Casablanca

1. In class we discussed the themes of the film Casablanca. The themes of this film are what make it such a classic. Lost love was a theme that was carried out throughout the film. Rick was in love with Ilsa from when they were together in France and when she came into his bar he couldn’t believe it. You thought that as the story moved along the two of them were going to get back together, but the fact that they don’t brings up the rest of the themes in the film. Rick’s self-sacrifice was a funny theme in Casablanca. All throughout the film he said that he doesn’t stick his neck out for anyone but in the end he gives up his chance to get out of Casablanca and his chance to once again be with Ilsa so that she can leave get away with Victor.

2. This article tells us how Casablanca has become an iconic film and a main part of America’s pop culture. According to the article the film did not have an overwhelming impact in this country until 20 years after its was originally released in theaters. “In the 1960s, a few years after Humphrey Bogart’s death in 1957, a movie theater called The Brattle in Cambridge, Massachusetts started reviving Casablanca for three weeks every years, drawing enthusiastic and increasingly larger crowds.” The article then goes on to state that many films over the years have paid homage to Casablanca using references from the film such as What’s Up, Doc?, Murder By Death and When Harry Met Sally. The film also cements the fact that this film is a standard in American pop culture by stating that “In 1999, The Oxford Dictionary of 20^th Century Quotations added four movie quotes,” and one of them was “Here’s looking at you, kid” from Casablanca.

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/610/Casablanca/articles.html

 

3. This article made me realize how Casablanca is truly a piece of Americana. This was the first time that I had seen this film but I had heard about it since I was a child. Although the film was not as technically sound as some of the other films that we have watched in class, the story is something that people can relate to.

4. Personally I was not that big of a fan of Casablanca but that in no way takes away from its historical significance. I can see why people enjoy this film. I would say that this is one of the classic romantic stories of all time. The acting and story were great but I wouldn’t put this film on a level with other films like Citizen Kane and Stagecoach that we have watched this year.

Citizen Kane

1. In class we had an in-depth discussion about the composition and cinematography of Citizen Kane as well as the brilliance of the story that Orson Welles told over the course of the film. The cinematography of Citizen Kane is part of why this film is considered the best film of all time. Welles’ use of space in the film is unreal. He uses space to tell a story in itself. Throughout the film the settings become larger and the physical distance between the characters in shots represents the metaphorical space that is growing between the character’s relationships. A good example of this is the montage scene of Charles Foster Kane and his first wife sitting at the table for breakfast. As time goes on they go from sitting next to one another talking while eating to sitting at opposite ends of the table reading separate newspapers without a single word being spoken. And another great example of this is towards the end of the film when Charles Foster Kane and Susan Alexander Kane are sitting in the colossal room in Xanadu talking to one another. He is sitting in a chair all the way across the room in the shadows while she is talking to him, which is right before she leaves him. The way that the story begins and ends with the same shots was also a brilliant idea by Welles.  The film starts with a shot of a “No Trespassing” sign and then an overview of the giant Xanadu mansion and ends the same way. After the opening shot you see the snow globe and hear Foster Kane say “Rosebud” and at the end you find out the meaning of “Rosebud” and why the snow globe reminded him of this word. The look and story of this film are unbelievable, especially for its time.

2. This article brings up the question on if Citizen Kane is still the greatest film of all time. According to the article every ten years Sight and Sound magazine questions critics as to what the greatest movie of all time is, and for the past fifty years the answer has always been Citizen Kane. But the author of this article says that this year maybe the end of the reign for Orson Welles’ masterpiece. The past fifty years the magazine has asked 145 critics to voice their opinion on the greatest films, but this time there will be 1,800 critics asked to weigh in on the subject. There are some critics that said that there is no way that Citizen Kane will lose its spot and there are others who are routing for it be taken down off of its pedestal, but it seems that everyone agreed that if it does lose its spot, it will not be to a film from recent years. Peter Bogdanovich said, “I don’t know what it’ll be, but if it’s some made recently I’ll throw tomatoes. If it’s Star Wars or The Godfather or Saving Private Ryan there will be a scream from me heard around the world.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9431706/Is-Citizen-Kane-still-the-greatest.html

3. This article didn’t change what I thought about Citizen Kane but it did reinforce the thought that this film is still probably the best film of all time. For the last fifty years all critics have said that this is the finest piece of cinema that has ever been created, so how can that have changed? Because younger critics may look at this film as outdated or old should not mean a thing. You have to think about the film in the time it was created and even when you look at it compared to films now, you can see that so many things from Citizen Kane has been used throughout the years that you cannot discount its brilliance. And the fact that no film recently has been made that could top it, how could anything be considered better?

 

4. This was the second time that I have seen Citizen Kane and my opinion of the film changed drastically from the first time that I saw it. The first time I saw it I was so focused on the story that I didn’t focus on all of the little things in the film that Welles did to make this film so wonderful. Everything about Citizen Kane is brilliant and I realize that now. Whether you are looking at the acting, the story, the directing or the cinematography, this film was ahead of its time. Watching it now, you can barely tell that is was made so many years ago. From start to finish, Orson Welles made a masterpiece with Citizen Kane.

Gone With the Wind

1   1. In class we discussed how Gone With the Wind was one of the most successful films of all time, in terms of box office numbers as well as the awards it won in 1939. You can see why the film won awards such as Best Picture, Director, Actress, and Supporting Actress. The acting in this film was on point in all aspects. Gone With the Wind was the highest grossing film of all time until 1966, which is completely understandable because of the film’s epic journey. We also discussed in class how black actors and actresses were used in films of the times and Gone With the Wind both showed and broke these examples. In the film the black characters were not given leading rolls, however Hattie McDaniel’s roll in the film was absolutely outstanding which is why she won the Best Supporting Actress award.  Although the black actors were not used in the leading roles, they weren’t given just the comedic roles and had roles that helped move the story along as apposed to just being in the background.

2. This article talks about how the film was looked at as a flop before it even came out and how it became so successful when it was released. According to the article Gone With the Wind “had the nickname “Selznick’s Folly” by critics while the film was still in production.  They then go on to state that “the cynicism was swept aside by such reactions as the Hollywood Reporter’s headline description: “Magnificent and Supreme Triumph of Film History” when the movie premiered in December of 1939.” The article talks about how the film cleaned up on award night by going home with eight Academy Awards but Clark Gable was robbed for not winning the Best Actor award.  Apparently Selznick was very angry that Gable did not win this award and blamed the producer for not campaigning properly to get him this award.

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/414427/Gone-With-the-Wind/articles.html

3. Although the article touched on some of the things that we had discussed in class about Gone With the Wind, it went a bit more into depth about the film’s success. The one thing that I really couldn’t believe was that people thought that the film was going to be a flop. I don’t know if it is because the film cost $4 million to make and they did not think that it could do big numbers, but that just blew my mind. This film was the highest grossing film for almost thirty years and they were criticizing Selznick prior to it even being released. This article really made me respect how much pride Selznick had in his work because of how upset he got that Clark Gable was beaten out for the Best Actor award. Even after winning awards in a year that had films such as Stagecoach and The Wizard of Oz, he was upset that his actor did not win and that shows how much of a perfectionist he was.

4. Gone With the Wind is clearly one the most critically acclaimed films of all time and you can see why. It is an epic tail of one of the most important events in United States history with a great love triangle in the foreground. Although I didn’t care for it as much as I did some of the other films we saw because it was very long, I can see why the film is held in such high-regard in terms of the history of film.