GER 57
Hollywood and Germany
Prof. Hewitt
T.A. Heather Sottong
Winter 2009 M 2-3.15
W 2-4.15
Office Hours
M. 3.30-4.30
W. 11.30-12.30
Or by appointment
The aim of the course is to begin to think critically about the way in which film shapes our
perceptions of other cultures. To this end, we will cover a variety of Hollywood films that deal
with Germany in the post-war period, as well as some German films of the period that reflect the
experience of losing a World War and rebuilding society. Lectures will attempt to convey
something of the historical, political and cultural background of Germany at the time, but will
focus primarily on the cultural exchanges that took place between Hollywood and Germany.
Hollywood cinema was so dominant internationally throughout the twentieth century that it is
easy to forget that German cinema between the two world wars was highly developed and
successful, providing a rich pool of talent for the American industry. Germans were crucial to
the development of the industry at every level: as directors, actors, technicians and entrepreneurs.
The course also aims to provide students with the basic tools necessary for articulating an
informed critique of films. In section, instructors will focus on the technical analysis of film,
supported by the students’ reading of Timothy Corrigan’s, A Short Guide to Writing About Film
(5th ed.) By the end of the quarter, students should be able to muster arguments that deal with the
formal and ideological elements of the films in question.
Films will be screened on Wednesday for discussion in section. The pattern of holidays
throughout the Winter quarter might dictate whether lectures cover the week’s films in advance
or in retrospect. Required reading for the course consists of the Corrigan text noted above and
of a Reader (available from Course Reader Material at 1137 Westwood Boulevard). Reading
assignments are not strenuous and students are expected to be conversant with assignments and
to have a point of view to express about the films viewed.
Grading
Grades consist of a series of quizzes, an in-lecture midterm and a final take-home exam along
with the further components listed below. Students are expected to post at least 4 500-word
postings to the listserve responding to the films and the readings. At least two of these postings
should respond directly to postings made by your fellow students, taking up and contesting
arguments made by other posters.
For the film research paper, students must consult a filmography of one of the directors featured
in the course and undertake a comparative formal analysis of two other films s/he directed. In
this paper, students should put into practice the skills learned from reading Corrigan.
Final Take-Home Exam
Listserve Postings
In-Class Quizzes (2)
Midterm Exam
Film Research Paper
(5 pages)
Class participation
30%
15%
10%
20%
20%
5%
Mon. Lecture
Section. Reading
Weds. Film
Week 1
(Jan 5th)
Course Objectives.
Film and Meaning.
Origins of Hollywood
Jaffe, "Fighting Words,
The Great Dictator
City Lights (1931), Modern (1940 - 129 mins)
Times (1936) and The Great
Dictator (1940)'" Reader
Corrigan Ch.1
Week 2
(Jan 12th)
Anti-fascism
In Hollywood.
German Exiles in LA.
Eisner, "Hangmen also Die," Hangmen Also Die
Mann, “What’s Wrong With (1943 - 134 mins)
Anti-Nazi Films?” Reader
Week 3
(Jan 19th)
NO CLASS
Corrigan Ch. 3
Slane, "Marlene Dietrich
as Hollywood's Double
Agent," Reader
In-Class Quiz on Terms
Week 4
(Jan 26th)
Weimar Cinema
Origins of Film Noir
Shandley, “Coming Home Die Mörder sind
Through Rubble Canyons.” Unter Uns
Reader
(1946 – 85 mins)
Week 5
(Feb 2nd)
“Rubble Films”:
Rebuilding Post-War
Germany
Corrigan Ch. 2
The Third Man
Carpenter, "I Never Knew (194 - 104 mins)
The Old Vienna: Cold War
Politics and The Third
Man,"; Palmer, "The Lone
Rider in Vienna: Myth and
Meaning in The Third Man,":
Evans, "The Third Man:
Constructions of the Self,"
Reader
Week 6
(Feb 9th)
The Politics of Film:
The Cold War
and Hollywood
Corrigan Ch. 4
The Big Lift
Stern, “The Big Lift (1950): (1950 - 120 mins)
Image and Identity in
Blockaded Berlin,” Reader
Research Paper Due
Week 7
(Feb 16th)
NO CLASS
Corrigan Ch. 5
MIDTERM EXAM
Week 8
(Feb 23rd)
German
Auteurs
Kapczynski, “Homeward
Bound? Peter Lorre’s
The Lost Man” Reader
Der Verlorene
(1951 – 98 mins)
A Foreign Affair
(1948 - 116 mins)
Week 9
(Mar 2nd)
Coca- Colonization:
TAKE HOME
EXAM DISTRIBUTED
Corrigan Ch 6-7.
One, Two, Three
Gemünden, "National
(1961 - 110 mins)
Identity & Americanization
In the Unified Germany";
Wenders, "Talk About
Germany," Reader
Week 10
(Mar 9th)
TAKE HOME
EXAM DUE
In-Class Quiz
The Good German
(2007 – 107 mins)