PRELIMINARY COURSE SYLLABUS Course Title: Film Noir in the 1940s: The Primacy of the Visual Course Code: FLM 18 Instructor: Elliot Lavine Course Summary: *Please see course page for full description and additional details. Note About Live Attendance and Recording: These class sessions will be recorded. Live attendance is required to earn Credit. Grade Options and Requirements: · No Grade Requested (NGR) o This is the default option. No work will be required; no credit shall be received; no proof of attendance can be provided. · Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) o Students must attend at least 80% of class sessions. *Please Note: If you require proof that you completed a Continuing Studies course for any reason (for example, employer reimbursement), you must the Credit/No Credit option. Courses taken for NGR will not appear on official transcripts or grade reports. Tentative Weekly Outline: Please watch the listed films before the class session that week. They can be rented via YouTube Movies or Amazon, and some might be on services such as Hulu or Netflix. Typically, if you do a Google search for a title, it will display the various streaming options. PLEASE NOTE: At various times, certain films become unavailable for streaming on any platform. This was the case with the films THEY LIVE BY NIGHT and BODY AND SOUL, which were originally a part of this lineup, but are no longer available to rent. PRELIMINARY COURSE SYLLABUS Additionally, each week you’ll receive a link (or sometimes two) in your weekly Canvas message to watch BONUS NOIR FILMS via YouTube or some other mysterious source (for free), which will also become part of the Zoom conversation -- making each session a true double feature. You will be watching at least twenty films! Week 1: STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (1940) This unrepentant B picture is considered by many (including me) to be the very first American studio film noir. In it we see a variety of tropes that will soon become commonplace for this style of filmmaking: a wildly florid photographic style, replete with ominous shadowplay and distorted angles, a flashback narrative structure, as well as the sense that Fate will somehow play a sizable role in the outcome. The film was directed by Boris Ingster, and stars Peter Lorre, John McGuire, and Margaret Tallichet. RKO. (65 mins.) Week 2: I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941) This early noir classic features a top notch cast and superior visual virtuosity. It also introduces the classic noir trope of the obsessed, murderous cop into the mix courtesy of Laird Cregar’s most memorable performance. The principal cast also includes Victor Mature, Betty Grable, Carole Landis, and Elisha Cook, Jr. H. Bruce Humberstone directed, for 20th Century Fox. (82 mins.) [YouTube Only] Week 3: BLUES IN THE NIGHT (1941) This audacious melodrama from Warner Bros can best be described as the one and only film noir musical. A brilliantly energetic film that beautifully projects its sinister narrative of gangsters, musicians, and femmes both fatale and otherwise in a pitch perfect production. The stars are Priscilla Lane, Richard Whorf, Jack Carson, Betty Field, and Lloyd Nolan and was directed by Anatole Litvak. Warner Bros. (88 mins.) Week 4: PHANTOM LADY (1944) A darkly morbid, yet fascinating mystery thriller from the poison pen of author Cornell Woolrich, whose work in the field of “noir literature” is practically unequalled. I’ll try to include some additional bonus films based on his work, which will greatly enhance our appreciation of this great writer. The films stars Ella Raines, Franchot Tone, Thomas Gomez, Alan Curtis, and Elisha Cook, Jr. The director, Robert Siodmak, is considered one of the foremost practitioners of this classic style. For Universal Pictures. (88 mins.) PRELIMINARY COURSE SYLLABUS Week 5: SCARLET STREET (1945) Fritz Lang emigrated to the U.S. shortly after Hitler came to power in the 1930s and quickly built a career and body of work that is largely considered to be among the greatest in 20th century cinema. The quality of his work in the area of film noir is undisputed, and this harrowing melodrama may well be his most significant American film, starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea. United Artists. (99 mins.) Week 6: OUT OF THE PAST (1947) Perhaps the most celebrated of all 40s noir films, this masterpiece of malevolence created a template for post-war film noir that still stands as a virtual blueprint: a visually splendid puzzler that adds a mysterious and uncommon element to the mix that lifts it into the stratosphere of “important cinema.” Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas are the stars, but it’s the director, Jacques Tourneur, and his brilliant cinematographer, Nicholas Musuraca, who steal the show. RKO. (97 mins.) Week 7: CROSSFIRE (1947) A top-flight powerhouse noir classic that takes devastating aim at the escalating problem of antisemitism in post-war America. This film would help instigate the anti-communist witch-hunt that decimated the Hollywood community at this time. Both the producer and director (Adrian Scott and Edward Dmytryk) were among the so-called “Hollywood Ten” who defied the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) by refusing to testify publicly against their colleagues, resulting in their banishment from the world of Hollywood filmmaking. Starring Robert Young, Robert Ryan, and Robert Mitchum. RKO (88 mins) Week 8: BRUTE FORCE (1947) Another powerful example of a film persecuted by the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) because of the previous political behavior of numerous people involved in the film’s production, including and especially the director, Jules Dassin, who was forced to flee the country and resume his career elsewhere. The film is a dramatic takedown of the American penal system and provides a startling comparative view of the oppressive forces who were determined to undermine and destroy the American film industry. Burt Lancaster (in only his second film), Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne DeCarlo, Howard Duff, and Jeff Corey star. United Artists. (98 mins.) PRELIMINARY COURSE SYLLABUS Week 9: THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948) Whenever Orson Welles shows up, expect the unexpected, and this gem is no exception. A somewhat convoluted narrative becomes a crystal clear vision of the banality of evil through the director’s lens, revealing a deep well of dark emotions. One of the director’s most visually lavish films, and one that provides a bountiful array of mesmerizing images and ideas. The stars are Orson Welles, who also directed, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders, Ted DeCorsia. Columbia Pictures. (87 mins.) Week 10: CRISS CROSS (1949) The decade closes with one of the most explosive noir films of the decade, a fiery tale of deception, jealousy, and death. The director, Robert Siodmak (Phantom Lady) had by now established himself as a primary contributor to the noir style: daringly modern notions about life and love and a simmering visual style perfectly suited for his way of telling a story. At once a classic 40s tale and a nervous nod to the coming new decade. The stars are Burt Lancaster, Yvonne DeCarlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally. Universal Pictures. (87 mins.) PLEASE NOTE: Our second film, I WAKE UP SCREAMING is only available via a FREE YouTube link which I will be providing for you. Please contact the Stanford Continuing Studies office with any questions 365 Lasuen St., Stanford, CA 94305 [email protected] 650-725-2650 .