The History of Film – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode reexamines some topics we have already looked at, but this time as context for one of history's greatest butcheries, rather than as pure film history. The development of cinema is intertwined with the forces that defined the 20th century. Today we explore how the First World War and the movies are cut from the same fabric, as we set the stage for some of the screen's greatest epochs -- German Expressionism, French Impressionism, Soviet Montage, and the Golden Age of American Silent Film. All that is tied up in The War, so let's start our journey facing it head-on. 

-Jake

If you would like to email the show, you can do so at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com.

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The History of Film Podcast has been on Haitus since May of 2022. This announcement officially ends that. Let's get back to it!

If you have any ideas on how I can improve the show, you can email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com.

See you soon!

-Jake!     

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This is the first of (hopefully) a recurring series of episodes on film critical theory. Today, with special guest Melissa Favara, we cover the idea of cultural production. This is kind of the broadest way of looking at movies, as a product of a culture rather only the work of an individual or group of filmmakers. This is a lens with witch to look at movies, and a tool for building context for the movies we will encounter throughout this series. I hope you enjoy it!

You can email me at:
historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com

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Here it is! Its an episode and a subject that has been a long time coming, and it's one that is less important then people used to think, though perhaps a little more important than some people say it is now.
D. W. Griffith was a filmmaker who invented nothing, innovated on much, and influenced many (including influencing people to commit acts of viscous evil and pernicious violence). In today's episode, we cover his early life and career, and talk about some of the movies that would lead him to making  The Birth of a Nation. You can learn more about some of Griffith's movies in Episode 13, 15, and 16a of this show.

If you would like to email me, you can do so at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com.

I hope you enjoy thew show!
-Jake

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Hello and welcome back! This is everything about early Italian films that we didn’t cover in the last two episodes. That means we talk a little about how Italian studios were run throughout the 1910s,  Important actors not playing Maciste, influential directors (including another of the most prolific women of early film), and a film movement: Futurism. We talk about the movement’s origin, and its only surviving film – Thaïs – and how it, and the whole Italian film industry, entered a decline throughout the 1920s.

If you would like to contact me, you can email me at
histoeyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com

And you can visit the show's website at
Historyoffilmpodcast.com

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A few words on exciting changes that are coming to "The History of film in very  near future.

historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com
historyoffilmpodcast.com

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This week it's all about two movies Quo Vadis?  from 1912 or 1913 and Cabiria from 1914. 

If you would like to visit the show's website, you can do so at historyoffilmpodcast.com. 
You can email me at historyoffilm@gmail.com.

thank you so much for listening! I hope to see you next week!

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This is the first of a planned three-episode series about Italian film from before the 1920's and the rise of fascism in Italy. In this very first episode, we cover the earliest origins of Italian film, though much more briefly than we did French film, mostly because there isn't as much written about it. We also go into some detail about the astonishing 1911 special effects wonderland The Inferno directed by a bunch of Italian guys whose names I struggle with. 

If you would like to contact me you can email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com, and you can visit the show's website at historyoffilmpodcast.com

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It is a little late, but it is also long! This is one I have been researching and working on for a long time.
This week it's all about a new kind of serial film–one that takes us out of the light, and into the shadowy depths of a criminal and violent Paris. Louis Feuillade takes us to depths not before plumbed by this show, as we give some much-deserved attention to serial films made by the man whom Alice Guy hand-picked to be her replacement. Fantomas and Les Vampires are two excellent movie serials that will keep you on the edge of your seat! You can watch them on YouTube, but if you have access to it through your local library, I recommend you use the streaming service Kanopy to give them a watch!

The clip I used of Alfred Hitchcock I got here. You can see resources for this episode and others at historyoffilmpodcast.com, and you can contact me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com.

Happy Listening!
-Jake

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Forget movies that are a mere five reels long, how about three hundred!? In the United States during the "nickelodeon era" of film history, movies got longer in more ways than the ones we have been covering recently. Some became the first film series with continuing stories! We cover that transition and its greatest star in today's episode!
Make sure to visit the website, historyoffilmpodcast.com, for this week's episode–there is some information there that is important but didn't make it into the show for various reasons. This includes the very literal origins of the word "cliffhanger" and examples of some of the movies we talked about in this episode. 
If you would like to email me, you can contact me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com.
Thank you, and happy listening!

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