American Cinema - Season 1

Martin Scorsese and Sydney Pollack are among the premier directors who discuss how classical Hollywood style, evolving and yet enduring over time, informs their work.

The studio system created the Golden Age of Hollywood, its classic film stars and big budget hits that captivated generations all across the world. However, the following decades proved that nothing lasts forever, even in Hollywood.

Early on, Hollywood saw that recognizable talent could minimize the financial risks of film production.

With clips and critical commentary on Westerns the program traces the aesthetic evolution of the genre as well as its sociological importance.

Breezy and silly to witty and intelligent, romantic comedies barely masked issues of gender and sexuality. Directors present interpretations of the genre that reveal the underlying social and psychological messages.

Critics and directors describe the evolution of these films, the rise of the Vietnam film, and the influence of the newsreel documentaries and TV news on the genre.

These cynical and pessimistic films from the 1930s and '40s touched a nerve in Americans. Historians link the genre's overriding paranoia to Cold War-related angst over the nuclear threat and the Hollywood blacklist.

Television first arrived in American homes just as the Hollywood studio system was collapsing. This prompted open competition between the genres opening opportunities for innovation and employment.

Maverick filmmakers of the 1960s and '70s, capitalized on new technology and borrowed from classical Hollywood and French New Wave as they reinvented the American film.

This program looks at some alternative visions from new talents who struggle with limited budgets and challenge the stylistic status quo of the Hollywood film.

Illustrates basic terms such as tracking shots and zooms and also provides a primer on editing technique.

Provides a formal and cultural analysis of a classical film sequence. It serves as a critical how-to guide for those new to film critique.

Offers interviews with contemporary directors, European filmmakers, scholars, and critics, as well as studio-era veterans who probe Hollywood's influence on both American and world culture.