1940s without competition from the United States film industry.
The government exempted the industry from income taxes and created the National Film Bank to help finance production. During this time protectionism tightened in Mexico regarding cinema (duties were imposed on imported films to protect domestic industries), boosting the economy and furthering the importance of religion and nationalism during Mexico’s Golden Age.

Front 31

Characterize the turmoil between the two brothers and how Cass portrays them in the film.

Back 31

There were moral and ethical tension between the two; Harry was characterized as sensible and sincere while Jack was definitely more noticeable, considered the front man. While Cass argues that she wanted to portray her relative fairly, although Jack is definitely played out as the antagonist to Harry's moral character. Cass uses anecdotes of the brother's lifestyles to provide evidence for her argument, including the postcard found in Jack's handwriting describing his regrettable actions.

Front 32

Ugetsu: analyze a sequence in the film that seems to be about several historical periods and performance traditions at one and the same time.

Back 32

he film Ugetsu is a jidai-geki (historical film) based on two eastern stories from 1776 and a western story from 1903. Mizoguchi tied together different historical times, different levels of reality, different performance traditions, and male and female subjectivity. All of this can be tied into the scene when Lady Wakasa, the ghost, is singing to Genjuro before the marriage. The actress began her career in theater, and was known for such. In the Noh theater tradition, she sings to him and dances. Also, the space of the house is characteristic of Noh theater (Notes: 03/05-03/10). The ghost element of her father, and really Lady Wakasa, beckons the time Genjuro’s story is taken from. It represents the effects of war on the common people. Lady Wakasa leans in and kisses Genjuro at the end of the scene, which was something forbidden by Japanese tradition. But, because of the U.S. occupiers pushing modernization, the kissing scene on film represents a dramatic shift from old Japanese customs and shows a social conscience willing to allow such displays for all to see of contemporary Japan. While this seems like a dramatic shift, it is more of an adaptation of prior practices that Noel Burch’s article in the course reader calls the “fixative effect” of Japanese copying and adapting practices for themselves. Burch talks about how no Japanese artistic style ever really died; Japanese art is not one of succession but one of superimposition.

Front 33

Representation of television in Good Morning and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. How are these filmic representations of the television medium expressive of the fears and/or potentialities of the ascendance of the television industry in the 1950s?

Back 33

During the emergence of the television era, the film industry was worried, "caught snoozing." Movie attendance starts to dwindle in '49. Theaters try to attract viewers through widescreen ('50-'52), Censors reduced in '52.
GOOD MORNING
Directed by Ozu, Two boys desperately want the television, go on speaking strike. Dad says it will produce a village of 100 idiots.
TV changes both physical and social aspects of community.
No antagonistic look, rather the inevitability of the emerging medium
SUCCESS
Directed by Tashlin.
Spoof on the medium and condescending attitude towards
consuming and TV
Fear of what TV has become
Immediacy of TV news
People are packaged and sold like products
Middle of the film PAUSE like commercial

Front 34

Discuss in some detail certain of the technological developments through which the film industry aimed to compete with the television industry (at the same time that the two industries were allying themselves with one another as they did in so many ways).

Back 34

Color Filmmaking
A large increase in the development of and use of color film was sparked by its clear difference from the appearance of television’s black and white programming in the early 1950s
Technicolor
Elaborate three strip, dye-transfer process (was originally perfected in the 1930s); had market monopoly- forced to distribute their film technology wider, as to not discriminate against smaller, independent production companies
Ceased to be a camera stock in 1955
Eastman Color- monopack (single strip) color film (introduced in 1950)
Could be exposed in any camera and was easy to develop
The simplicity of the monopack emulsion helped to increase the overall amount of films shot in color
Lacked Technicolor’s saturation, transparent shadows, and detailed textures
Many directors believed Eastman’s film to look better in widescreen
Tended to fade over time
Widescreen processes
1952-1955: many widescreen processes were introduced/ revived
Cinerama
3 projector system that created a multipaneled image (1952)
CinemaScope
Less elaborate widescreen process
Became one of the most popular widescreen systems because it utilized conventional 35mm film and fairly simple optics
Virtually all studios adopted the system; Paramount kept using VistaVision (its own system)
Other innovations (novelties)
Stereoscopic/ 3-D films
Natural Vision- required 2 strips of film to be shown atop the other; viewer wore polarized glasses
AromoRama & Smell-O-Vision
Appeared in 1958—largely negative response, seen as a novelty