Closely Watched Films: An Introduction to the Art of Narrative Film Technique

299 Pages·2004·6.36 MB·english

by  Marilyn Fabe

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CLOSELY WATCHED FILMS
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Closely Watched Films
An Introduction to the Art
of Narrative Film Technique
Marilyn Fabe
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
Portions of chapters 3, 8, and 9 have been previously
published in a series of Film Study Extract Booklets,
Macmillan Films Inc., Mount Vernon, N.Y., 1975.
© 2004 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fabe, Marilyn.
Closely watched films : an introduction to the art of
narrative film technique / Marilyn Fabe.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-520-23862-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn0-520-23891-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Motion pictures—Evaluation. 2. Motion
pictures—Aesthetics. 3. Motion pictures.
I. Title.
pn1995.9.e9f17 2004
791.43'015—dc22 2004000202
Manufactured in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
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For Tom and Daniel
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Contents
List of Illustrations / ix
Acknowledgments / xiii
Introduction / xv
1 The Beginnings of Film Narrative:
D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation / 1
2 The Art of Montage: Sergei Eisenstein’s
The Battleship Potemkin / 19
3 Expressionism and Realism in Film Form:
F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laughand
Charles Chaplin’s The Adventurer / 37
4 The Conversion to Sound
and the Classical Hollywood Film:
Howard Hawks’s His Girl Friday / 59
5 Expressive Realism: Orson Welles’s
Citizen Kane / 78
6 Italian Neorealism: Vittorio De Sica’s
The Bicycle Thief / 99
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7 Auteur Theory and the French New Wave:
François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows / 120
8 Hollywood Auteur: Alfred Hitchcock’s
Notorious / 135
9 The European Art Film: Federico
Fellini’s 8 1/2 / 152
10 Film and Postmodernism: Woody Allen’s
Annie Hall / 173
11 Political Cinema: Spike Lee’s Do
the Right Thing / 191
12 Feminism and Film Form: Patricia Rozema’s
I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing / 207
13 Epilogue: Digital Video and New Forms of
Narrative in Mike Figgis’s Timecode / 228
Notes / 243
Glossary / 259
Bibliography / 267
Index / 273
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Illustrations
1. Long shot of Flora, The Birth of a Nation 10
2. Image of a fence in the frame showing Gus, a black man
about to pursue a young white woman, The Birth of
a Nation 12
3. Close-up of Gus, The Birth of a Nation 14
4. Flora through Gus’s eyes, The Birth of a Nation 15
5. An extreme long shot of the people running down the
Odessa Steps, The Battleship Potemkin 29
6. A big close-up of a pair of legs, The Battleship Potemkin 29
7. The purposeful, organized movement of the soldiers,
The Battleship Potemkin 30
8. The chaotic, disorganized movements of the victims,
The Battleship Potemkin 30
9. A boy’s body creates a graphic conflict with the line
of the steps, The Battleship Potemkin 31
10. A woman carrying a sick child ascends the steps, her
body casting a shadow, The Battleship Potemkin 35
11. Soldiers’ bodies cast their shadows on the woman
and child, The Battleship Potemkin 35
12. Cesare, shortly before he collapses in exhaustion,
The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari 38
ix