Module Code - Title:
CU4037
-
EUROPEAN CINEMA FROM ITS BEGINNINGS TO THE 1950s
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
The module intends to give students an overview over the major developments in the various European national cinema traditions up to the end of the 1950s. It aims to introduce students to basic concepts of film historiography as well as key issues of the periods studied such as the role of film within popular culture, aesthetical debates and theories before and after the introduction of sound films, the mutual influences of American and European cinema. The main focus of this module will be on the development of Soviet, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Scandinavian Cinema.
Syllabus:
Principles of film history; Europe vs. America; the concept of National Cinema; aesthetics of silent vs. sound films; literature vs. moving images; visions of modernity; images of technology and science fiction.
Aspects covered will include: Beginnings (LumiÞre brothers, Georges MeliÞs); Nordisk Film Companie; Film and World War I; Soviet Cinema (Montage, Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov); Weimar Cinema (Expressionism, Fritz Lang, Murnau, mountain films, proletarian cinema, Marlene Dietrich); French cinema (Gance, Renoir); Nazi Cinema (cinema as propaganda; Riefenstahl); Italian Neo-Realism (Rossellini, de Sica), Spanish Cinema (Berlanga, Bunuel).
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
On successful completion of this module students will be able to:
- identify the phases of the historical development of cinema in Europe and America
- distinguish different European film movements
- apply appropriate theoretical approaches to films of different national traditions
- undertake an in depth study of one national tradition
- critically appraise and analyse selected film extracts
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
Not applicable
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
Not applicable
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
Students will have three lecture/ tutorial contact hours. These will be delivered in one session to facilitate the showing of extended extracts and entire films. The session will include lecture style presentation, discussion and practical analysis.
Students will be expected to deliver group and individual presentation on selected topics.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Not applicable
Prime Texts:
Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (ed) (1997)
The Oxford History of World Cinema
, Oxford University Press
Fowler, Catherine (ed) (2002)
The European Cinema Reader
, Routledge
Elsaesser, Thomas (1990)
Early Cinema: Space - Frame - Narrative
, BFI International
Other Relevant Texts:
Usai, Paolo Cherchi (1999)
Silent Cinema, An Introduction: Revised and Expanded Edition
, BFI International
Kracauer, Siegfried (1947)
From Hitler to Caligari
, Princeton University Press
Orr, John (1993)
Cinema and Modernity
, Polity Press
Maltby, Richard and Andrew Higson (eds) (1999)
Film Europe and `Film America¿ ¿ Cinema, Commerce and Cultural Exchange 1920-1939
, Exeter UP
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Module Leader:
mariano.paz@ul.ie