FAVK045 Ernst Lubitsch

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2011
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Anna Batistová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jiří Voráč, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Sat 16. 4. 13:20–16:35 zruseno C21, Sat 21. 5. 13:20–16:35 zruseno C21
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
„In the Golden Age of Hollywood that everybody’s always talking about there were only two directors whose names meant anything to the public and critics: Cecil B. DeMille and Ernst Lubitsch.“ (Claudette Colbert)

Ernst Lubitsch launched his career as a theatre actor with Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1911. Very soon after, he started appearing in short films, some of them he also directed. At the end of the 1910s, we would find him as a successful and renowned director, who was brought to Hollywood by Mary Pickford, at the beginning of 1920s. Until his death in 1947, he created numerous films, some of them crucial for the development of cinema, as we know it today.
In lectures centred on Ernst Lubitsch and his German and American films, we will follow more global issues connected to the history of cinema of the first half of the 20th century. Series of case studies will track the beginnings of genres as romantic comedy, melodrama or musical, connections between European and Hollywood cinema, formation of classical Hollywood style, or early stages of sound in cinema.

The lectures aim to:
- familiarize students with life and work of Ernst Lubitsch;
- by doing so, deepen their knowledge of the cinema history.
Syllabus
  • - Weimar cinema.
  • - 1920s in Europe and Hollywood.
  • - Advent of sound and musical.
  • - 1930s and comedy.
  • - Hollywood and war.
Literature
  • Eyman, Scott. Ernst Lubitsch. Laughter in Paradise. Baltimore - London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
  • Hake, Sabine. Passions and Deceptions. The early films of Ernst Lubitsch. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
  • THOMPSON, Kristin. Herr Lubitsch goes to Hollywood : German and American film after World War I. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2005, 154 s. ISBN 9053567089. info
Teaching methods
Lectures.
Screenings.
Reading.
Assessment methods
Written exam.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2011/FAVK045