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A Formalist Critique of Three Crime Films by Joel and Ethan Coen Timothy Semenza University of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected]
University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Honors Scholar Theses Honors Scholar Program Spring 5-6-2012 "The wicked flee when none pursueth": A Formalist Critique of Three Crime Films by Joel and Ethan Coen Timothy Semenza University of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons Recommended Citation Semenza, Timothy, ""The wicked flee when none pursueth": A Formalist Critique of Three Crime Films by Joel and Ethan Coen" (2012). Honors Scholar Theses. 241. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses/241 Semenza 1 Timothy Semenza "The wicked flee when none pursueth": A Formalist Critique of Three Crime Films by Joel and Ethan Coen Semenza 2 Timothy Semenza Professor Schlund-Vials Honors Thesis May 2012 "The wicked flee when none pursueth": A Formalist Critique of Three Crime Films by Joel and Ethan Coen Preface Choosing a topic for a long paper like this can be—and was—a daunting task. The possibilities shot up out of the ground from before me like Milton's Pandemonium from the soil of hell. Of course, this assignment ultimately turned out to be much less intimidating and filled with demons than that, but at the time, it felt as though it would be. When you're an English major like I am, your choices are simultaneously extremely numerous and severely restricted, mostly by my inability to write convincingly or sufficiently about most topics. However, after much deliberation and agonizing, I realized that something I am good at is writing about film. -
Coen Brothers' Fargo in the Noir Melting Pot of Genre Patterns
Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis • No 3869 Literatura i Kultura Popularna XXIV, Wrocław 2018 DOI: 10.19195/0867-7441.24.4 Kamila Żyto ORCID: 0000-0003-2822-8341 University of Łódź Detours of absurdity: Coen brothers’ Fargo in the noir melting pot of genre patterns Keywords: film noir, film history, film genres, cinema of Coen brothers Słowa kluczowe: film noir, historia filmu, gatunki filmowe, kino braci Coen The long-lasting debate over whether film noir should be seen as a genre, a cycle or a tendency in the history of cinema remains unsettled. No definitive solution has been found, nor any consensus reached, owing to the fact that the film noir phenomenon is particularly complex and convoluted. Much of the debate revolves around questions of approach and genre. But many movies, both those released in the 1940s and 1950s (the classical period) and those released in the following decades (the neo-noir, or postclassical, period), do not obviously fit any genre pattern or other ordering scheme. The diversity among films that are now unquestionably classified as noir, provokes controversy and raises numerous questions. What does Sunset Boulevard (dir. Billy Wilder, 1950) have in common with The Killers (dir. Robert Siodmak, 1946)? The first one is simultaneously a crime story, melodrama and horror. The second one is, without a doubt, a gang- ster movie. Do all noir films really constitute a single genre? I will leave this question unanswered, as to support any of the various opinions about the generic identity of film noir is not the main aim of this paper.1 From my perspective, there is little utility in joining this on-going debate, which has reached a standstill some time ago. -
Artistic Integrity, Public Policy and Copyright: Colorization Reduced To
Artistic Integrity, Public Policy and Copyright: Colorization Reduced to Black and White [A]rt is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen.' I. INTRODucTION Art reflects society. Each person in modern society-a society that prides itself on freedom of expression-interprets differently the beauty in art. Thus, when a musician composes a popular tune, a poet drafts a new verse, or a painter touches her 2 brush to canvas, their creations are subject to criticism, debate, and often ridicule. Some artists choose faster tempos, shorter sentences, brighter pastels; others choose 3 melodic tunes, complex clauses, or no color at all. These are all artistic choices. They characterize both the work and the artist himself.4 Despite opposing viewpoints, the art world respects the artistic intent of the work, condemning any modification 5 based upon society's standards or an individual's preference. Quite often technology discovers ways we can "improve" 6 the products of art. Synthesizers electronically alter instrumental sounds, springfloors lift the dancer higher and farther, and word processors cut an editor's work in half. These advances facilitate the artist's ability to create or perform; 7 they aid the artist. However, with the recent evolution of colorization, 8 technology has infringed upon the artist's creative intent and control.9 Now, computers can paint color into black and white motion pictures. This advance differs significantly from the former examples. Where these other advances may bolster or facilitate an artist's intent, the colorization process alters black and white films that were intended to remain colorless. -
Film Essay for "Let There Be Light"
Let There Be Light By Bryce Lowe In the days and months immediately following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Hollywood studio executives, directors, actors and film industry professionals either volun- teered or accepted commissions to enlist in the armed forces. Many members of the Hollywood motion picture community were assigned to either the First Motion Picture Unit, a division of the Air Force, or the Signal Corps Army Pictorial Service creating training films for enlisted personnel as well as producing short subject and documentary films aimed at manufacturing and sustaining public support for the war effort. Frame enlargement of a US Army psychiatrist treating a traumatized veteran with hypnotherapy. Courtesy Library of Congress Collection. John Huston was among several notable film directors who served in the military during World with the lowest ranking officer in the Pentagon next to War II. In April 1942 Huston reported for active duty me …” In his autobiography “An Open Book,” in Washington, DC at the U.S. Army Signal Corps Huston claimed the War Department rejected the film headquarters. In a 1981 televised interview Huston because it was perceived as promoting an anti-war remembered being “immensely honored” to receive message. “The Army argued the film would be demor- a commission to serve in the Army. “When the invita- alizing to men who were going into combat for the first tion to get a commission and get into the Army came time”. Only after the personal intervention of Army to me… why, I couldn’t act quickly enough. Captain Chief of Staff General George C. -
Thought, Feeling, and the Cinema of Francis Ford Coppola: the Rain People As Exemplum
CHAPTER 12 THOUGHT, FEELING, AND THE CINEMA OF FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA: THE RAIN PEOPLE AS EXEMPLUM The Coppolas, Francis Ford and his daughter, Sophia, both have the same artistic problem: neither is a thinker. The father has always been short on thought; indeed, he stumbles when he thinks, when he thinks he’s thinking. The Godfather (1972, 1974, 1990) was strongest in its execution—also its executions—not in its adolescent implications of analogy between the Mafia and corporate capitalism (an analogy that ignores, among other things, the origins of the Mafia and its blood bonds of loyalty, which have nothing to do with capitalism). The Conversation (1974) faltered in its Orwellian idea-structure. And in Apocalypse Now (1979), the attempts to dramatize private moral agony and general moral abyss during the Vietnam War were disjointed, assumptive, weak, for all of Vittorio Storaro’s aptly hallucinogenic color cinematography. Even Coppola’s scripts for others have suffered from woolly thinking: his screenplay for Jack Clayton’s The Great Gatsby (1974), for example, turned Fitzgerald’s supple suggestiveness into mindless blatancy; and his scenario for Franklin Schaffner’s Patton (1970) presented the glaringly contradictory nature of this famous general as praiseworthy, even fathomless, complexity. That’s the top of the heap. From there, we head down to Coppola’s blotchy script for René Clément’s Is Paris Burning? (1966), a rambling, pseudo-documentary recreation of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation. Then we get to the adaptations of Tennessee Williams’ This Property Is Condemned and Carson McCullers’ Reflections in a Golden Eye, for Sydney Pollack (1966) and John Huston (1967) respectively, in which Coppola—who began his career in the early 1960s as a director of short sex films—manages to denude the world of Southern Gothicism of all but its trash, its kinkiness, and its pretense. -
October 4, 2016 (XXXIII:6) Joseph L. Mankiewicz: ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), 138 Min
October 4, 2016 (XXXIII:6) Joseph L. Mankiewicz: ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), 138 min All About Eve received 14 Academy Award nominations and won 6 of them: picture, director, supporting actor, sound, screenplay, costume design. It probably would have won two more if four members of the cast hasn’t been in direct competition with one another: Davis and Baxter for Best Actress and Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter for Best Supporting Actress. The story is that the studio tried to get Baxter to go for Supporting but she refused because she already had one of those and wanted to move up. Years later, the same story goes, she allowed as maybe she made a bad career move there and Bette David allowed as she was finally right about something. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz Written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (screenplay) Mary Orr (story "The Wisdom of Eve", uncredited) Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck Music Alfred Newman Cinematography Milton R. Krasner Film Editing Barbara McLean Art Direction George W. Davis and Lyle R. Wheeler Eddie Fisher…Stage Manager Set Decoration Thomas Little and Walter M. Scott William Pullen…Clerk Claude Stroud…Pianist Cast Eugene Borden…Frenchman Bette Davis…Margo Channing Helen Mowery…Reporter Anne Baxter…Eve Harrington Steven Geray…Captain of Waiters George Sanders…Addison DeWitt Celeste Holm…Karen Richards Joseph L. Mankiewicz (b. February 11, 1909 in Wilkes- Gary Merrill…Bill Simpson Barre, Pennsylvania—d. February 5, 1993, age 83, in Hugh Marlowe…Lloyd Richards Bedford, New York) started in the film industry Gregory Ratoff…Max Fabian translating intertitle cards for Paramount in Berlin. -
Moby Dick (1956) AUDIENCE SCORE 73%
Moby Dick (1956) AUDIENCE SCORE 73% liked it Average Rating: 3.5/5 User Ratings: 8,233 Movie Info Previous film versions of Moby Dick insisted upon including such imbecilities as romantic subplots and happy endings. John Huston's 1956 Moby Dick remains admirably faithful to its source. "Call me Ishmael" declares itinerant whaler Richard Basehart as the opening credits fade. Though slightly intimidated by the sermon delivered by Father Mapple (Orson Welles in a brilliant one-take cameo), who warns that those who challenge the sea are in danger of losing their souls, Ishmael nonetheless 1976 theatrical re-release poster signs on to the Pequod, a whaling ship captained by the brooding, one-legged Ahab (Gregory Peck). For TOMATOMETER lo these many years, Ahab has been engaged in an obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick, the great white whale to whom he lost his leg. Ahab's dementia All critics spreads throughout the crew members, who maniacally join their captain in his final, fatal attack upon the elusive, enigmatic Moby Dick. Screenwriter Ray Bradbury masterfully captures the allegorical elements in the Herman Melville original without 84% sacrificing any of the film's entertainment value Average Rating: 7.1/10 (Bradbury suffered his own "great white whale" in the Reviews Counted: 19 form of director Huston, who sadistically ran Fresh: 16 roughshod over the sensitive author throughout the Rotten: 3 film).Cinematographer Oswald Morris' washed-out color scheme brilliantly underlines the foredoomed bleakness of the story. Moby Dick's one major Top critics shortcoming is its obviously artificial whale-but try telling a real whale to stay within camera range and hit its marks. -
The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers
University of Kentucky UKnowledge American Popular Culture American Studies 12-12-2008 The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers Mark T. Conard Marymount College Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Conard, Mark T., "The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers" (2008). American Popular Culture. 5. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_american_popular_culture/5 conard_coen_dj2:Layout 1 9/29/08 6:18 PM Page 1 CONARD (continued from front flap) FILM/PHILOSOPHY THE PHILOSOPHY OF systems. The tale of love, marriage, betrayal, and divorce THE PHILOSOPHY OF in Intolerable Cruelty transcends the plight of the charac- “The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers offers a very ters to illuminate competing theories of justice. Even in smart, provocative, and stylishly written set of lighter fare, such as Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, essays on the films of the Coen brothers. The THE COEN the comedy emerges from characters’ journeys to the volume makes a convincing case for reading their brink of an amoral abyss. However, the Coens often films within a wide array of philosophical contexts knowingly and gleefully subvert conventions and occa- and persuasively demonstrates that the films of sionally offer symbolic rebirths and other hopeful out- BROTHERS the Coen brothers often implicitly and sometimes comes. -
101 Films for Filmmakers
101 (OR SO) FILMS FOR FILMMAKERS The purpose of this list is not to create an exhaustive list of every important film ever made or filmmaker who ever lived. That task would be impossible. The purpose is to create a succinct list of films and filmmakers that have had a major impact on filmmaking. A second purpose is to help contextualize films and filmmakers within the various film movements with which they are associated. The list is organized chronologically, with important film movements (e.g. Italian Neorealism, The French New Wave) inserted at the appropriate time. AFI (American Film Institute) Top 100 films are in blue (green if they were on the original 1998 list but were removed for the 10th anniversary list). Guidelines: 1. The majority of filmmakers will be represented by a single film (or two), often their first or first significant one. This does not mean that they made no other worthy films; rather the films listed tend to be monumental films that helped define a genre or period. For example, Arthur Penn made numerous notable films, but his 1967 Bonnie and Clyde ushered in the New Hollywood and changed filmmaking for the next two decades (or more). 2. Some filmmakers do have multiple films listed, but this tends to be reserved for filmmakers who are truly masters of the craft (e.g. Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick) or filmmakers whose careers have had a long span (e.g. Luis Buñuel, 1928-1977). A few filmmakers who re-invented themselves later in their careers (e.g. David Cronenberg–his early body horror and later psychological dramas) will have multiple films listed, representing each period of their careers. -
Movie Time Descriptive Video Service
DO NOT DISCARD THIS CATALOG. All titles may not be available at this time. Check the Illinois catalog under the subject “Descriptive Videos or DVD” for an updated list. This catalog is available in large print, e-mail and braille. If you need a different format, please let us know. Illinois State Library Talking Book & Braille Service 300 S. Second Street Springfield, IL 62701 217-782-9260 or 800-665-5576, ext. 1 (in Illinois) Illinois Talking Book Outreach Center 125 Tower Drive Burr Ridge, IL 60527 800-426-0709 A service of the Illinois State Library Talking Book & Braille Service and Illinois Talking Book Centers Jesse White • Secretary of State and State Librarian DESCRIPTIVE VIDEO SERVICE Borrow blockbuster movies from the Illinois Talking Book Centers! These movies are especially for the enjoyment of people who are blind or visually impaired. The movies carefully describe the visual elements of a movie — action, characters, locations, costumes and sets — without interfering with the movie’s dialogue or sound effects, so you can follow all the action! To enjoy these movies and hear the descriptions, all you need is a regular VCR or DVD player and a television! Listings beginning with the letters DV play on a VHS videocassette recorder (VCR). Listings beginning with the letters DVD play on a DVD Player. Mail in the order form in the back of this catalog or call your local Talking Book Center to request movies today. Guidelines 1. To borrow a video you must be a registered Talking Book patron. 2. You may borrow one or two videos at a time and put others on your request list. -
A Case Study on Film Authorship: Exploring the Theoretical and Practical Sides in Film Production
A Case Study on Film Authorship by David Tregde — 5 A Case Study on Film Authorship: Exploring the Theoretical and Practical Sides in Film Production David Tregde* Media Arts and Entertainment Elon University Abstract Film authorship has been a topic of debate in film theory since the Cahiers du Cinema critics first birthed auteur theory. Andrew Sarris used this theory to categorize directors based on their level of artistic au- thorship, solidifying the idea that a director is the sole author of a film. In The Schreiber Theory, David Kipen argues that a writer is responsible for creating the world of the movie and should be considered the author of a film. However, collaborative theories, such as those proposed by Paul Sellors, provide a more practical framework for studying film authorship. Rarely are any film authorship theories compared with specific exam- ples. To compare theory to practice, this research took a two-fold approach. First, theory is explored through primary and secondary sources to give a background and understanding of the main arguments in authorship. Second, this research documents the production of two feature films (Blade Runner & The Man Who Killed Don Quixote) as case studies through analysis of in-depth documentaries. By examining these productions, this study observes theory in practice rather than studying the finished products. I. The Problem of Authorship “Authorship does matter,” says Janet Staiger, because it addresses the issue of acknowledging credit behind a motion picture (Gerstner and Staiger 27). When addressing the responsible parties for a film, it is important to know why such analysis is needed. -
Risorgimento Film: Images of Italian National Identity
Cover/above: The Leopard (Il Gattopardo), Photofest Print restored in association with Cineteca di Bologna, L’Immagine Ritrovata, The Film Foundation, Pathé, Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Twentieth Century Fox, and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale. Restoration funding provided by Gucci and The Film Foundation. 3 National Gallery of Art Risorgimento Film: Images of Italian National Identity David Gariff Film should be a means like any other, perhaps more valuable than any other, of writing history. — Roberto Rossellini In the middle years of the nineteenth century, at the very moment the United States was struggling to preserve its union, the Italian people were fighting a war of liberation to cre- ate a unified nation. The American Civil War and Italian Risor- gimento witnessed similar noble aspirations, political intrigues, decisive battles, and disturbing revelations. Comparable casts of famous statesmen, daring generals, radical activists, and popular heroes led the causes. And just as America would celebrate and commemorate these personalities, events, and 4 David Gariff tragedies through literature, poetry, song, folklore, and, finally, film, so too would Italy witness an ongoing exploration through the arts of the significance of this seminal conflict in its history. In America, the Civil War looms large in our collective cinematic consciousness, from D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (1915) and The General (1926), directed in part by Buster Keaton, to Gone with the Wind (1939), John Huston’s The Red Badge of Courage (1951), and more recently Glory (1989). This is no less the case in Italy, where films also present a rich cinematic mosaic of Risorgimento history: 1860 (1933), directed by Alessandro Blasetti; Viva L’Italia (1960), by Roberto Rossel- lini; Senso (1954) and Il Gattopardo (1963), sometimes called the Italian Gone with the Wind, by Luchino Visconti; Allonsanfan (1974); In Nome del Papa Re (1977); and O Re (1989).