FLM 171 — Film Noir: The Glamour and the Grit, 1950–65
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Elliot Lavine
Date(s): Sep 23—Dec 2
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Class Meeting Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Please Note: No class on November 25
Tuition: $520
Refund Deadline: Sep 25
Unit(s): 2
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 23—Dec 2
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $520
Refund Deadline: Sep 25
Instructor(s): Elliot Lavine
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Please Note: No class on November 25
As the 1950s dawned, a very different world greeted the moviegoing public, one shadowed by Cold War anxieties, existential dread, and a growing sense of national uncertainty. Film noir entered its final classic phase with a wave of highly stylized, violent crime thrillers stamped with the red-hot nervous energy of their times while maintaining the rigid visual standards that distinguished them from Hollywood’s more polished, less provocative productions. Radical subtexts gave writers and directors the chance to insinuate subversive political and sexual nuances into their gritty yet glamorous, down-and-dirty crime stories, which reflected the harsh realities of a wildly unpredictable era. This intensive 10-week course explores more than 20 films by acknowledged Hollywood masters, including Fritz Lang (The Big Heat), Orson Welles (Touch of Evil), Joseph H. Lewis (Gun Crazy), Nicholas Ray (On Dangerous Ground), Samuel Fuller (Pickup on South Street), Stanley Kubrick (The Killing), and many others.
All films are available through major streaming platforms; the instructor will provide free viewing links when available.
ELLIOT LAVINE
Film Historian and Filmmaker
Elliot Lavine has been an active participant in both film production and film exhibition since the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, he directed a pair of short films in the film noir tradition and has been cited as among the nation’s leading film programmers, beginning his career at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco in 1990. In 2010, he received the Marlon Riggs Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle for his revival of rare archival titles and his role in the renewed popularity of film noir. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.