Hollywood History: Warner Bros Style - From Rin Tin Tin to Casablanca

Pre-requisites for enrolment

No prerequisites.

Content of Course

1. Introduction to: Hollywood; the brothers Warner and early film business; from film exhibitors to producers; The Marriage Circle (Lubutsch,1924).

2. “Pure” cinema and the sound of The Jazz Singer (Crosland, 1927), movies lost in the fire.

3. Warners’ identity- films “ripped from the headlines” or “socially aware”? Sinner’s Holiday (Adolfi, 1930); Little Caesar (LeRoy, 1931), I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (LeRoy,1932).

4. Moral guardians and escape from Depression: Frisco Jenny (Wellman, 1932) and Footlight Parade (Bacon, 1933).

5. Censorship, bigotry and racism: Black Legion (Mayo, 1937) and They Won’t Forget (LeRoy, 1937).

6. Daring to be anti-fascist: The Life of Emile Zola (Dieterle, 1937); The Sea Hawk (Curtiz, 1940); Confessions of a Nazi Spy (Litvak, 1939).

7. Patriotism is OK: Sergeant York (Hawks, 1941) looking back to WW1 and forward. Private Snafu (Jones, 1943) +WB cartoons for WWll.

8. WB’s unglamorous stars and “house style”: Davis, Robinson, Cagney and Bogart. The Maltese Falcon (Huston 1941); The Fighting 69^th (Keighley, 1940).

9. Summing up WB’s growth. Collaboration and Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942); Draftee Daffy (Clampett, 1945).

Teaching method(s)

The course will use extracts from selected films but is based on introductions to full screenings of films followed by tutor-led group discussion.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Appraise the history of a major Hollywood film studio;

• Show an awareness of the economic, social, technical and political constraints and opportunities on a developing industry;

• Form considered opinions of the movies produced by Warner Bros. within their original cultural contexts;

• Reflect on their importance within cinematic and cultural history.

Sources

Core Readings

Recommended:

• Finler, Joel W., 2003. The Hollywood Story. London: Wallflower Press

• Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristin, 2010. Film History, An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill International

Web Sources

http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/

https://www.warnerbros.co.uk/

Class Handouts

Credits, notes, websites and background reading will be provided.

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.