Week 2 - Cinema and Social Critique: the Silver Screen as Mirror Flashcards
Paths of Glory about
Trench Warfare
Special shots in PoG
Moving shots PREDATE steadicam (i.e. trench war tracking shots)
Paths of Glory based on
Actual WWII story
French in PoG
They were called out in the film
French reaction to PoG
They were disgusted by it
Dax
French army man in charge of leading done for betterment/glory of generals
Kubrick uses ________
deep focus lens, everything in focus
Extremes of PoG
Order Firing on their own men, order request denied by by captain russo
PoG casualties
50%
Structure of PoG battle
If your number went up you went to front of firing squad
Charlie Chaplin masterpiece
modern times
beginning of modern times
herd of animals and then people on way to work
herds of modern times like what film
metropolis
what genre is mod. times almost? ex?
scifi, electronic survaillance
what type of comedy was modern times? +ex.
satire, feeding machines
red flag associated with
communism
Love interest in Mod Times also
poor
End of Mod Times
Chaplin & gf head out together “let’s try” attitude, HOPEFUL
The Asphalt Jungle by
john huston
AJ views on crime _________
realistic
idea of the other in asphalt jungle
something is wrong with the other & its NOT normal
(AJ) ________ in 50s
normalcy was VERY important
AJ, “OTHER” in real life
Communism
Asphalt Jungle style
film gris
film gris
more realistic, deals with social problems
characters in AJ
REAL human beings not ONLY criminals
AJ contreversial because
Goes against the code in showing how to COMMIT a crime/heist
Sterling Hayden
Pre-CIA operative, did w/e he wanted to do as an actor
John Huston films had no _____ and were more _____
no one liners, more sobering
Production Code when AJ came out
was wearing off on hollywood
2 films tht become realistic look @ crime
Asphalt Jungle/Rafifi
50’s SOCIAL PROBLEM FILMS, escapist films but during serious/difficult times, era of
McCarthyism
Invasion of the body snatchers qualifies as what type of film?
social activist film
horror in invasion of the body snatchers
we cant tell difference between friends and family
Real life Paranoia of Invasion
Communism
What did invasion cause characters to fear?
Fear not being normal, we all know that we’re not 100% normal
kevin mccarthy plays
doctor who knows whats real and is not fringe
Writer friend discovers
clone of himself with perfect body
Paths of Glory title
title of the film, actually ironic and inappropriate since war is not a ‘path of glory’, was suggested by 18th century English romantic poet Thomas Gray’s elegy written in a Country Churchyard: The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Although the film is considered one of Stanley Kubrick’s best, ___________
it was denied even a single Academy Award nominatio
The suicidal attack on an impregnable fortress named ‘Ant Hill’ in the film (against an unseen German enemy) was inspired by and loosely based upon the six-month bloodbath in 1916 during the Battle of Verdun for Fort Douamont, a French stronghold eventually captured by the Germans.
Same battle referred to in
The Grand Illusion
The protracted conflict claimed the lives of 315,000 French soldiers (called poilus) on the Western front.
*********
n/a
PoG banned from
France and Switzerland
3 chosen men
French military and bureaucratic authorities who callously condemn and sacrifice three randomly-chosen innocent men with execution (for cowardice) for their own fatal blunder,
PoG based on
semi-fictional 1935 Cobb novel same name
Three blameless, subordinate soldiers are victimized, given hopeless ‘paths of glory,’ and condemned to die to cover up the wrong-headed actions of their ruthless and opportunistic superiors.
**
n/a
Main actor in Paths of Glory
Kirk Douglas
”Paths of Glory” is an antidote to
false movies about the glories of war, nonsensical fantasies like John Wayne’s “The Green Berets” or Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo.”
Plot of PoG
A vain and ambitious French general, Mireau (played by familiar film noir villain George Macready) is manipulated by his wily superior, Gen. Broulard (suave Adolphe Menjou) into a hopeless attack on an impregnable German position. When the attack inevitably fails, Mireau, hysterical, orders the entire regiment court-martialed and 100 men executed for cowardice. Only with difficulty is he persuaded to settle for three men, as an example.
Personalities of 3 in PoG
misfit, drunk coward & social misfit (who is actually a brave soldier)
The attack’s heroic commander, Dax, furious because his men are being scapegoated, volunteers as defense attorney for the court-martial, to battle against hopeless odds, closed minds and a system preordained to kill.
“Paths of Glory” is both a terrifying, grim look at battle and an excruciatingly tense courtroom thriller. Together, it’s a devastating indictment of war as conducted by opportunists and liars.
***********
+ read the summary!
pog last scene
wept at this movie’s annihilating last scene—when a beautiful, frightened German girl is forced to sing a ballad to the departing French soldiers. they make lascivious remarks about her figure and cruel ones about her lack of talent, but she has been captured and must be forced to perform. Hoots and whistles arise from the crowd. The Jewish-American Kubrick was greatly affected by the scene and actress too; she became his future wife, Suzanne Christian Harlan Kubrick.
girl singing scene goal
this scene is an argument against patriotism
shots in pog of ________ duration show us what?
of long duration impress the importance of their subjects upon us: The permanence of trench warfare, the devastation of attack, the hypocrisy of the ruling class, the dread of the condemned men.
. Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders his subordinate, Gen. Mireau (George Macready), to take an impregnable German position, “The Anthill,” by, incredibly, the day after tomorrow. Mireau argues that it cannot be done. Broulard thinks perhaps it can be accomplished with no more than 55 percent casualties. He hints that there is a promotion and a third star for the general who does it.
******
n/a
why are 3 men chosen?
At the end of the day, to save face and protect his promotion, Mireau orders that three men, one from each company, must be executed for cowardice.
Dax is outraged and asks to act as defense counsel before the military tribunal, which is, as we expect, a farce. When Dax argues for the defense that any further advance was “impossible,” the prosecutor snaps, “if it was impossible, the only proof of that would be their dead bodies at the bottom of the trenches.” The survivors are obviously cowards, then, because they are alive.
cyclical argument
at the end of pog what happens to prisoners? plot?
prisoners die. The plot is resolved, yes, but cruelty and duplicity survive, and private soldiers are still meaningless pawns.
who do we root for in asphalt jungle?
the villains, gem thieves
aj: Ultimately, horses are integral both to his downfall and to his hoped-for salvation; his sole desperate need is to get home to the Kentucky ranch where he once felt happiness. The “box man” (safe cracker) on the job is Louis Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso), a family man who wants to ensure that his sick child doesn’t get worse. James Whitmore plays the savvy hunchback Gus Minissi, who’s willing to be the driver in the heist, but who loves cats and will do all he can to help out a friend in need.
* **
n/a
. The cop on the take (Barry Kelley) is not above extorting one of his erstwhile providers of funds, while the Commissioner (John McIntire) delivers the film’s only moments of uncharacteristic preachiness as he melodramatically demonstrates how hard the police force works to protect citizens every day. So peremptory and remorseless is his manner that he comes across as a less appealing character than the heistmen.
*********
n/a
The Asphalt Jungle is especially iconic because
we never learn exactly what big city we’re in
there are many spots of warmth within this bleak film, which make it even more believable than some of the more nihilistic of the noirs by illuminating for what these people-gone-wrong strive: the compassion
****
n/a
Job of Miles & Beck in invasion
Miles and Becky have to try to find help from the shrinking population of normal humans, while fighting off sleep, which is when the snatchers can take over your body.
2 parts of body snatcher fear
oppressive conformity & communism
