World Film History II
From Neorealism to the New Wave
Felix A. Morlion, “The philosophical basis
of Italian cinematic neorealism”
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Neo-realism's thesis is that the screen is a magic
window which opens out on to the "real"; that cinematic
art is the art of recreating, through the exercise of free
choice upon the material world, the most intense vision
possible of the invisible reality inherent in the
movements of the mind. The basis of every good work of
art is not what people think about reality, but what reality
actually is. Through a shared vision of existence, both
artists and audiences forget with pleasure those artistic
inventions which merely served as means for the
creation of that new-born thing ... The neo-realist school
has taken a great step forward. It has forsworn vanity to
reach the true aim of cinema: to express reality.
Luigi Chiarini: ”Neorealism betrayed”
(1955)
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People derived from the audiences' own reality
replaced the pre-conceived characters in
conventional narratives of the past
The chronicle (if we can call it that), events and facts
culled from the daily existence of men, replaced the
prefabricated adventures of novels and comedies
The throbbing photographic document replaced
pictorial and figurative virtuosity
The cities and countryside, with people effectively
living there, replaced the papier-maché scenery of
the past
Geoffrey Nowell-Smith’s criteria for
neorealism (1968)
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Realistic treatment of subject matter
Popular environments
Social content
Historical accuracy
Political commitment
Neorealism: major directros and their
films
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LUCHINO VISCONTI: Ossessione (1942), La Terra
trema (1948)
ROBERTO ROSSELLINI: Roma, citta aperta (1945),
Paisa (1946), Germania anno zero (1947)
VITTORIO DE SICA: Sciuscià (1946) Ladri di
biciclette (1948), Umberto D (1952)
ALBERTO LATTUDA: Senza pietà (1948)
PIETRO GERMI: In nome delle legge (1949)
GIUSEPPE DE SANTIS: Riso amaro (1948)
”Neorealismo rosa”
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ROBERTO CASTELLANI: Sotto il sole di
Roma (1948), Due soldi di speranza (1952)
LUIGI COMENCINI: Pane, amore e fantasia
(1953), Pane, amore e gelosia (1954)
DINO RISI: Pane, amore e ... (1955), Poveri
ma belli (1954)
Toward existential cinema
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Lighter camera equipment, more rapid film
More freewheeling, ’natural’ style of shooting
Episodic, lingering, minimalistic storytelling
Problematizing the relationship between the
characters and their environment
The question of the ’human condition’
Character motivation often obscure
Toward new cinema
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ROBERTO ROSSELLINI: Stromboli (1949),
Viaggio in Italia (1953)
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: Le Amiche
(1955), Il Grido (1957)
FEDERICO FELLINI: Lo Sceicco bianco
(1952), I Vitelloni (1953), La Strada (1954), Il
Bidone (1955)
The staggering rise of Italian cinema
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The economic miracle and the crisis of American cinema
Cultural life ideologically polarized by cold war
antagonisms
Social change further acerbated the cultural battle
Films taking a social stand could reach mass audiences
Commedia all’italiana, italowesterns
The growth of volume: from the 1958 production of 141
feature films to 246 films in 1968
The proportion of domestic films in terms of box-office
receipt rose from 30.8% in 1958 to 62.3 % in 1972
The golden era of Italian cinema
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PIETRO GERMI: Divorzo all'italiana (1961)
LUCHINO VISCONTI: Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960), Il Gattopardo
(1963)
FEDERICO FELLINI: La Dolce vita (1960), Otto e mezzo (1963),
Satyricon (1970), Roma (1972)
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961),
L’Eclisse (1962), Il Deserto rosso (1964)
ERMANO OLMI: Il posto (1961)
PIER PAOLO PASOLINI: Accattone (1959), Il Vangelo secondo
Matteo (1964), Ucellacci e ucellini (1966), Edipo re (1967), Teorema
(1968)
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI: Prima della rivoluzione (1964), Strategia
del ragno (1970), Il Conformista (1970)
FRANSCESCO ROSI: Salvatore Giuliano (1962), Le Mani sulla citta
(1963)
Characteristic features of Italian political
films in the 60s and 70s
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Emphasis on subjectivity and individual
responsibility
Open plot, relative fragmentarity
The structure of the film as a part of its
message
Revolutionary political and social content
Basic themes: corruption, colonialism,
exploitation, revolution
Institutions created during the occupation
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Comité d'Organisation de l'industrie
Cinématographique (C.O.I.C.) founded in 1940
under former UFA producer Rouil Ploquin
Grand Prix de Film D'Art Francais
Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques
(I.D.H.E.C.) under Marcel L'Herbier
Cinémathèque Francaise, founded by Henri
Langlois together with Georges Franju
strenghtens its position
Major producer: Continental Films led by Alfred
Greven
Films and directors during the occupation
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CHRISTIAN-JACQUES: La symphonie fantastique
(1942)
MARCEL PAGNOL: La fille du puisatier (1940)
MARCEL CARNÉ: Les visiteurs du soir (1942), Les
enfants du paradis (1945)
HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT: Le corbeau (1943)
JEAN GRÉMILLON: Le ciel est a vous (1944)
Other artists working in the industry: Jacques Prévert,
Pierre Laroche, Alexander Trauner, Joseph Kosma,
Pierre Fresnay, Arletty
French ”cinema of quality”
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Part of a national cultural project – although based
on institutions created during the occupation
Big budgets and shining stars – often international
co-productions
Adaptations of major literary works
Production values: elegant and glamorous sets and
costumes
Carefully articulated dialogue
Spiritual and moral issues foregrounded but seldom
problematized
Historical rather than contemporary topics
Quality films
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JACQUES DELANNOY: La Symphonie
pastorale (1946)
ANDRÉ CAYATTE: Justice est faite (1950),
Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)
CLAUDE AUTANT-LARA: Le Diable au corps
(1947), L’Auberge rouge (1954), Le Rouge et
le noir (1954)
RENÉ CLÉMENT: La Bataille du rail (1946)
Jeux interdits (1952)
French 50s masters
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MAX OPHULS: La Ronde (1950), Le Plaisir
(1952), Lola Montès (1955)
JACQUES BECKER: Casque d'or (1952), Le
Trou (1960)
ROBERT BRESSON: Le Journal d'un curé
de campagne (1950), Un condamné a mort
s'est échappé (1956), Pickpocket (1959)
Jean d'Arch (1961)
JACQUES, TATI: Jour de fête (1949), Les
Vacances de monsieur Hulot (1953), Mon
Oncle (1958), Playtime (1967)
Anticipations of the New Wave in writing
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ALEXANDER ASTRUC: ” Naissance d’une
nouvelle avant-garde” – caméra-stylo
ANDRÉ BAZIN & JACQUES DONIOLVALCROZE: Les Cahiers du Cinéma
(periodical founded in 1951)
FRANÇOISE TRUFFAUT: "Une certaine
tendance du cinema francais" (1954)
Social and cultural background
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Big generations reached adolescence
Rapid urbanization, quickly constructed suburbs
American way of making business and industrial
production replace small scale enterprises
National income more than doubled from the
post war period → consumer society
American popular culture
The rise of existentialism, structuralism,
semiotics, Neo-Marxism, Lacanian
psychoanalysis
Rive gauche
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AGNES VARDA: Cléo de cinq à sept (1958)
JACQUES DEMY: Lola (1961), Les Parapluies de
Cherbourg (1964)
ALAIN RESNAIS: Hiroshima mon amour (1959),
L’Année dernière à Marienbad (1961), La Guerre
est finie (1966)
ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET: Trans-Europ-Express
(1966), L'Eden et après (1970)
CHRIS MARKER: Lettre de Sibérie (1958), La Jétée
(1962), Le Jolie mai (1962)
Nouvelle vague
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CLAUDE CHABROL: Le Beau Serge (1958),Les
Cousins (1959), Les Bonnes femmes (1960)
ERIC ROHMER: Le Signe du lion (1959), La
Collectionneuse (1967), Ma nuit Chez Maud (1969),
La Femme de l’aviateur (1981)
JACQUES RIVETTE: Paris nous appartient (1960),
Suzanne Simonin, la religieuse de Diderot (1965),
L’amour fou (1968), Out One (1970)
FRANÇOISE TRUFFAUT Les Quatre cent coups
(1959), Jules et Jim (1962)
JEAN-LUC GODARD: A bout de souffle (1959),
Pierrot le fou (1965), Le Gai savoir (1968)
400 what?
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« Faire les quatre cent coups » - to get into a lot of trouble, be a
real troublemaker.
The title, Les quatre cent coups is literally translated as The 400
Blows; however, since it's an idiom, a direct translation is
imperfect. The phrase loosely means "Raising Hell", and, while
that's not an English interpretation, it's a reasonable
approximation. The 400 Blows sounds like a movie about
violence and abuse, or (if you're thinking in sexual terms)
something salacious. When the film opened in the late '50s, more
than a few viewers were treated to an entirely different
experience from what they expected. (A widely circulated,
possibly apocryphal story says that the Weinstein brothers
attended this movie expecting a sex flick. They were so
astounded by what they saw that their entire perspective on
cinema changed, eventually leading them to found Miramax.)
Godard’s philosophical starting points
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Philosophical basis: Sartre and Merleau-Ponty - Hegel
Continuity from writing to filmmaking – philosophy by
means of film
Detachment from surface realism in order to gain a more
intimate relationship with reality
What do images hide as they reveal?
Continuity between documentary and fiction, actuality
and abstraction, visual and narrative
Counterpoint between a variety of materials
Collage rather than unity as an aesthetic ideal
”Intertextual terror” (Rivette)
Deconstruction of all forms of representation
Some of Godard’s major films
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A Bout de souffle (1960)
Vivre sa vie (1962)
Banded a part (1964)
Pierrot le fou (1965)
Weekend (1967)
Gaie savoir (1968)
Tout va bien (1972)
Histoir(es) du cinema (1989)
Few other French filmmakers
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ROGER VADIM: Et dieu créa la fémme
(1956)
LOUIS MALLE: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
(1958), Les Amants (1958), Le Feu follet
(1963)
JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE: Le Silence de la
mer (1963), Le Samourai (1967), L’Armée
des ombres (1969), Le Cercle rouge (1970)
England after the war
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The country was significantly impoverished and had lost
its empire
Monarchy and class society survived
Restoration of traditional values; fair play and decency
Extolling the nation, its unity, history and traditions:
"Small is beautiful, old is good."
1952 coronation was thought to begin a new
’Elizabethan’ era
Arts Council founded to promote fine arts - exclusively
Arthur Rank’s monopoly thwarted competition but was
able to compete with Hollywood in the domestic market
England after the war: films
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LESLIE ARLISS: The Wicked Lady 1945
LAURENCE OLIVIER: Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) ja
Richard III (1955)
DAVID LEAN: Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations
(1946), Oliver Twist (1947)
ALBERTO CAVALCANTI: They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
CAROL REED: Odd Man Out (1947), The Third Man (1949),
The Man Between (1953)
JOHN and ROY BOULTING: Brighton Rock (1947), The
Magic Box (1951), Lucky Jim (1956), I'm All Right, Jack
(1959)
LEWIS GILBERT: Emergency Call (1952)
BASIL DEARDEN: The Blue Lamp (1950), The Victim (1961)
Ealing-studios
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CHARLES CRICHTON: The Lavender Hill
Mob (1951)
ALEXANDER MACKENDRICK: Whisky
Galore (1949), The Man in the White Suit
(1951), The Lady Killers (1955)
HENRY CORNELIUS: Passport to Pimlico
(1948)
ROBERT HAMER: Kind Hearts and Coronets
(1949), Father Brown (1954)
Other popular films
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GERALD THOMAS Carry on Sergeant (1958),
Carry on Nurse (1959) ... Carry on Doctor (1968) …
RALPH THOMAS Doctor in the House (1954),
Doctor at Sea (1955), Doctor at Large (1957)
TERENCE FISHER The Curse of Frankenstein
(1956), Dracula (1958) , The Hound of Baskervilles
(1959) The Mummy (1959).
VAL GUEST The Quartemass Experiment (1955),
Quartemass II – the enemy from space (1957)
Cultural pressures
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Free cinema movement changed the tradition
of documentary filmmaking
Working class theatrical plays
John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1956)
followed by a wave of works by ’angry young
men’
The breakthrough of the French New wave at
Cannes Film Festival
American youth culture
New Cinema – stylistic features
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Shot in dreary Midlands industrial milieus
Domestic settings and problems, ´Kitchen
sink drama’
Characters genuinely working class, unheroic
and deglamorized
Language of the streets
Unknown young actors
Black and white cinematography
Jazzy music
New Cinema films and directors
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JACK CLAYTON: Room at the Top (1959),
Look Back in Anger (1959)
TONY RICHARDSON: The Entertainer
(1960), The Loneliness of the Long Distance
Runner (1962)
KAREL REISZ: Saturday Night and Sunday
Morning (1960)
JOHN SCHLESINGER: A Kind of Loving
(1962), Billy Liar (1963)
Swinging sixties
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Labour returns to power in 1964 after a 13 year
period of Conservative administration
It is ’pop’ to be young, working class, fashion
conscious, dress colourfully, go to discos …
The spirit of the age is crystallized in the ecstatic
reception of the Beatles
In serious filmmaking there is a shift from social
issues into depicting internal conflicts
British film industry is flooded by American money
and independents face tough competition
Majior swinging sixties films
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JOHN SCHLESINGER: Darling (1965)
RICHARD LESTER: A Hard Day’s Night
(1964), Help (1965)
TONY RICHARDSON: Tom Jones (1963),
Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
LINDSAY ANDERSON: If ... (1968), O Lucky
Man!
Foreign directors in Britain
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JOSEPH LOSEY: The Servant (1963),
Accident (1967)
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: Blowup
(1966)
ROMAN POLANSKI: Repulsion (1965), Cul
de sac (1966)
STANLEY KUBRICK: A Clockwork Orange
(1971)
John Schlesinger: Billy Liar (1963)
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Based on a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse
Adapted also into a play, musical and a TC sitcom –
and inspired a few popular songs
Total Film has ranked it as the 12th in a list of the
greatest British Films of all time
Protagonist is a Yorkshire lad who dreams about
success and obsessively fools around with women
Schlesinger’s fundamental theme: the need to
accept what appears second best because the best
is not attainable – or, how to cope between your
desires and the real world
The staggering rise of Italian cinema
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The economic miracle and the crisis of American cinema
Cultural life ideologically polarized by cold war
antagonisms
Social change further acerbated the cultural battle
Films taking a social stand could reach mass audiences
Commedia all’italiana, italowesterns
The growth of volume: from the 1958 production of 141
feature films to 246 films in 1968
The proportion of domestic films in terms of box-office
receipt rose from 30.8% in 1958 to 62.3 % in 1972
The golden era of Italian cinema
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PIETRO GERMI: Divorzo all'italiana (1961)
LUCHINO VISCONTI: Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960), Il Gattopardo
(1963)
FEDERICO FELLINI: La Dolce vita (1960), Otto e mezzo (1963),
Satyricon (1970), Roma (1972)
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961),
L’Eclisse (1962), Il Deserto rosso (1964)
ERMANO OLMI: Il posto (1961)
PIER PAOLO PASOLINI: Accattone (1959), Il Vangelo secondo
Matteo (1964), Ucellacci e ucellini (1966), Edipo re (1967), Teorema
(1968)
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI: Prima della rivoluzione (1964), Strategia
del ragno (1970), Il Conformista (1970)
FRANSCESCO ROSI: Salvatore Giuliano (1962), Le Mani sulla citta
(1963)
Characteristic features of Italian political
films in the 60s and 70s
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Emphasis on subjectivity and individual
responsibility
Open plot, relative fragmentarity
The structure of the film as a part of its
message
Revolutionary political and social content
Basic themes: corruption, colonialism,
exploitation, revolution
Cinema in East Germany
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Nationalization of the film industry: Deutsche Film
Aktiengeschellshaft (DEFA)
Socialist realism, struggle against American imperialism
Production hindered by endless debates about
ideological purity; no toleration of ”formalist” experiments
Thaw period only lasted from 1953 to1958
Back to depicting ”the ideal conditions of the workers
and peasants state” and the historical struggle of the
working class
Also fantasy, westerns and espionage films
Children’s films sold even to the West
Cinema in the West Germany
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De-nazification imposed by the Allied forces
Necessity and need to come to terms with the past
Commercialization of the film industry – Freiwillige
Selbstkontrolle, but also state control
Dubbing made even American war films palatable
”Unpolitical humanism”, Heimatfilme
Victim mentality in war and return from the war films
The rehabilitation of the German main – soldiers included
The ideal of the modern, non threatening woman
Post-war film in Germany
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HANS BURGER: Die Todesmühlen (1945)
WOLFGANG STAUDTE: Die Mörder sind
unter uns (1946)
ALFRED WEIDENMANN: Canaris (1954)
HELMUT KÄUTNER: In jenen Tagen (1947),
Des Teufels General (1955), Ludwig II (1954)
BERNHARDT WICKI: Die Brücke (1959)
The Oberhausen manifesto 1962
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26 screenwriters and directors sign a manifesto in which
they proclaim the death of the old production system and
call for a new young German cinema
Severe criticism of popular culture following Adorno and
other Frankfurt school thinkers
A social and political rather than aesthetic programme
Earned the subsidies both from the Federal and state
governments
Film schools established in Munich and Berlin as well as a
film archive in Berlin
Some twenty films made in 1965-68 on this funding
Stylistic features: breaking of diegetic illusion, nonpsychological acting, documentary effect
Young German Cinema
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ALEXANDER KLUGE: Abschield von Gestern
(1966), Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: ratlos
(1968)
VOLKER SCHLÖNDORF: Der junge Tröless
(1966)
JEAN-MARIE STRAUB & DANIELLE
HUILLET: Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach
(1968).
Germany in the 1970-80s
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Subsidies often end up in the production of commercial
farce and soft-core pornography
Conflict between terrorism and authoritarian control
Still undigestured past
Feminism, gay movement and counter culture
Filmverlag der Autoren co-operative
 Formal beauty and abstraction
 Non-explicit argumentation
 Sensuality, colours, emotions – to the point of morbidity
 Vulnerability of the individual
 Heavy symbolism and satirical realism
German films in the 70s and 80s
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VOLKER SCHLÖNDORF: Der Fangschuss (1976), Die
Blechtrommel (1980)
MARGARETHA VON TROTTA: Die verlorene Ehre der Katarina
Blum (1975), Die bleierne Zeit (1981), Rosa Luxemburg (1986).
RAINER WERNER FASSIBINDER: Warnung vor einer heiligen
Nutte, Der Händler der vier Jahreszeiten (1971), Die Ehe der Maria
Braun, Die dritte Generation, In einem Jahre mit 13 Monen (1979),
Berliner Alexanderplatz (1980), Lili Marlene, Lola (1981)
WERNER HERZOG Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit
(1971), Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972), Jeden für sich und Gott
gegen alle (1974), Herz aus Glas (1977), Fitzcaraldo (1982)
WIM WENDERS: Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (1971)
Alice in der Städten (1974), Paris, Texas (1982), Der Himmel über
Berlin (1987)
HANS-JÜRGEN SYBERBERG: Ludwig, Requiem für einen
jungfraulichen König (1972), Hitler - ein Film aus Deutschland(1977)