Course Description: While the primary focus of this course will be on
various European national cinemas, we will also discuss the reciprocal
influences between American and European film culture, both in terms
of formal influences on filmmaking and theoretical approaches to film
studies. We will consider a number of significant European film
movements, including German expressionism and Soviet montage in the
silent period, French poetic realism of the 1930s, and post-war
Italian neo-realism. We will examine the ways particular movements
influenced Hollywood style, as with German expressionism's influence
on the horror film and film noir, and we will also see some films by
European directors, such as Hitchcock, who moved from their home
countries to work in the Hollywood industry. In examining these
cinematic traditions and considering both popular and "art" cinema, we
will investigate the concept of "national" cinemas in relation to
constructing a national identity in a mass medium, reacting to
political and social shifts, and facing off with economic and
aesthetic influences from other European nations and Hollywood.