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FLM 157 — Hollywood in the '40s: Turmoil and Triumph in Tinseltown!

Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Elliot Lavine
Duration: 10 weeks
Location: Online
Date(s): Jan 15—Mar 19
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
 
Class Meeting Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Tuition: $490
   
Refund Deadline: Jan 17
 
Unit(s): 2
   
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
 
Quarter: Winter
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jan 15—Mar 19
Unit(s): 2
Location: Online
 
Tuition: $490
 
Refund Deadline: Jan 17
 
Instructor(s): Elliot Lavine
 
Recording Available: Yes
 
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
 
The 1940s would quickly become a decade dominated by a global war, an abrupt Allied victory, and its jarring atomic aftermath—a double-barreled gut punch to the nation’s rattled infrastructure and its shell-shocked psyche. Hollywood, with calculated patriotic sincerity and economic shrewdness, addressed the climate of the country’s emotions during wartime and beyond by producing some of its most celebrated cinematic masterpieces in every conceivable genre and style, from Westerns to musicals and screwball comedies; from stirring war dramas and suspenseful spy dramas to deeply human dramas; and ultimately to the most uniquely dark American film style of all: film noir. Proof positive that the American film industry could not and would not be silenced by war.

In this course, students will view at least 20 films from John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges, William Wellman, Fritz Lang, and other significant directors of the period, offering a vivid panorama of Hollywood’s continued impact on popular culture. Among the classic films we will watch and discuss weekly are The Grapes of Wrath, Citizen Kane, The Ox-Bow Incident, Out of the Past, Casablanca, Meet John Doe, Notorious, His Girl Friday, The Lost Weekend, and Detour.

Students will watch assigned films outside of class. All films can be rented or streamed through Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, or other online platforms.

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.