Criterion ChannelIn the classical Hollywood film, the story is primary. Filmmakers rely on style — structure, narrative, and visual elements — to effectively tell their story. Martin Scorsese and Sydney Pollack are among the premier directors who discuss…
This program surveys Hollywood's industrial past during the era of contract players and directors, studio police forces, and colorful movie moguls. It also looks at the filmmaking environment of today with studio heads Michael Eisner,…
Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Dustin Hoffman — these among many others are names synonymous with Hollywood. Early on, Hollywood saw that recognizable talent could minimize the financial risks of film production. Critics, film scholars, and…
The western is an American myth that has been translated by other cultures and reinterpreted time and again, but never dies. With clips and critical commentary on westerns from John Ford's Stagecoach through the work of Arthur Penn, Sam…
Breezy and silly to witty and intelligent, romantic comedies have been with us since the 1930s. But the surface humor has often just barely masked issues of gender and sexuality. This program looks back on screwball comedies including It…
Beginning with World War II combat films — produced under directives from the federal government — this program examines the role of the combat film in filling a social and political need. Critics and directors describe the evolution of…
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. In addition, a…
Television first arrived in American homes just as the Hollywood studio system was collapsing. As the new medium took hold, so did a new era of motion picture entertainment. Top directors, actors, and film scholars trace the influence of…
Maverick filmmakers of the 1960s and '70s, including Brian DePalma, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg, capitalized on new technology and borrowed from classical Hollywood and French New Wave as they reinvented the American film. The…
While many of the old rules are still in force, independent filmmakers today often add their dissenting voices to the forum. This program looks at some alternative visions from new talents including Spike Lee, Joel and Ethan Coen, Jim…
"Film Language" illustrates basic terms such as tracking shots and zooms and also provides a primer on editing technique.
"Writing and Thinking About Film" 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.
"Classical Hollywood Today" 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.
