Syllabus for Roster(s):

  • 13F ISHU 3304-101 (SCPS)
In the UVaCollab course site:   ISHU3304 Welles-Hitchcock

The Films of Orson Welles & Alfred Hitchcock

ISHU 3304 – Fall 2013

Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies Program
Undergraduate Course, 3.0 Credit Hours
University of Virginia

The Films of Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock
Robert Kolker, Lecturer in Media Studies
rkolker@virginia.edu

Virtual Office Hours by app’t

Course meets online each Wednesday, 4-6:45

 

Course prerequisites: none

Course description:

Examines and analyzes the films of Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, two very different but equally
creative filmmakers, who explored their medium with an intensive imagination. Analyzing the major
works of these directors, we will examine what makes them work and also look at the cultural and
historical context of the films.

Course objectives: Students will closely study a selection of films by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson
Welles. The main objective of the course is to learn how to “read” film intelligently. To this end
we will examine the history, production, and reception of the films of these directors: how they work;
how the filmmakers transmit an understanding of the culture of their time and place.

Textbooks:

Marshall Deutlebaum, A Hitchcock Reader [HR]

James Naremore, The Magic World of Orson Welles [MW]

Kolker, Film, Form, and Culture – suggested if you have not had a film course.
Other readings are linked from the syllabus

 

Course Methodology and Requirements: The course is run online, on Blackboard Collaborate,
seminar style. Attendance is mandatory.

Each week, the class will view films as indicated on the syllabus (DVDs are on reserve in Clemons
Library and readily available at most rental outlets). For each meeting, there will be two sets of
questions. One set will be very general and applicable to all the films we will analyze.
These questions will form the basis for group presentations for the week. The groups will be
selected at the beginning of the semester. Each team within the group will be assigned to
one of the general questions each week and prepare a Powerpoint presentation for the week.
Depending on the size of the class, there will be 4-5 presentations each week.

The second group of questions will be specific to the films for the week and will form the basis for
discussion in the forums
. Participation in forum discussions is required and will constitute part of
the grade for the course.

There will be two research papers of approximately 6-8 pages in length. The papers will analyze
one or more of the films by the directors we are studying, including films not discussed in class.
The papers can be on any topic—a close analysis of a film or films, a study of some historical or
cultural issues surrounding the films, a discussion of influences on the films or on other
films by our directors—chosen by the student in consultation with the instructor. Late Papers are not accepted.

Papers account for approximately 75% of the course. Class presentations 20%. Forum participation 5%.

UVaCollab: each week the course will meet online on Blackboard Collaborate,
accessed through the “Bb Collaborate Bridge” tab on the class Collab website.

The online course name is “Welles-Hitchcock.”

Weekly assignments appear both as a link on the syllabus and under “Weekly Assignment” under the
“Resources” tab in Collab.

End of Semester course evaluations are also available on Collab.

 

Technical Requirements:

  •            UVa Computing IDs and Passwords
  •             Internet Explorer (7.0 or above) or  Mozilla Firefox
  •             Headset/Mic: Recommended Logitech Headset with USB

 

                                                       Course Syllabus

Members of Presentation Groups
Questions for Presentation Groups
What to look for in a film
Critical Terms
 

Week 

              Films

Readings

1-Aug 28

Introduction

 

2-Sept. 4

The 39 steps, Hitchcock, 1935 DVD 00201
The Lady Vanishes, Hitchcock, 1938 DVD00376

HR, 9, 10
Devas, "How to be a Hero"

3-Sept. 11

Citizen Kane, Welles, RKO, 1941 DVD 02362

MW pp. 1-83

Denning, “The Politics of Magic
Bazin, "
Evolution of the Language of Cinema"

4-Sept. 18

Magnificent Ambersons, Welles, RKO, 1943, DVD 11742
Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock., Universal, 1942 DVD 01871

MW 84-110
HR, 11
Fitzsimmons, "The Magnificent Ambersons: Unmasking the Code"

5-Sept. 25

The Stranger, Welles, RKO, 1946 DVD 00609
Notorious, Hitchcock, RKO, 1946 DVD 02886

MW 110-125

HR, 13

Beebe, "The Notorious Post-War Psyche"

6-Oct. 2

Lady from Shanghai, Welles, Columbia, 1948 DVD 01420
Rope, Hitchcock, Warner Bros., 1948 DVD 01878

MW 125-135
Graham, "The Inaccessibility of The Lady From Shanghai"
Dellolio, "Filmic Space
"

7-Oct. 9

Rear window, Hitchcock, Paramount, 1954 DVD 01875
Mr. Arkadin, Welles, 1955 DVD 05961

Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure
Howe, "Through the Looking Glass"


MW 182-194
HR 15

First Paper Due

8-Oct. 16

The Wrong Man, Hitchcock, Warner Bros., 1956 DVD 04749
The Trial, Welles, 1962, DVD 02245

HR 16
MW 195-214
Genter, "Cold War Confessions"
Adams, "Orson Welles's The Trial: Film Noir & the Kafkaesque"

9-Oct. 23

Strangers on a Train, Hitchcock, 1951 DVD 00080

North by Northwest, MGM, Hitchcock, 1959 DVD 01529

George Toles, "The Forgotten Lighter and Other Moral Accidents in Strangers on a Train"
HR 14, 19

10-Oct 30

Touch of Evil, Welles, Universal, 1958 DVD 01659
Psycho, Hitchcock, Paramount, 1960 DVD 01318

MW 146-171
HR 25, 26
Pease, "Borderline Justice"

Comito, “Touch of Evil

George Toles, "'If Thine Eye Offends Thee'"
Genter, "'We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes'"

11-Nov. 6

 Othello, Welles, 1952 DVD05961

Chimes at Midnight, Welles, 1965, DVD 04865. Or, watch it here.

 MW176-182, 215-235
McLean, "Welles & Shakespeare: History & Consciousness" in Chimes at Midnight"


Bell, "Rereading Orson Welles's
 Chimes at Midnight
"

12-Nov. 13

Vertigo, Hitchcock, Paramount, 1958 DVD 00019

HR 17, 18
Potts, 
"Character Interiority"
Ravetto-Biagioli,"
Vertigo and the Vertiginous History of Film Theory"
Linderman, "The Mise-en-Abime In Hitchcock's Vertigo"

13-Nov. 20

The Birds, Hitchcock, Universal, 1963, DVD01406
F for Fake, Welles, 1974, DVD 04632

HR 20
MW 236-252
Ayers, "
Orson Welles's "Complicitous Critique": Postmodern Paradox in F for Fake"

14-Dec. 4

Marnie, Hitchcock, Universal, 1964, DVD01595

The Immortal Story, Welles, 1968, DVD09687

 

HR 21, 22

Final Paper Due

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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