The History of Film

An interview with Japanese media scholar Anne McNight about her new book  Long Take .  Long Take  is a collection of interviews and other material by or about Akira Kurosawa, one of most famous and influential filmmakers in world history. These are being translated and published into English for the first time.    You can find Dr. McKnight's new translation here: https://www.upress.umn.edu/97...

An episode about Gance, covering his life and movies from birth to just before of the release of his monumental film J'accuse. Support the show

An episode all about proper (or not explicitly patriotic) melodrama as it was developing in France during the war. Who were these movies made for? What were they about? Well, let's find out. If you would like to email me you can do so at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com History of Film Discord: https://discord.gg/Ud8EcEzvSF Letter Boxed: https://boxd.it/3cZn3 Support the show

This episode is a little smaller in scope than usual. But like one my great podcasting heroes, my ambition for this show is to tell the history of film without any gaps. We cover two examples of an important, though ultimately short lived, sub-genre: The Patriotic Melodrama. We discuss and analyze the 1916 film Alsace , directed by Henri Pouctal, and the 1917 Mothers of Frances , directed by René...

In this episode we cover just how, exactly, American cinema came to dominate Europe in the wake of WW1. We take a look at the economic practices that facilitated the "invasion" of American cinema onto French screens. We also examine one picture in particular, The Cheat , which exemplifies the technical sophistication of U.S. national cinema, and that film's reception by the City of...

This week we cover the effect of The War on the French film Industry. While The Conflict's Titanic needs did a real number on French production, it did also help develop a new kind of documentary filmmaking: The Newsreel, which was then put to work in service to the Republic. If you would like to email me you can do so at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com History of Film Discord: https://discord...

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 greates...

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!      Support the show

In this episode we finish up our series on early animation by covering Gertie the Dinosaur and The Sinking of the Lusitania, both animated by Winsor McCay. Next time it's back to Europe, where we will cover the the effect of the First World War on European film! I decided to end the Patreon, at least for the foreseeable future. It was a hard decision, but I wasn't in the position to devo...

This is the first of two episodes (only two, I promise) about the great animator Winsor McCay. We cover his life before he became a filmmaker, and his two first movies: Little Nemo (1911) and How a Mosquito Operates (1912). The history of the film has a discord server, which you can access through this here link: discord.gg/Ud8EcEzvSF Thank you to my wonderful patrons who helped make this show pos...

It's a new year, and the History of Film is back! In this episode, we cover the life and achievements of French animator Emile Cohl, as he creates the first paper film animation, and brings fluidity and grace to a medium he helped invent! Thank you to my wonderful patrons who helped make this show possible! A special thank you to patron Ed & Shari for supporting this program in such a big...

The long promised day is finally here! We dive into the world of animation, examine ancient Iranian pottery, and meet animators named Charles-Emile Reynaud and James Stewart Blackton, as we begin our journey though a whole other kind of cinema. Thank you to my wonderful patrons who help make this show possible! A special thank you to patron Ed & Shari for supporting this program in such a big...

In this episode we take a look at Griffith's second most famous movie, Intolerance , and examine its production, structure, and impact. We also (finally) finish the long arc of Griffith's story, and bring his career, and his time here on the podcast, to a close. I would like to give special credit to my wonderful patron Ed & Shari for supporting this episode and helping to make this...

This is the last of it. In this episode, we dig into how and why The Birth of a Nation was so influential, and who was influenced by it. I am happy to say that next week we will be moving on from here. So three cheers for that. If you would like to email me, you can do so at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com You can visit the show's website at historyoffilmpodcast.com and you can support the sho...

When I write these, I never know just how long they will be. As it turns out, talking about a film that has had a huge impact on the development of film history, and made the world so much worse, is taking a lot of words. So, this is the second of what I hope to be three episodes of The Birth of a Nation . In this episode, we describe the plot of the movie in detail (though I still skipped a coupl...

Well, where it is. The Birth of a Nation is an extremely important movie. It would be hard to overstate it. In this episode, we cover the original novel the film was based on, and the film-making process for the movie.  So, spoilers for a 106-year-old movie, The Birth of a Nation is an evil film. other than the films that were created by the Nazi regime during WWII, I don't think there have b...

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...

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 toda...

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...

A few words on exciting changes that are coming to "The History of film in  very   near future. historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com historyoffilmpodcast.com Support the show

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! Support the show

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 Th...

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 m...

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, historyoff...

Just as promised in episode 15, this week we begin our journey through the early influences of feature-length movies that will eventually take us into the studio era of the U. S. film industry and D. W. Griffith. Film D'art is more important for what it inspired than what it accomplished, and funnily enough, is skipped over entirely in a book I have on the History of French film, but is still...