This course explores the ways in which the stars of American silent film constructed their own "system" for making movies that in many ways subverted the narrative and stylistic strictures of contemporary studio production.

Central importance will be given, of course, to the formation of United Artists, the avenue through which many star-produced features of the late silent era reached the public. Attention will also be given, however, to the relationships stars developed—even within the studio system—with preferred scenarists, directors, designers, co-stars, and even cinematographers.

Weekly screenings and discussions will include the films of the United Artists group (Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith), the Keystone comedians (Mack Sennett, Mable Normand, Fatty Arbuckle, Charlie Chase), "star directors" (Lois Weber, Erich von Stroheim), and star performers of the silent era (Clara Bow, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino), as well as the films of figures like Greta Garbo and Allan Dwan who were able to find a place within both the star-dominated films of the silent era and the sound-era studio products that superseded them.

Films to be studied, whole or in part, may include: Where Are My Children? (1916); Intolerance (1916); Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916); The Immigrant (1917), including cut footage; Stella Maris (1918); Blind Husbands (1919); One Week (1920); The Kid (1921), including cut footage; Tess of the Storm Country (1922, although we will discuss Pickford’s 1914 version too); Safety Last! (1923); The Thief of Bagdad (1924); Sherlock Jr. (1924); The Son of the Sheik (1926); Flesh and the Devil (1926); It (1927); Sadie Thompson (1928); Queen Kelly (1929)

Required reading: Jeanine Basinger, Silent Stars (Wesleyan U P–-ISBN # 0819564516); Eileen Bowser, The Transformation of Cinema, 1907-1915 (U Cal Press—ISBN #0520085345); Paula Marantz Cohen, Silent Film and the Triumph of American Myth (Oxford U P—ISBN #019514094X); Richard Koszarski, An Evening’s Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature, 1915-1928 (U Cal Press—ISBN # 0520085353) Individual students will read supplemental texts on specific figures from the silent era in preparation for in-class presentations.

There are four requirements for this course: 1) active participation in discussions;
(2) a ten-to-fifteen-minute presentation with descriptive bibliography, which should summarize the spectrum of scholarship on a specific assigned figure in the development of American silent film, to be given at a time that will be scheduled at our 30 August meeting; (3) a brief presentation of original scholarship on a figure or figures in American silent film, to be given on 6 or 13 December and (4) a 20-25-page seminar paper that treats your original scholarship in greater detail, due 20 December. Information: mdolan@gc.cuny.edu

If it is a question of series (Rocky I, II, etc., or the Forsythe Saga, to take 2 different types) or The West Wing, the issue of development will be a thorny one, or less so, depending on the creators.

A few biographies, if there is time, or scenes from them (The Young Mr. Lincoln, Francis Bacon, etc.) Among the films and the careers represented, in whatever order will seem to work best – this is only an indicative sampling, clearly, for there are many more possibilities, depending on the epoch. Whenever the "straight representation" and then a parody are available (for example, a Jesus film and The Life of Brian), we may think of both. NB. Not necessarily these films: this is just an indication. Depending on the interests of the seminar participants, others may be added.

On Point – the world of the ballerina, and a more recent one

Broadcast News; Up Close and Personal; Front Page – desk stuff and news reporting

Stevie; Sylvia; Tom and Viv—the poetic world
The Quiet American; The Third Man – the espionage world; M. Poirot, etc. – detective world

Bringing up Baby – world of collecting and museums

Is There a Doctor in the House? Dark Victory; Magnificent Obsession; The Doctor– the world of medicine

Blackboard Jungle; Dead Poets Society; The Affair – the world of education

Shakespeare in Love – biography, and the world of the dramatic writer

Days of Heaven – world of the farmer

Legal Eagles, To Kill a Mockingbird; Philadelphia -- the world of law

Old Man and the Sea; Moby Dick; Mutiny on the Bounty; Master and Commander-the sea and sailors

The Front Line – the point of view of the bodyguard; Upstairs Downstairs;


The Servant – of domestic service

The Notebooks of Anna Magdalena Bach; Clara and Robert Schumann; Hilary and Jackie; etc. – the world of music

The West Wing; Mr. Deeds Goes to Town; The Maltese Falcon; All the President’s Men-- the world of politics and government
     Parody: Wag the Dog; Dr. Strangelove

Rocky, etc. –the world of prizefighting
     Parody: Movie Movie

The Last Emperor; I Claudius; etc. -- royalty

Readings from such writers as John Berger, Krakauer, Roland Barthes, Eisenstein, Tom Gunning, the Mast and Cohen reader, James Monaco, Bordwell, Bluestone, Molly Haskell, Andrew Sarris, and the French cubist Blaise Cendrars, the surrealist Robert Desnos, etc. etc.

Although the course will concentrate heavily on Hollywood, I wish to teach Hollywood as an industrial center for both the United States and the world.

Therefore the course should cover such events as the early development of the film industry, particularly in France and the USA, the rise of the feature film and the demise of the MPPC, vertical integration and the creation of Hollywood as a global center, the history of UFA, the national and international impact of sound, the relation between film and theater such as relative decline of the theatrical road show, the State Department and Hollywood, the 1948 consent decree, film and broadcasting, wide screen and other technical developments, the Euro-American film, the first wave of conglomeratization, the indies, New Hollywood, High Concept, the mini-majors and Goldcrest, Carolco, and Dino DeLaurentiis, HBO, video distribution, Universal v. Sony, the second wave of conglomeratization, television sans frontieres policy, NAFTA and GATT compromises, Hong Kong and Bollywood, digital cinema.

I propose to constantly return to several key themes, such as the primary one of the "threat" of cultural domination both within the nation and on the international scale. This is to enable students working in various fields to engage in the political economic analysis of power in the culture industries, to consider the relationship of cinema with the changing everyday life of the audience, and to assess the importance of the film industry in the general economy.

This course will be conducted as a seminar. Each student will be responsible for one oral presentation to the class and a five page written report that was the basis for the presentation. The bulk of the grade will be determined by a term research paper on a topic selected by the student and approved by the instructor. (Syllabus & reading list available in Certificate Programs Office, Room 5109) 

Information: FWasser@brooklyn.cuny.edu