Understanding Movies: The Art and History of Films
One of the wonderful things about being a movie fan or a serious student of cinema today is the confluence of technologies that give us unprecedented access to all those films produced across the hundred plus years motion pictures have existed. If you are looking to go beyond the latest blockbuster where to start can be overwhelming, but The Modern Scholar audio course series of lectures “Understanding Movies: The Art and History of Films” by Professor Raphael Shargel is a great way to learn more, fill in gaps in your knowledge or to just have an authoritative recommendation for what to watch on a Saturday night. Across 14 lectures Prof. Shargel covers the history of cinema in chronological order with a pleasant conversational style that is informative, but never talks down to his audience. The first two lectures cover the origins of film and some of the technical & theoretical developments through the silent period. After that each lecture covers representative films or a genre of the period starting with John Ford’s
Prof. Raphael Shargel
“Stagecoach” a definitive western. That movie turned out to be very influential on the next film discussed “Citizen Kane” the incredible directorial debut of Orson Welles considered by many to be the greatest film ever made. Other genres discussed include Film Noir, Neo-realism, The French New Wave and even the modern Blockbuster. Professor Shargel generally focuses on a representative film and filmmaker for each genre including Vittorio De Sica/Bicycle Thieves, Alfred Hitchcock/Vertigo, François Truffaut/The 400 Blows. The final lecture comes up to the present day discussing contemporary mavericks Martin Scorsese/Goodfellas and Clint Eastwood/Million Dollar Baby. It is hard to go into a lot of depth covering over a century of movies and one may not always agree with all of Professor Shargel’s choices and opinions, but he is an engaging host and his enthusiasm for the subject is never in doubt. At the end of the course you are invited to go online and take a final exam. In addition to CD the lecture series is available on cassette or a Playaway device.
