Film Noir, meaning “black film’ in French, was the trending style and genre in American culture between the 1940s and the 1950s. It is a combination of European cynicism and the American landscape. Film Noir has its origins from German Expressionism and French Poetic Realism. Nino Frank, who was a French film critic, was the first to introduce this black and white genre to Hollywood in 1946. Many of the directors who introduced Film Noir where refugees from Nazi, Germany. From that moment in time, it became a popular genre for all films being produced in Hollywood. It became a popular genre because it managed to create a plot with excessive visual and urban style, and a sense of ambiguity. Plots of Noir films are composed of some kind of murder…
Social crisis- Kaiser and traditional authority rejected, democracy seen as way forward but only experimented with rather than fully integrated…
Throughout the entire movie, violence and action are depicted in some shape or form. This is also intensified with the use of camera angle, setting, and special effects. There are also many themes that surround the film, which propel the plot further, such as betrayal and trust. Moreover, the story consists of a group of criminals who are on a job to rob diamonds, however when cops arrive at the location, this causes accusations to run rampant.…
This film takes place during the time of WW2. It shows how some families didn’t even know what their husbands were doing in the war. It also shows what goes on in their homes and how the soldiers treated the Jews. Also near the end it depicts the inside of the camp. It shows that the Jews really didn’t know what was going to happen to them when they went to go get gassed.…
Casablanca is a romance and drama film that was released in the United States (US) in 1942. The captivating wartime film is about two men vying for the love a woman. It is also a political film that highlights Morocco during the Second World War. Casablanca was produced by Warner Brothers and directed by Michael Curtiz one of Hollywood’s most creative and brilliant directors in that period. Casablanca has the perfect combination of intrigue, suspense, romance, and drama that captivates the audience from beginning to end. This is because of the combination of special characters in the film.…
Film Noir is most often seen as a man’s world- the hard boiled detective is the ultimate…
Sister James and Sister Aloysius play a very important role in John Patrick Shanley’s movie Doubt, which is about the mistrust that takes place in a school directed by the church on priest Flynn command. There, sister Aloysius is the principal, so she is in charge of the student’s rights and responsibilities. On the other hand Sister James is a history teacher. Both characters are important for their way of handling the doubt.…
When we study texts comparatively, the influence of context on various forms of speculative fiction allows us to gain a greater insight into humanity. Through this comparison, we begin to better understand the deindividualisation of society that occurs under corrupt economic and political systems. In other words, we better comprehend how humans lose their sense of self at the hand of oppressive governments who wish to unify society as one. Fritz lang’s, Metropolis, composed in 1927 aims to warn Germany's middle-class society not involved in political or economic affairs of the poverty, conflict and fears of the future. Lang harnesses German expressionism throughout the film to portray a futuristic reality in which the ending conveys positive…
The film is based on the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman, this is a true story of what this man went through during Hitler’s reign. I feel like the plot of this film immediately sets it up to convey the information in a factual but emotive way, although because it is a memoir it also leaves it open to withhold a lot of information that might not be know and because they didn’t want to make parts of the story up they left the audience with quite a few unanswered questions.…
"Lights! Camera! Action!" the dramatic yet traditional prompt associated with Hollywood and the pictures. Hollywood appears to be this extraordinary glamorous world; however, in reality is it? Many people dream of being in the limelight of Hollywood; where there is an endless amount of money, power, and fame. Society fails to examine what's behind fame; the dark, twisted, and the ugly truths hiding within those exact words. Billy Wilder explores and divulges the dark yet unknown, harsh realities of fame, following Hollywood's transition from silent pictures to talkies; with his film Sunset Boulevard.…
Crime is a genre that often times follows an often times intelligent, malicious criminal. Sometimes it follows the criminal chronologically and sometimes is follows the criminal through their victims. But simply following this generic guideline does not define a crime movie, there are defining factors that make a crime movie. In order for a crime movie to be effective it must have a criminal with a motive. A criminal and his motive are important for a criminal movie to have because it a lot of times serves as the basis for the movie to build on. The next important criteria is a setting, a proper setting enables the movie to invoke a subliminal feeling before the movie incorporates…
In the movie “Bernie”, we follow the story and between a Carthage, Texas funeral director Bernie Tiede, and his co-dependent relationship with a wealthy widow, Marjorie Nugent. As “Bernie” unfolds, we see the companionship turn for the worse as Ms. Nugent’s ill-temper causes Bernie to snap – and lands her dead in her freezer. This movie brings up some questions, specifically regarding image. After analysis, the question I keep coming back to is “Was Bernie genuine and sincere? Or was it all a façade?” Although Bernie committed a horrible crime, I believe the answer to this question is “yes”- Bernie was a genuine man.…
The film Metropolis is a unique film. If one thinks about the time in which the film was made and then thinks of how little technology was available to the film industry, they would see how awesome the film truly is. A specific scene that had two camera angles involved in it was when Maria was saving all the children from the flooding. It was filmed with a crane, but it also moved around her on a dolly to show all the children gathering around her. This scene involved two common camera shots that are usually combined during filming of films. A pan shot occurred during the film when Maria walks out with the boys and the camera zooms in on her face as she talks to Freder and the other people in the scene, then zooms out to show how the scene…
German Expressionism is a unique film style that came out of Weimer Germany, the period between World War I and World War II. It focused mainly on the visual aspects on the screen meant to express emotions that trigger more personal reactions from the audience. According to David Hudson, German expressionism was an exploration "into juxtaposing light and shadow" as well as madness and obsession in an urban setting complete with complex architectural structures. When Fritz Lang's Metropolis was released in 1927, Luis Buñuel wrote that, "if we look instead to the compositional and visual rather than the narrative side of the film, Metropolis exceeds all expectations and enchants as the most wonderful book of images one can in any way imagine" (Hudson). The narrative is supported by the visual images, but more importantly, they are also credited for creating it. It is a feast for the eyes and the imagination. Mise-en-scene is the composition or everything that is visible within the frame. In this paper I will show how Metropolis was impacted by mise-en-scene in the following ways: setting, staging, lighting, and costumes .…
The Glass Menagerie is a play of a family who is incredibly unstable. The play is about many other things, however the childlike minds of the main characters are a main point of the film. Each character of the film is caught within their own fantasy. Their inability to stay in reality hurts each character differently. Restoration is not actually attained in this film, however there was a desire from the mother, Amanda, for restoration. This movie is not a good depiction of restoration because no restoration actually takes place. A simple definition of restoration is putting things back to the way they were. Laura has always been aloof and crippled, and Tom never seemed to be interested in the reality in front of him so there is nothing to put back. Amanda is however trying to recreate her youth through the many reminiscing’s of her past the forcing of Laura to get gentlemen callers, and the nagging of Tom to stay home are Amanda’s way of trying to seek restoration. Although incredibly flawed, Amanda does try her best for the people she loves, Tom and Laura. Her feeble attempts at restoration only show that care that she has for her family even though her the way she shows it is flawed.…