The Public Enemy (1931)
- In William Wellman’s seminal Warner Bros. gangster film, The Public Enemy, we find a masculine triangle, with the 3 points of this masculine triangle being Mike Powers, Matt Doyle, and Tom Powers. Discuss the role of this triangular set of male relationships and its connection to the theme and message of the film.
- Discuss the representation of the women in William Wellman’s The Public Enemy, whether it is Tom’s mother, the nightclub “pickup” girls, or the upper class Gwen. You could structure your essay in terms of comparisons/contrasts (e.g. the nightclub girls/Gwen, ma/Gwen, Gwen/Paddy Ryan’s girlfriend–you are free to choose).
- Compare and contrast Tom Powers and Charles Kane as “self-made men.”
What do these two films say about this quintessential American archetype?
- Find and watch one of the other two seminal Warner Bros. gangster films of the early 1930s, Little Caesar (1931) directed by Mervin LeRoy or Scarface (1932) directed by Howard Hawks. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the movie you have chosen (i.e. EITHER LeRoy’s OR Hawks’ film) with Wellman’s The Public Enemy.
- Read the articles “The Era of the Gangster Film” from the American Experience website and Paul Whitington’s “How the great depression inspired Hollywood’s golden age”, which is taken from the Irish Independent. Then write an essay in which you use both as joint platform sources for discussing William Wellman’s The Public Enemy.
Citizen Kane (1941)
- Discuss Welles’ use of a layered, perspectival narrative structure in Citizen Kane. What is the artistic and thematic purpose and effect of having Kane’s story be told—or rather re-told—from a wide array of divergent, and conflicting, points of view?
- Discuss Welles’ groundbreaking use of deep focus in Citizen Kane. How does Welles employ this new feature of film language in service of the film’s theme?
- Compare and contrast Keaton’s cinematic innovations and those of Welles. I would narrow down and focus your attention on one or two innovations from each film.
- Read the essay “’Citizen Kane’ at 70: The Legacy of the Film and its Director” by David W. Brown, which is taken from The Atlantic. Then write an essay in which you use the essay as a platform source for discussing Welles’ groundbreaking film.
Double Indemnity (1944)
- When French film critics coined the term “film noir” to refer to a pervasive “dark mood” in American movies, specifically those made in the mid/late-1940s, they had in mind the use of shadow and lighting in these films as a feature of their style and “look.” But they were also drawing attention to the metaphoric and symbolic connotations of this use of shadow and lighting, and what those connotations seemed to be suggesting about the nature of the “American Dream.” Discuss the use of shadow and lighting in Billy Wilder’s classic film noir Double Indemnity, and how this feature of its mise-en-scene and its shot compositions is integral to the thematic meaning of the film, as it is developed through a series of recurrent symbols, tropes, and visual motifs.
- Discuss Billy Wilder’s use of the flashback structure and voice-over in Double Indemnity. What is gained by this plot device? How does it relate to the theme?
- Compare and contrast the use of big city locations in Wellman’s The Public Enemy (Chicago) and in Wilder’s Double Indemnity (Los Angeles).
- Find and watch Lawrence Kasdan’s classic neo-noir film Body Heat (1981). Write an essay in which you compare and contrast Kasdan’s film with Wilder’s film noir classic. By use of this comparison and contrast seek to point out the stylistic/thematic elements in Kasdan’s film that qualify it to be classified as an example of a “neo-noir” film.
- Read this essay by David Brodky “’Film Noir’: The Elusive Genre”, which is taken from The New Yorker:. Then write an essay in which you use the essay as a platform source for discussing Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity. How, for instance, does Wilder’s film exhibit the “elusive” qualities Brodky discusses in his essay?
