Casablanca (1942)

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

Casablanca, another film off of the AFI’s films list that we have watched in class. AFI rated Casablanca at number 3 All-time best films. Casablanca won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay that year and was nominated for a few other awards. Casablanca was a wartime film that took place during World War II in French Morocco.  The film was a story of lost love and sacrifice in a chaotic world. One fantastic fact about the movie was that thre was two different endings that were filmed and Bergman (rick’s long lost lover) was never told which one would make it until screening.

2)  Find a related article and summarize the content.  (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) You can use the library or the internet.  Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-casablanca-1942

Casablanca was adapted from an unproduced screenplay called “Everybody Come’s To Rick’s”.  The movie was a standard Warner Bros. A-list movie that had a tight budget but a cast of stars, which was a very common occurrence at this time.  The greatness that came along with Casablanca was simply a result of luck.

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.   How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?

I thought Casablanca was a great film with a wonderful cast and satisfying plot. The article satisfied everything I though the film was and more. The article gave me a great reminder of how the great the film was and how it will last forever as a movie great.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including  your personal opinion,  formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article.  I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this)  than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.

Overall Casablanca was my favorite film since It Happened One Night. The film had a perfect amount of action and romance with some comedy mixed into it.  For the time period the film fit perfectly since it was about the war that was happening all over the world. Casablanca wasn’t necessarily about the battles but it was about two long lost lovers in an uneasy situation.  

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 
1) ( x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2) ( x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

3) ( x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4) ( x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6) ( x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

8) ( x ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

Name: _______Christian Hansen_________________  Date: ____04/29/2013____________

Citizen Kane (1941)

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

Citizen Kane was not what I had expected. The movie was based off William Hearst. Orson Wells had directed the movie with full artistic control and in my opinion he did a fantastic job. Citizen Kane was Wells first movie where he was the director, but in the movie he was also the main character, Charles Foster Kane.  

2)  Find a related article and summarize the content.  (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) You can use the library or the internet.  Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.

http://www.filmsite.org/citi.html

Citizen Kane was voted the best American film of all time in 1998 and for good reasons. Its cinematic and narrative techniques were gold, almost every scene had the perfect camera angle and lighting. At the time of its released the movie was financially a bust, but after World War II the movie was rereleased in Europe and also on television and had a much better turn out.  The release had failed partly because of numerous efforts to stop the film from releasing at all due to parallels in the lives of Charles Foster Kane and William Hurst who was a powerful name in the newspaper business.

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.   How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?

Overall the article had some great information that I wasn’t aware of until now. The fact that the FBI had gotten involved in the delay of the release of the movie was a great tidbit of information behind this amazing film. I believe that if the film had been able to be released when RKO had expected it to it would have been a great success and not a financial flop. The documentary “The Battle Over Citizen Kane” which was released in 1996 seems like a great documentary depicting the controversies at the time of release.  

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including  your personal opinion,  formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article.  I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this)  than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.

Orson wells, in my option, did a fantastic job with the movie. Bouncing between being the director and the main character must have been a very difficult task, but due to the fact that Kane was not in every scene it made sense that it could have been done. Overall AFI rated this as the greatest American film of all time. I would have to say it was an amazing film with some of the best cinematography that I have ever seen especially for being released in 1941.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 
1) ( x  ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2) ( x  ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

3) ( x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4) ( x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6) ( x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

8) ( x ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

Name: ___Christian Hansen___________  Date: _____04/29/2013___________________

Gone With the Wind
1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.
Overall "Gone With the Wind" is labeled one of the greatest movies of all time. The movie was based on the book written by Margret Michelle and was published in 1936.  The book was a great American novel and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. When the movie came out in 1939 it was an instant classic and went on to win the  8 of the 13 academy awards it was nominated for. 

2)  Find a related article and summarize the content.  (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) You can use the library or the internet.  Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.
http://classicfilm.about.com/od/epicswarmovies/fr/GoneWithWind.htm
Gone with the Wind is an America Epic, not only in novel form but in film form as well.  The movies is based on a spoiled Southern Belle named Scarlett who is looking for love in all the wrong places during the American Civil in Part 1 and the Reconstruction of the South in Part 2.  To this day Gone With the Wind holds the record for most theater tickets sold and rightfully so considering the film had an amazingly famous cast as well as a massive budget.

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.   How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?
Overall the article supported everything that we went over in class just in a little more depth.  Laurie Boeders summation of the film was clear and concise considering how long the film was.  It also gave a great overview of the director, cast and all the other people involved with the film. 

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including  your personal opinion,  formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article.  I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this)  than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.
Gone with the Wind is considered one of the greatest films of all time and has topped charts since it came out in 1939.  To this day it still has the record for most theater tickets sold and sits at number four on AMC's greatest movies of all time. For me the film was okay, the story was good as well as the cinimatography(other then the death scene's). The only problem I had with the film was how incredibly long it was. The film ran for three hours and forty five minutes.. Other than the length the film was amazing, from the cover you always knew Scarlett would end up with Rhett but the film kept you guessing and wondering the whole way through. 

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 
1) ( x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2) ( x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

3) ( x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4) ( x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6) ( x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

8) ( x ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

Name: __Christian Hansen_____  Date: ____April 09, 2013_______