Role Of Udayer Pathe In The 1940s

This paper was prepared for Introduction to Film History, Module 1 Homework Assignment, taught by Professor Stephanie Sandifer.

The average outing to the local movie theater is a pleasant experience; a show of laughs and drama and romance, wrapped into a satisfying plot to be quickly forgotten by the transient audience. The experiences of the Second World War, especially in Italy, forced the artistic film industry to grow jaded quickly. Italian Neorealism, a film movement at odds with the conventional cinematic experience, finds it somewhat inappropriate to have idealized heroes achieve happily-ever-after lives after so many did not in the grim reality of the war. Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini were pioneers of the movement, which (although not the first) is best exemplified by Umberto D., released in Italy in 1952, and after a slow commercial reception, released abroad and in the U.S. in 1955. It features an old man and his dog as they struggle to survive in the tough reality of the Italian postwar city. The film was hailed by critics as a shining example of the maturity and emotional power of realism. In a world of fabricated Hollywood plots, critics all over the world in the 1950s relished the uncompromising candor of the neorealist film Umberto D., while the commercial reception clearly shows that the mass audience preferred the purified filters of non-realist cinema.

In Tom Gunning’s ‘Weaving a Narrative: Style and Economic Background in Griffith’s Biograph Films’ Gunning explores how the film industry in 1908 to 1909 became unified in terms of profitability and distribution in order to limit competition. He identifies through extensive analysis into American director D. W. Griffith’s Biograph films how they satisfy the demands and expectations of this new economic industry of film. Gunning further looks into the progression in film narrative by analysing the use of parallel editing, understanding the development of film from an exhibition to an art form, where films are capable of expressing emotions, ideas and meanings.

Satyajit Ray is the famous film director and producer he is very famous among the Asian Indians and considered him the leader of Indian cinema.

The paper discusses how the critical reception shifts over a period of time. The paper is mainly focused on the film "Sunrise", directed by F. Marnau in 1927. Initially the movie got mixed reviews from the critics; however this film became to be known as a cinematic masterpiece in future decades.

The major influences that led to Leni Riefenstahl’s rise to prominence includes a fateful event that kindles her fascination with film, the continual influence of mountain (Berg) films and acclaimed director Dr Arnold Fanck as well as her first début as a director and producer.

The 1930’s decade has been nostalgically labeled “The Golden Age of Hollywood.” (Dirks, Tim) There were many innovations that established the foundation of modern film. The 30s was the decade of the sound and color revolutions and the advance of the 'talkies’. (Dirks Tim)

The research question my group chose dealt with the state's enforcement of gender in Mexico city from 1940-1970. I faced many challenges in my historical research, the first was finding adequate primary sources that dealt with gender. I encountered an abundance of secondary sources when using the school databases but not too many primary sources. The research results would often include sources that were out of our time range or were in a different language. When conducting research using the school database, I had to be very specific with the key terms I used but that didn’t guarantee me accurate results. Our research was limited to American newspapers, such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, as they were the only newspaper archives that were available to us. While some of the articles offered insight into the new job opportunities that could potentially arise in Mexico City, they were not specific to any gender. As a historian,

Being able to experience thousands of stories at your fingertips made movies so addicting. When the first movie was created back in the late 1800’s people were amazed but the true talent lied within the actors an it was something never seen before. Three of the most famous actors during the 1920’s and 1930’s that contributed to the future of filmmaking were Charlie Chaplin, Clara Bow, and Eddie

Hollywood has been a formidable force in the film industry since the 1910’s onwards. As with any industry that has lasted that length of time, Hollywood has gone through a few changes to deal with the changes in technology and culture. One of the more significant changes that Hollywood has faced since the advent of sound in films, was the fall of its Golden Era. There were a combination of reasons the industry went through dramatic changes in the late 1950s to mid-1960s. The Paramount decree and other government imposed limitation on power of the studios, change in audience demographic, and a strict code system limiting the types of stories that could be told through the medium of film all contributed to a shift in the industry and the type of product that Hollywood

Throughout the history of filmmaking, many different genres have thrived such as the romantic comedy, giving us such classics as Bringing up Baby and His Girl Friday. The war film gave us All Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of

Continuing the battle over screen content was not an easy task—issues were intensified as United States was facing the greatest economic decline in U.S. history caused by the Depression. As economic conditions were declining, the film making technology was improving greatly, making more exciting movies by turning “silent cinema” into “sound movies” (Black 53). Having this new technology allowed a more realistic form of entertainment that was different to other forms of entertainment such as novels. Consequently, these pictures became a great fascination to the public, offering a kind of cultural escape valve to which audiences could explore serious controversial issues that were comparative to the era that they were living in. Given that film producers were including contemporary controversial issues in their film along with the new technology of “sound movies” became a great controversial problem considering the morality of all audiences (women, men and children of all ages).

The Motion Picture changed everything. The very first movies were rather basic, showing everyday routines such as the arrival of a train or female workers leaving a factory. The very first “action” film was The Great Train Robbery (1905) which had a simple yet thrilling plot about cowboy bandits and their attempt to steal money from a moving train. Then several Westerns adapted the same basic plot, and some even moved it further. In the 1930’s the Noir and Gangster movies such as Little Caesar (1931), Scarface (1932), and The public Enemy (1931) became immensely popular, and these films normally had a rather violent story, many of them were inspired by real gangsters. Then Came the forties and the fifties, which were mostly passive eras on

Finally, American culture has imitated not only the modernists visual extravaganza but also their tendency to be apolitical and anti-ideological. Refusal to intimidate the public with social messages explains, more than any other factor, the worldwide popularity enjoyed by the American entertainment industry. American films in particular, have customarily focused on human relationships and private feelings, not on the problems of a particular time or place. Presented stories of romance, intrigue, success, failure, moral conflicts, and survival. The most memorable of the thirties [with the exception of The Grapes of Wrath] movies were comedies and musicals about mismatched couples, not socially conscious films dealing with issues such as poverty

In those days the ladies from upper-caste families were not allowed to act on stage. Theatre directors used to cast women from red light areas. This was a legacy to the Indian performing arts as a whole, where, since ages, the only theatre artists used to be the prostitutes. Binodini was one among such actor, who came from red light area of Kolkata as a prostitute. However her exceptional talent helped her stand out among all and be one of the major Bengali thespians of her time. She had started her career as an actress at the tender age of twelve and by the time she retired, she was 23 years old. Theatre lovers remembered her name for the ages to