Your Favourite Mid-Century Film

Of the four mid-century films we have viewed—“Notorious”; “Singin’ in the Rain”; “North by Northwest”; “Some Like it Hot”—which do like the best and why? Answer at the blog before coming to class next week. Mention at least one specific scene in your answer.

“Citizen Kane” Or “Notorious”

        It's difficult to choose between "Citizen Kane" and "Notorious." “Citizen Kane” has wonderful camera shots. Welles was one of the first to use the famous deep focus technique in his film. Using this shot, the spectators could clearly see every actor scattered at different depths within the scene. These deep focus shots are extremely unique and technical. When Charles’ parent discusses with Mr. Thatcher, I could clearly see young Charles and the sled through the window behind them. Next, I love the use of the crane shot. I was like a bird flying in the sky looking down at the warehouse, then flying down to see the “Rosebud” in the fire.  

        On the other hand, “Notorious” has a beautiful shot that passes the faces of Devlin with Alicia, Alex, and Alex’s mother down to the three spies. Another interesting shot is when the camera goes past Alicia's face, changes to her perspective, then rotates to show Devlin standing beside the door.

         "Notorious" uses many close-up shots to create tension and direct the audience's attention. There's a close-up shot of a key in Alicia's twisting hand, which then moves to her husband's face when he holds her hand. Another example is when the camera focuses close on the solemn face of the spy. I felt very nervous during the dolly shot moving across the labels of the wine bottles because of the anticipation of him discovering the swapped wine bottle. The camera then stopped on a close-up of a bottle with a label of 1940 instead of 1934. Hitchcock also used close-up shots to show the emotion between the characters. At the end of the film, there is a close-up of Alicia's smiling face when Devlin prevented Alex from getting into the car. These close-up shots deeply touched my mind. Moreover, I find it delightful to watch romantic shots with kisses between Alicia and Devlin. I love that Hitchcock's movie is full of romance and emotions. Therefore, “Notorious” is my favorite film.

"Citizen Kane" or "Notorious"?

Of the two films we have viewed from the 1940s ("Citizen Kane" and "Notorious"), which one do you prefer and why? Refer to the quality of film techniques used by the directors at least once for each film in your answer..

Citizen kane

I think the film is an extremely excellent film because of its bold narrative structure and flashbacks, especially deep focus. I surprisingly know it was the first film by a young man, Orson Welles. I admire and respect Welles genius and innovative brave to open up my mind. The first, I still don't understand the reporter’s efforts to search for the answer to the “Rosebud” even though I have watched it twice. It's a depth film. It's a worth film for watching again and again. Whenever I watched it, I emerge different feeling and thinking about the film. I will always remember is Kane indignantly destroys every precious thing in his luxurious main bedroom, until he finds the crystal globe and mumbles, "Rosebud." It seems tell audience what he exactly want. The scene is deeply touch my heart; however, I am not easy to understand his physical manifestation that time. Also, I will understand Charles cannot stand his wife's chatter when they eat dinner every time and Kane quits Susan's vocal music teacher when he teaches her singing severely. After I read the commentary by Roger Ebert, I better understand the representative meaning of “Rosebud.” it is the most meaningful for him, so he spend his life to pursue and to seek his security, hope, and content. After I watched this film, I passionately shared with my son. He said the film is famous with its deep focus. I would like to recommend the film for my son's friends who graduated with a film degree. I hope they will learn more from "Citizen Cane.

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane

I personally don't think that Citizen Kane deserves to be "the greatest film of all time". I think the issues are from the phenomenon of American-concentric point of view. “Our information of the cinema is too much based from American's point of view.” my son told me.

 In the film, Citizen Kane, I was impressed by the unique technique that the director has used in the film, in which called "Deep Focus."My son is a filmmaker; we had a discussion about why it's a unique technique for that time. It was one of the first times when filmmakers used deep depth of field that keeps everything in focus. In this sense, if everything is in focus, we can have actions happening simultaneously in the foreground, mid-ground and the background. By doing so, many stories can be told at the same time within one single shot. I believe this would be very hard to direct. This was found very clearly in the scene where the child was playing with the snow outside of the window while conversations were going on inside the house. 

I would recommend the film for my friends because I think “Citizen Kane “has its own unique approach in film making that is very important for the film history. 

Homework for "Citizen Kane"

After viewing the film and hearing some of the commentary by Roger Ebert, what do you remember the best (and what is most important for you about the film?). Does it deserve its status as one of the greatest films of all time? Would you recommend it to a friend? Why or why not?

The Wizard of Oz

"The Wizart of OZ" fills such a large space in our imagination" as Ebert said in his review. I agree with what Ebert view point. I was attracted to Dorothy’s character, played by Judy Garland. I could not stand to see it again and again at home. Dorothy hits tornado and see some person, animal, and furniture is flying in the sky. Then the house flies in the sky, too. She drops into the wonderful OZ. She meets a number of strange characters, for instance, Scarecrow, Tin man, Cowardly Lion, the Good Witch of the North, The Wicked Witch of the West, and Professor Marvel.

At first, she meet a Scarecrow without the brain. She meets a Tin man without the heart and a Cowardly Lion without courage. How can you image the big Cowardly Lion without courage? Moreover, A kind girl Dorothy helps Scarecrow, Tin man, and Cowardly Lion, to find their shortages, such as the brain, the heart, and courage.

In the begin, Dorothy felt timid, curiosity and longing. In the end, she full of joyful and confident because her the best friends, Scarecrow, Tin man, and Cowardly Lion  overcome his weakness. Ultimately, Dorothy lay on bed and see every person in her dream. Is it a real journey or a strange dream? “The Wizard of Oz” furnishes “a large space in our imagination” for kids and adults.