Abstract This paper discusses the films, "Vertigo" and "Psycho" by Alfred Hitchcock portraying Hitchcock's penchant for duality. The writer explains how Hitchcock makes clear that the essence of suspense is the permanent struggle between the obvious and what could be. The paper illustrates the duality evident in "Vertigo" - the struggle between life and death; and that in "Psycho" - the evaluation of openness and mystery.
From the Paper "For many, the name Alfred Hitchcock conjures hazy and disconnected memories of Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Rio, Tippi Hedren being chased by killer birds, or Jimmy Stewart in a wheelchair; but for others"those that are somewhat more experienced with the work of Hitchcock"the utterance of his moniker means much more. Indeed, many consider Hitchcock to be not only one of the most prolific and entertaining filmmakers, but also one of the most profound. A recurring"and certainly intriguing"motif that holds together his body of work is his incessant interest and portrayal of duality: the conflicting, yet in some ways similar, nature of life. That is to say, Hitchcock (and no other, on as prestigious a level) was able to brilliantly compare, reduce, and then reevaluate polar opposites that every human encounters. Love or hate, man or woman, privacy or voyeurism, and dishonesty or fidelity were just some of the many themes he unraveled in the stories and aesthetics of his films. Two such films"with particular interest as each illustrates by movement, mise-en-scen, and narrative strategy, Hitchcock's penchant for duality"are Vertigo, in which he juxtaposes the archetypal struggle between life and death, and Psycho, where he dabbles in the much more complex evaluation of openness and mystery."
Tags: cinema, movies, mystery, filmmaking, carlotta, madeleine, scottie, norman, marion
Abstract A discussion of interpersonal communication based on the movie ?American Beauty.? The objective being to identify ways that interpersonal communication theory is understood within the context of the film. Application of three theories from Steven Beebe's "Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others" are explored: assertiveness, emphatic listening and responding skills, and emotional contagion theory.
From the Paper ""American Beauty" is the story of American suburbia, the lives behind closed doors. Lester Burnham is a middle-aged man facing a middle-aged crisis in a middle-class neighborhood. He sums up his life in the beginning of the movie when he says, "In less than a year I"ll be dead. . . in a way I"m dead already" (American 1999). His wife, Caroline, is a struggling real estate agent obsessed with success and status. His daughter, Jane, comes across as the typical teenager, filled with anger, resentment, and embarrassment for her parents. The story's theme is Lester's transformation from passiveness to assertiveness (Beebe 270-271)."
Abstract The author states that the movie "Singin" in the Rain?, an all American musical classic, is regarded as the best musical on film.
The paper describes the story line, main characters, conflict and theme. The author discusses the cinematography techniques and special effects. The paper reviews the movie form the aspects of American history and culture expressed in the film and the author's personal reaction to the film. The emphasis of the paper is cultural history.
From the Paper "The movie is tongue-in-cheek and even without the musical numbers would still be a classic comedy. However, Gene Kelly singing and dancing to the song "Singin" in the Rain? is an all-time movie scene classic and it's unimaginable to think of the movie without it. His dance routines with Cyd Charisse, although perhaps not movie classics, are quite memorable and sensual. They are worth watching if only to awe at Charisse. O?Connor shines as Kelly's comedic studio musician sidekick."
Abstract This paper examines Orson Well's classical film "Citizen Kane". It illustrates how Wells made the camera an active part of the dialogue and plot through photographic and cinematographic methods. The author claims that the integration of sound and camera work make the story first person as seen through the eyes of the viewer. The paper describes how this revolutionary film brought the viewer out of the theater seat and onto the screen.
From the Paper "Citizen Kane represented a breakthrough in cinematography at the time of its release. Filmed in 1941, it launched the career of Orson Wells. It helped to define Orson Well's unique style, which later became his trademark. Orson Wells collaborated with Herman J. Mankiewicz on the script. However, it was the cinematography of Gregg Toland that made the film a memorable masterpiece. Until this time, the use of shadows, camera angle, depth of shot and focus presented characters in a non-personal way. The camera stayed in one place and the actors moved in front of it. In" Citizen Kane", Orson Wells made the camera an active part of the dialogue and plot. In this way the photography in "Citizen Kane" became an integral part of the artistry in the movie. The photography in Citizen Kane could be viewed as stand?alone art. The use of the camera in Citizen Kane makes the audience a participant in the film, not a mere observer. They become a character in the film themselves through the camera."
Abstract This paper discusses sound editing in the movie "Amadeus". Background sounds and music are shown to be used to signal shifts in time or location, or to help guide the viewer's attention to the most important feature of the scene. The absence of sound is used as well. Examples from the film are given to demonstrate these tools.
From the Paper "The movie opens with the sounds of Antonio Salieri's attempted suicide, after he shouts his confession that he contrived to make Mozart die. The suicide attempt is experienced auditorally only ? his confession, his scream, his fall to the floor. This pivotal opening action in the movie occurs only by sound effects. This is a foreshadow of just how important sound effects will be in this movie.
"In a scene shortly following that one, a priest enters the madhouse. As he moves through, the piano can barely be heard, gradually becoming louder, under the sounds of the inmates. The sound of the piano, which plays ordinary and pedantic music compared to Mozart?s, demonstrates Salieri's frustration at his comparative lack of talent, and sets up the scene with the priest where Salieri tries to get the priest to recognize at least one of his pieces."
Tags: Mozart, Salieri, suicide, music, time, location, attention, feature
Abstract This paper considers how Hollywood and the entire movie industry were affected by the "Red Scare" i.e. communist paranoia from 1947-1954. It looks at how screenwriters, directors and actors were blacklisted for no reason and how some of these people did not work in Hollywood for over a decade as a result. It examines how fear swept through tinsel town and how many jobs, as well as friendships were lost. It also looks at how the film industry grew as many Hollywood studio executives defended themselves by producing a slew of anti-Communist movies.
From the Paper "The House of Un-American Activities Committee, HUAC, had existed in the 1920's and 1930's during the first Red Scare in American history, but had faded away during World War II. It had not been held in very high regard and really had not had much affect (Red pg). However, in 1947, under the leadership of Representative Parnell Thomas, R-NJ, the HUAC was brought back to life with three definite goals. First, the HUAC was determined to prove that the Screen Writers? Guild had been heavily infiltrated by Communists. Second, it intended to prove that the writers could and would insert subversive Communist propaganda into movies. And third, it aimed to show that during World War II, Hollywood had purposely produced pro-Soviet films (Red pg)."
Tags: cold, war, america, mccarthyism, tinsel, town
From the Paper "The movie Philadelphia was something of a surprise hit when it opened in December 1993, since it broke many of the "rules" for commercial success. The subject matter was considered a "downer," being about a man dying of AIDS, a subject that had failed at the box-office before. The film took an appealing and well-liked leading man--Tom Hanks--and showed him deteriorating form the ravages of the disease. The film was also serious in a season usually geared more to Christmas comedies, thrillers, and science fiction. Yet, there were also elements in the mix of the film that are often appealing to the audience, such as the portrayal of an underdog fighting back at the system and winning. The film gives a clear indication of whom the audience is to root for, though this is tempered always with the reality that the main character will die. The case..."
From the Paper "Italian neorealism developed as a particular form of cinematic expression during the period when Italy was ruled by the Fascists. One of the best-known of what would be called the neo-realist approach to film was Roberto Rossellini's Open City (1945), and many of the characteristics of the movement were evident in this film. These films had an anti-establishment, revolutionary attitude. They had an extemporaneous, documentary quality enhanced in the early era by the materials from which they were made--war-time film stock, cobbled-together equipment, non-professional actors, and location shooting. Open City is a good example of this early period in neorealism, while Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief (1948) is an expression of the fully developed tradition from the period after the expulsion of the fascists and after the end of World War II. Luchino Visconti's..."
From the Paper "Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige (1993) was one of the rare Chinese films that has made its way to Western audiences. it was acclaimed by Western critics and received awards from various critics organizations. The film also represented a shift in artistic opportunities in China. The film is an opportunity for Westerners to see inside China today, to appreciate the state of Chinese filmmaking, and to gain a different view of humanity from a filmmaker who has a strong command of the medium.
The story of the film covers a long period in Chinese history. The film begins with a prologue in which two of the main characters are preparing for a farewell performance of their best theatrical vehicle, a piece called "Farewell My Concubine." They are stage performers in the Beijing Opera, and much of the spectacle in the film derives from the way the opera in China is..."
From the Paper " One of the most potent and influential film styles has been labeled the film noir by certain French critics who noticed a stylistic shift in American films in the 1940s. As Paul Schrader notes with reference to a statement by Raymond Durgnat, film noir is not a genre and is not defined in terms of conventions of setting and conflict. Instead, it is defined by the subtler qualities of tone and mood and is also defined by its time period:
In general, film noir refers to those Hollywood films of the forties and early fifties that portrayed the world of dark, slick city streets, crime and corruption (Schrader 170).
Of course, there is more to the mood of the film noir than the external evidence of wet city streets and crime, and film noir.."
Abstract "Martin Scorsese's film GoodFellas (1990) is an examination of the criminal lifestyle in America. Director Scorsese uses the techniques of film to good advantage in shaping the story to keep every element fresh.
From the Paper "Martin Scorsese's film GoodFellas (1990) is an examination of the criminal lifestyle in America. Director Scorsese uses the techniques of film to good advantage in shaping the story to keep every element fresh. He builds an overall impression of the activities of organized crime, and shapes a different film experience in a genre that has been addressed many times with varying results by other filmmakers in the past. Drugs are part of the criminal lifestyle presented in the film both as a commodity to be distributed and sold and as a substance used by the criminals themselves. They may use drugs in order to flout convention, make themselves feel good, or deaden their fears about the world they have created. The film uses the story of one particular criminal to comment on the whole criminal enterprise and in a larger sense to comment on aspects of ..."
Compares styles, plot emphases, characterizations, atmosphere, design, the setting of the 1948 Laurence Olivier, the 1990 Franco Zeffirelli and the 1996 Kenneth Branagh versions.
2,700 words (approx. 10.8 pages), 7 sources, 1999, $ 95.95
From the Paper "Film critics point out from time to time how much the director brings to a film and that if two directors were given the same script to shoot, the results would be very different. Filmmakers are almost never given the same script to shoot, but an exception can be found in plays based on Shakespeare where the same essential script is indeed used and where decisions regarding such elements as costume and set design along with visual style can produce works with very different attitudes based on the same initial material. This can be seen in three versions of Hamlet, the Laurence Olivier version from 1948, the Franco Zeffirelli version from 1990, and the Kenneth Branagh version from 1996. The films have very different "looks" as well as giving emphasis to different aspects of the plot, the characterizations, and other elements, and watching the three ..."
Abstract This essay is on the 1950 movie "Sunset Boulevard". It especially focuses on the role that the dead Joe Gillis - narrator of the story - tells. Without Joe as Sunset Boulevard's narrator ,the film would have never had such a dark and devouring after taste. The essay explains in what ways Joe Gilles tells the story and the effects Joe has on the story - what would have been different if Joe hadn't told the story.
From the Paper "Many believe that Sunset Boulevard, directed by Billy Wilder, is one of the most interesting films about forgotten silent movie stars and Hollywood illusions. It concentrates on several aspects of Hollywood illusions; but instead of keeping them alive, this film bursts the bubbles and gives a blunt, unromantic and realistic story about a forgotten "yesteryear" silent movie queen, and her trapped human "pet monkey". One of the things that is used to establish the form of irony and realism necessary to burst the glittering bubbles is the "dead-pan voice over" by the murdered Joe Gillis. ".
Abstract The paper discusses the historical accuracy film "The Patriot". It describes the American Revolutionary War of 1776 in relation to the film's subject. The paper provides critical reviews of the film and its impact on the American public today. The author states the film offers a one-sided romanticized view of the Revolutionary War period.
From the Paper ""The Patriot" follows Benjamin Martin through his service in the Revolutionary War fighting against the British, beginning in1776. Martin is a widowed father of seven children when the action begins. Their life on their farm in South Carolina is idyllic and peaceful, and Martin does not support fighting a war with England. Then, the British come to his farm, and everything changes in an instant. The insanely evil Colonel William Tavington orders his men to burn Benjamin's house because he gave aid to wounded Revolutionary soldiers (along with British soldiers). He takes his oldest son prisoner as a spy, and when his younger son intervenes, he shoots him. Faced with the death of his son and the loss of his plantation, Benjamin takes the war into his own hands."
Tags: war, revolution, 1776, revolutionary, south, carolina, slavery
Abstract The paper describes the two extremes of mankind seen in the film, ?Full Metal Jacket,? in which Matthew Modine plays Private Joker, a soldier confused by the duality of man. It discusses how Joker is paired up with Private Gomer Pile in the film to show the contrast of success and failure. The paper shows how, throughout the movie, Kubrick plays with the idea of pairs to let us know that some things only appear as two opposites when they are in fact similar in many ways. It describes how Joker's confusion is a key theme in the movie, the contradiction of love and hate in wartime.
From the Paper "Kubrick uses a confusion between good and evil to portray the notion of two sides of mankind. During a line up at boot camp the drill instructor asks Private Joker, "Private Joker, do you believe in the virgin Mary"? Joker answers no, and is smacked across the face. The drill sergeant proceeds to ask him the same question over again, and Joker again answers no, and explains that he is an atheist. Joker tells the sergeant that if he reverses his retort then he will be subject to more extensive abuse. The sergeant admires Joker's loyalty and grants him a promotion."
