film 2254F final vocab uwo 2024
Red Channels, Red Channells The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television was an anti-Communist document published in the United States at the start of the 1950s and started the second round of hearings of Hollywood and strictly enforced blacklist
Todd-AO, Michale Todd and American Optical made major widescreen competitor that was single projector system conductive to narrative cinema conventions and produced one film per year and debuted with Oklahoma 1955 and was considered the premier system for Hollywood blockbusters also used a 65mm negative printed on 70mm film in combination with a high-quality six-track sound track used for South Pacific Around the World in 80 Days Cleopatra The Alamo. The Sound of Music
Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that ostensibly outlawed racially segregated education.
Desilu, Desilu TV productions bought RKO in 1958 and made I Love Lucy
Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroes husband who wrote The Misfits 1961 film
Ben-Hur, William Wylers 1959 religious epic that used 70mm cameras
Geoffrey Shurlock, replaced Breen as head of PCA in 1954 and revised the code in 1956 for the first time in 20 years and pretty much unbanned everything but gay
Written on the Wind, 1956 Douglas Sirk melodrama
Cinerama, 1952 major widescreen competitor with 3 cameras 3 film stirps and 3 projectors to link 3 images on a wide curved screen and favored spectacle over narrative with travelogue films and multi track stereo
Poverty Row, small Hollywood studios that produced B movies from the 1920s to the 1950s
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966 Warner Bros Mike Nichols film that the PCA was very reluctant to pass and had to exempt with mature label for adults thanks to Jack Valenti who became head of MPAA in 1966 and later in 1968 Velenti would make more age ratings with MPAA thus replacing and dismantling the PCA
Olivia de Havilland, filed a suit against Warner Bros for her 7 year contract who helped end the star contract system
Disneyland, 1954 ABC premiers Disneyland TV series that synergized with the theme park and films studio for promotion
Vincente Minnelli, director of 1944 Meet Me In St Louis and 1956 Tea and Sympathy
Chronotope, chronotopes such as the road the frontier the salon the lounge/bar describe specific spaces that emerge culturally at a particular time in history and they capture how certain spaces function to organize people to experience time in a particular way and Sobchack’s lounge time is a chronotope that works in contrast to the homefront idyll.
Mission to Moscow, 1943 War Drama by Michael Curtiz that was Made at the behest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to familiarize the American public with the Soviet Union who were key allies at the time of production
The Robe, 1954 biblical epic drama by Henry Koster with suggestive homosexual themes and coded dialogue also the debut of Cinemascope widescreen standard in Hollywood on 35mm negative
hard-boiled fiction, a rough gritty style of American crime and detective writing that originated in the 1920s and became popular in the 1930s and 1950 where the femme fatale and the impaired or disturbed male protagonist originate
Doris Day, iconic actress who define her films of the 50s and 60s and started her career as a singer in a band also did the Doris Day Show in 1968
How the West Was Won, 1962 John Ford and Wayne Cinerama Western Drama
Billy Wilder, directed 1944 film noir Double Indemnity and 1950 Sunset Blvd and The Lost Weekend thus he transcended genre
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956 by Don Siegel shows that science fiction and horror cinema become key genres for working through Cold War-era paranoia often allegorically
HUAC, House Un-American Activities Committee and the blacklist of Fall 1947 that targeted the Hollywood 10 unfriendly witnesses showed fear of communists and jews
package unit system, a film production model where each film is treated as a separate project with producers organizing and securing financing for the project
Lew Wasserman, was MCA agent (Music Corporation America that bought Paramounts pre 1950 films in 1958) and the last of the legendary movie moguls" and "arguably the most powerful and influential Hollywood titan in the four decades after World War II
Telefilm, telefilm 1954 tv series shot on film sales kept regular Hollywood studio production and audience alive in postwar era after the Paramount decision and included Disneyland series
Burstyn v. Wilson, 1952 the Miracle Case/Decision that helped the Production Code fall by Supreme Court overturning NY state board decision to ban Rosellinis The Miracle for blasphemy and recognized film as an art form by reversing the 1915 Mutual Decision that banned free speech for cinema and granting first amendment and dissolved many state and local censor boards
Jack Valenti, became head of MPAA in 1966 and modernized/replaced the Production Code to make Hollywood films relevant by adding Mature Audiences category for Nichols 1966 film Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Valenti dismantled Production Code by adding age rating systems in 1968 that allowed Hollywood to target specific audience demographics and served as a form of niche marketing and product differentiation for the studios.
VistaVision, 1954 Paramount process that emphasized height over widescreen like Cinemascope and Todd-AO and debuted with White Christmas in 1954 also The Searchers and Veritgo
Cinemascope, 1954 by 20th Century Fox became widescreen standard for Hollywood AKA the poor man's Cinerama with longer takes fewer cuts and extreme long shots and debuted with biblical epic The Robe 1954
The Manchurian Candidate, 1962 John Frankenheimer neo-noir psychological political thriller and spread the popular Cold War myth that China was brainwashing US soldiers for communist purposes during the Korean War
Quo Vadis, 1951 MGM biblical epic by Mervyn LeRoy “The Most Colossal Ever” released right before widescreen and the first legit box-office blockbuster according to Variety that redefined WW2 notion of blockbuster bombings
The Miracle, 1948 by Robert Rossellini that was unbanned for blasphemy by Supreme Court thus reversing longstanding Mutual Decision of 1915 that took away free speech and art form of cinema in Mircle Case of Burstyn v Wilson
Excelsior Pictures case, 1957 case versus Regents of Uni of New York State where NY court overturns local ban on Garden of Eden and court decided that nudity itself is not obscene which allows Russ Meyer to successfully release The Immoral Mr Teas 1959 with a nude colony in it which inspired a series of nudie cuties
teen films, such as Rebel Without A Cause 1955 and The Wild One 1953
Generation of Vipers, 1942 novel by Phillip Wylie that percieved the threat of “momism” overbearing maternalism and was concerned about demands of the breadwinner role and a loss of identity amidst Suburban Conformity and the Crisis of Masculinity and the difficult process of postwar reintegration of war veterans
Kinsey, studies of male sexuality 1948 and female sexuality 1953 and noted how norms were often challenged by actual sexual behaviors where a far greater percentage of men and woman had homosexual and/or pre/nonmarital sex than expected which started a “sexual revolution” of early 1960s with emergent youth and adult baby boomer audience and Hollywood tries to reach these audiences
Them, 1954 science fiction and horror cinema that expressed Cold War-era paranoia often allegorically
white flight, large-scale migration of white people from cities and inner suburbs to more racially homogeneous areas of 1950s and 60s suburbanization and domesticity fueled by development of interstate highways and tied to broader domestic ideology emphasizing home family and traditional gender roles
The Lonely Crowd, 1950 film by Reisman that argues society dominated by the other-directed faces profound deficiencies in leadership individual self-knowledge and human potential by expressing Suburban Conformity and the Crisis of Masculinity and concerns about the demands of the breadwinner role and a loss of identity and freedom to corporate bureaucracy
Otto Preminger, Preminger and United Artists released The Man With The Golden Arm in 1955 without PCA seal against Geoffrey Shurlocks recommendation but it was a success also defied PCA earlier on with another successful film The Moon is Blue in 1953 and proved that the filmgoing public was ready for a new American cinema with modern films
Leigh Brackett, incredible Woman Screenwriter for Howard Hawks 1946 adaptation of Chandlers hardboiled detective novel The Big Sleep and other gritty film noirs
The Lost Weekend, Billy Wilder 1945 cautionary noir/comedy melodrama about drinking problems and features a bar often
The Children’s Hour, 1961 melodrama about a lesbian relationship in a girls boarding school directed by William Wyler
Screen Gems, American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment
Pillow Talk , 1959 Romcom by Michael Gordon in CinemaScope (poor man's Cinerama) starring Doris Day
negative-pickups, An industry term for films that studios purchase (“pick up”) after they are produced independently and often screened at a film festival
On the Waterfront, 1954 thriller/drama by Elia Kazan which was a blacklist post-HUAC testimony allegory and celbrated the nobility of naming names as Kazan did himself for HUAC
The Ten Commandments, 1956 biblical epic directed by DeMille that used VistaVision that emphasized height rather than width like Cinerama and Todd-AO did
Divestiture, (process of selling off subsidiary business interests or investments) The Parammunt Decision of 1948 enforced divestiture of the studios’ theater holdings and marked the end of vertical integration which dramatically changed the film business and marketplace to forge a new Hollywood.
“male paranoia” (Wood), Male paranoia is a double bind as it not only comes from the repression of homosexuality but in the repression of femininity and its consequence the hatred fear and distrust not only of other men as potential hence threatening love objects but of women also as the embodiments of the femininity that must be disowned and the consequence of that consequence the possible eruption of violence against both sexes hence Hitchcock murderous gays in Rope and Psycho
Lana Turner, discovered at a young age and became major Hollywood star as seen in The Imitation of Life 1959 Sirk as Lora Merideth slightly based on her real life
Dalton Trumbo, was part of the Hollywood 10 blacklist and was an award winning screenwriter who was denied his rightful 60k contract dollars from MGM
Waldorf Statement, 1947 after the House approved the indictments of the Hollywood 10 the MPAA issued the Waldorf Statement that pretty much said yeah were going to fire all these guys asap without compensation and affected over three hundred writers directors producers actors etc. Between 47 and 57
femme fatale, film noir staple of scheming and seductive woman using her sexuality to control and corrupt men in contrast with domesticated woman and often leads male protagonist and/or herself to death and originated in hard-boiled fiction and detective novels (Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice)
Force of Evil, 1948 noir crime film by Abraham Polonsky who was later blacklisted this film said being complicit to capitalism is unethical and immoral and ultimately criminal
Elia Kazan, cooperated with HUAC and gave names and was later subpoenaed himself and directed 1954 On The Waterfront which celebrated the nobility of naming names
Howard Hawks, talented and influential film nori director of The Big Sleep 1946 and Scarface 1932 who was able to transcend genre and did Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1953 with Monroe and worked at Paramount and Fox
Ida Lupino, rare woman in the industry who was actress writer and director began her career at Warner Bros. And made films about different interesting and complex women but did not express a feminist agenda or be politically progressive
Tea and Sympathy, MGM 1956 melodrama directed by Vincente Minnelli that was troublesome for the PCA because it was about a young boys sexual coming of age and adultery and was mature themed and did well in box-office
nudie cuties, Russ Meyers The Immoral Mr Teas 1959 was the first feature length commercially successful film with onscreen nudity and it inspired a whole bunch of other “nudie cuties” genre
John Ford, directed 1962 Cinerama western How The West Won starring John Wayne
AIP, American International Pictures (AIP) was a production and distribution company founded in 1956 that specialized in exploitation films and B movies and teen fims
Orson Welles, used antimontage style in Citizen Kane 1941 with long takes and composition in depth
Alfred Hitchcock, director of Rope 1948 had Psycho 1960 shot by his TV production company “AH Presents” and provides a clear example of the convergence of film and tv industries
Frank Tashlin, made successful kids cartoons and comedies at Warner Bros and became an Auter and film director with social critiques of America and its pop culture (w/ Jerry Lewis).
The Searchers, John Ford’s 1956 western that used VistaVision that emphasized height rather than width like Cinerama and Todd-AO did
auteur theory, Sirk is considered a progressive auteur by 1970s by film scholars and theory developed from Andrew Sarris
Playboy, 1953 magazine emerges alongside lifestyle and was a more consumer-focused resistance to the perceived burden of domesticity; celebrated heterosexual bachelorhood as declaration of masculinity individuality and freedom
Beat culture, emerged in 1950s and rejected both work and marriage demands of middle class life; provided direct critique of American consumer culture