This page includes links to analyses of and images and clips from class films, Web movie theaters, materials on film research, sites on film terminology, sites on U.S. history, cultural studies, and resources on writing about film. When you follow the links, the Web sites will open in a new browser window. To return to this page, simply close the new browser window.

Class Films--Analyses

The Birth of a Nation

• The Birth of a Nation, from Filmsite.org
  Detailed plot summary, an overview of Griffith's innovative techniques, and poster art.
• The Birth of a Nation Controversy
  Library of Congress American Memory Project page on the NAACP's attempts to have Birth banned.  The page contains links to protest photos, sheet music from Birth, and a searchable collection of newspaper articles and other materials.
• The Birth of a Nation Study Guide
  Guide for teachers includes questions for analysis and links to resources on film technology, Civil War documents, articles on blackface, and Birth of a Nation posters.
• The Blackface Stereotype
  Scholar Manthia Diawara's analysis of the blackface stereotype and the ideologies behind it.
  

The Deer Hunter

• The Deer Hunter, from Filmsite.org
  Description of the film, with attention to the film's aesthetics and the controversy surrounding the film's lack of verisimilitude.

Dr. Strangelove

• Dr. Strangelove, from Filmsite.org
  Extensive summary with many quotations from the film. If you don't remember the contents of the plane crew's survival pack, this is the site to see.
• Just What the Doctor Ordered
  Jeremy Boxen's essay places Dr. Strangelove within the context of the Cold War arms race. A useful example of the types of analyses you can do in your essays.

Double Idemnity

• Double Indemnity, from Filmsite.org
  Review and extensive description of the film's plot and quotations from the dialogue.
• Modern Times Double Indemnity Site
  Information on the making of the film, interspersed with a complete plot summary.
• No Place for A Woman: The Family in Film Noir and Other Essays
  Analytical essays from U.C. Berkeley's Media Resources Center. Essays cover women in film noir, the hard-boiled detective in film noir, and the outer limits of film noir.
• 10 Shades of Noir
  Issue of the online journal Film Focus that examines Double Indemnity and other films from the noir period.

Easy Rider

• Easy Rider, from Filmsite.org
  Interpretive summary of the film, with lyrics for the film's music.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers, from Filmsite.org
  Description of the film, with brief reference to the ways critics have interpreted the film.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, from Filmsite.org
  Extensive, somewhat interpretive summary of the film. 

Our Dancing Daughters

• Hollywood Censored: The Production Code
  Web page to accompany PBS "Culture Shock" series outlines the history of the Production Code.
• Our Dancing Daughters Reviews
  Excerpts from contemporary reviews of the film.
  

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Class Films--Image/Clip Archives

• The Birth of a Nation Clips
  Clips of numerous scenes from both parts of the film.  Requires a QuickTime plugin to view.
  
• Deer Hunter Downloads
  Page includes The Deer Hunter theme, posters, screenshots, and QuickTime and Windows Media Player clips.
  
• Dr. Strangelove Images and Audio
  Stills, screenshots, and audio of "Mein Fuhrer, I Can Walk!"
  
• Dr. Unusualaffection
  An International Relations professor's hilarious treatise on IR scholars and the Cold War illustrated with images from Dr. Strangelove.
  
• Film Noir Media Gallery
  Frame enlargements, posters, and sound clips from several noir films, including Double Indemnity.
• Invasion of the Bodysnatchers Images
  Fan page with screen shots and publicity stills from the film.
  
• Invasion of the Bodysnatchers Photo Gallery
  Images from Kevin McCarthy's personal site.
  
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  Images and video clip accompany summary and other information about the film.
• Our Dancing Daughters
  Publicity stills of stars Joan Crawford, Anita Page, and Dorothy Sebastian.
  
• Silent Ladies and Gents
  An image gallery of silent film stars--including Lillian Gish, Joan Crawford, Clara Bow, and D.W. Griffith--brought to you by silent-movies.com.

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Web Theaters

• American Memory Collection: Motion Pictures
  A page that links to some of the Library of Congress's motion picture holdings, including films made by Edison, early animated films, and films that recorded famous figures and daily events. Many of the motion pictures can be viewed via computer for free. 

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Film Research

• AFI Online
  Site of the American Film Institute.
  
• American Studies Web
  An essential Internet research tool for American Studies scholars. The site has numerous links to sources on American literature, history, art, material culture (including film), gender studies, performing arts, religion and psychology, legal studies, race and ethnicity, economics, politics and social sciences.
• Cinemedia
  "The Internet's largest film and media directory," Cinemedia contains links to resources on cinema, directors, organizations, networks, actors, particular films, and research. Browse the categories to view Cinemedia's 25,000+ links.
  
• Deep Focus: A Complete Guide to Motion Pictures
  Information on film history, the development of motion picture technology, directors, and specific films, performers and directors.
  
• English Server
  Links to multiple resources in the humanities and social sciences.  Includes sections on cultural theory and film and television.
  
• Internet Movie Database
  Searchable index of over 125,000 films. Contains links to biographies of directors, screenwriters, producers and actors; commentaries on individual films; and links to popular film reviews.
  
• Movie Review Query Engine
  Use the query engine to search for Web reviews of particular films.
  
• Library of Congress Internet Resources Page
  Links to U.S. and international research sites on film and filmmakers.
  
• UCLA Arts Library Selected Internet Sources on Film
  Links to sites on directors, actors, studios, unions, electronic journals, film research, festivals, movie reviews, searchable databases, and internet guides to film.
  
• UW Libraries Cinema Studies Research Site
  Authored by cinema studies librarian Glenda Pearson, the site has information on finding cinema studies resources in the UW libraries and links to electronic journals and cinema studies resources on the Web.

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Film Terminology

• SOFIA (Study of Film as Internet Application)
  Click on "Camera," "Genre," "Editing," "Story," and "Form" for extended definitions and discussion of cinematic terms. The site contains material on technical aspects of filmmaking, discussions of genres and arguments regarding the relationship between film and society. Also contains book reviews, an essay gallery of works on film and film theory, and links to material on Hollywood film studios, critical theory and writing.
  
• Reading a Film Sequence
  A short guide on how to to read the text and context of a film. The page has excellent questions to guide students in their analysis of narrative, staging, cinematography, editing and sound.

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U.S. History

• American Cultural History 1920-1929
  Kingswood College Library's page of information about fashion, fads, films, music, books, people, and events of the 1920s.
  
• American History from 1865
  Teresa Mudrock's page of links to biographical Web sites and Web pages detailing U.S. history during each decade of the 20th century. Links of interest to our class include "America in the 1930s," "The Psychedelic 60s," "Literature and Culture of the American 1950s," and "Vietnam War."
  
• Cold War International History Project
  From the Woodrow Wilson Society for International Scholars, page contains news about new Cold War research and a virtual archive of documents from governments on all sides of the Cold War.
• The Emergence of Modern America
  Ohio State University Professor K. Austin Kerr's Web site provides materials for an "intensive study of political, economic, social and cultural change in the U.S. from 1877 to 1917." Materials include primary source readings, Professor Kerr's lecture notes, quantitative data, images, Web bibliographies, and links to articles on immigration, labor reform, and other topics of concern during the period.
  
• History of Women
  Teresa Mudrock's links to Web pages on general women's history, biographies, suffrage, and chronologically arranged sites.
  
• Library of Congress American Memory Project
  "America's story in words, sounds, and pictures."
  
• Starting Points for Historical Research
  Created by UW Libraries' history subject librarian Teresa Mudrock, this page contains links to article indexes, research guides, databases of primary sources, electronic journals, and Web pages on history.
  
• World Wide Web Virtual Library--U.S. History
  The materials on this page are organized by chronological period as well as historical topic. The Virtual Library links to reference resources, including databases, e-texts, journals and archive.

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Cultural Studies

• Hollywood and Society
  Essay by Douglas Kellner that explores the film-society connection from the silent period to the contemporary era.
• PopCultures.com
  Sarah Zupko's Cultural Studies Center includes searchable pages of links to journals, scholars, articles--including articles on film--and other materials.
  
• Voice of the Shuttle Cultural Studies Page
  A wealth of links to cultural studies authors, subjects, courses, journals/zines, and other web resources.
  

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Writing About Film

• Citing Film, Video, and Online Media
  Information on how to correctly document citations of film, video and online media materials.
• Critical Writing Online
  Papers by students at Queen's University Film Studies program, including papers on images of working women in pre- and post-WWII film, Dr. Strangelove in the context of the Cold War, Apocalypse Now, and other cultural studies analyses of advertising, magazines, and film.
  
• GMU Writing Center's "Writing About Film" Page
  George Mason's step-by-step guide to writing film analyses.
  
• MLA, APA and Turabian (Chicago) Citation Guides
  This site not only reviews MLA, APA and Turabian citation guidelines, but also gives links to citing electronic sources.
  
• Thinking Critically about Discipline-Based Web Resources
  Authored by UCLA librarian Esther Grassian, this page offers criteria for evaluating discipline-based world wide web sites. Writers can use Grassian's list to help them decide whether a particular web source is appropiate for an academic research paper.

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Page Last Updated 10/2/03
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