Syllabus: Film School
Marcia Brennan, the Carolyn and Fred McManis Professor of Humanities, teaches HART 180: 14 Films You Should See Before You Graduate. The inspiration for the class came from her own experiences with cinema seminars and university film societies as a student.
“Film societies were part of this wonderfully porous boundary between doing something for fun and expansion and enjoyment, and learning something as part of our formal education,” Brennan said. Her syllabus includes some of the greatest hits from classic cinema, as well as less familiar works.
Can you match the quote to its film?
THE QUOTES
1. “The scientists do the thinking for the world, and the rest of us just live in it, is that it?”
2. “I may live in Milan, but I’m still Sicilian.”
3. “I proved once and for all that the limb is mightier than the thumb.”
4. “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”
5. “I will fly the plane and release the bombs. The final act is mine.”
6. “A golf course is for golf. A tennis court is for tennis. A prison camp is
for escaping.”
7. “Trimmer is a very political dog.”
8. “R-o-s-e-b-u-d.”
9. “There is no ‘then.’ There is no ‘after.’”
10. “To my only rival, the United States Cavalry.”
11. “The air’s gettin’ mighty unconditioned ’round here.”
12. “Why would a man leave his apartment three times on a rainy night with a suitcase and come back three times?”
13. “If people knew the evil caused by listening to others, they would not care about listening and would be far happier.”
14. “By gum.”
THE FILMS
A. It Happened One Night
(Director: Frank Capra, 1934, American)
B. The Grand Illusion
(Director: Jean Renoir, 1937, French)
C. Citizen Kane
(Director: Orson Welles, 1941, American)
D. Sunset Boulevard
(Director: Billy Wilder, 1950, American)
E. No Highway in the Sky
(Director: Henry Koster, 1951, English)
F. Mafioso
(Director: Alberto Lattuada, 1962, Italian)
G. Fail-Safe
(Director: Sidney Lumet, 1964, American)
H. Seven Days in May
(Director: John Frankenheimer, 1964, American)
I. Smiles of a Summer Night
(Director: Ingmar Bergman, 1955, Swedish)
J. Rio Grande
(Director: John Ford, 1950, American)
K. That Hamilton Woman
(Director: Alexander Korda, 1941, English)
L. Hobson’s Choice
(Director: David Lean, 1954, English)
M. Rear Window
(Director: Alfred Hitchcock, 1954, American
N. Carmen Jones
(Director: Otto Preminger, 1954, American)
Answer Key: 1-E; 2-F; 3-A; 4-D; 5-G; 6-B; 7-H; 8-C; 9-K; 10-J; 11-N; 12-M; 13-I; 14-L
– Mariana Najera, '21