Film class

Great choices..I would also add "Vertigo" and "All About Eve".

I'm actually enrolled in an introduction to film analysis class that I think has a great film list. The films were not chosen to represent the greatest achievements in film or to be a sampling of cinema history, but to introduce various concepts involved in the act of film analysis.

The Player (Robert Altman) - Great introductory film, it has beaucoup allusions to noteworthy films and a good panoramic view of the film industry

Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks) - Spearheaded a discussion of the golden age of Hollywood and another discussion about genre

Run, Lola, Run (Tom Tykwer) - Discussion of point of view and cinematic time.

The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir) - Discussion of film design and mise-en-scene - lead into a discussion of the shot and the cut with clips from Battleship Potemkin and The Andalusian dog as illustrative of the cut and 400 Blows as illustrative of the shot

In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai) - Further discussion of film design, introduction to discussion of international film design

Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa) - Discussion on lighting

Rear Window (Hitchcock) - Further discussion of the concept of the shot

On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan) - Discussion of film acting

Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau) - Further discussion of editing

Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard) - Further discussion of editing and the french new wave ideas regarding the concept of the shot

High School (Frederick Wiseman) - Discussion of non-fiction film

M (Fritz Lang) - Discussion of cinematic sound

Singing in the Rain (Stanley Donen) - Discussion of sound continued

I think this is an effective set-up for such a class since many of the students won't really be interested in or gain much from a discussion of film history in an introductory level class, but the different aspects of film analysis can at least try to teach them the means by which one appreciates good film.

Your list is also much longer than mine - this list has the class watching 1 movie a week; more than that would seem to inhibit the amount of real discussion one can have about the movies.

The one serious flaw in this list, in my opinion, is the lack of a film by Federico Fellini. 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, or Amarcord would add alot to the discussions of the shot and design, or just direction in general, especially in connection with a discussion on Italian neo-classicism coupled to a viewing of Ladri di biciclette.

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I don't agree with your list at all. A list like this should not be a list of the best films out there but of 1) The most important films (which are not always the best) and 2) films that are great examples of some technique, genre or theory.

Why would you use Faust by Murnau? It is a great film but not one of his most important ones. The Last Laugh is his most important one and Nosferatu and Sunrise are also more important than Faust.

And why would you use Modern Times? What would you be teaching there? How to be funny. Modern Times is a great film but in no way an important film. Battleship Potemkin is however a film you would need to show and the same goes for The Passion of Joan of Arc. And if you want to talk about slapstick then I would rather use Buster Keaton, something short like "One Week". And while we are talking about silent films, how can you teach film history with out showing at least one film by the Lumière brothers, Georges Méliès and D.W. Griffith?

Well I'm not going to go through your whole list. It would take too long time but, like I said, "best of" lists don't make be best Film Class lists.


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