According to Cousins, why did the hub of film production in the USA move from the East Coast of America to Hollywood? – Thomas Edison had placed patents for several aspects of filmmaking, so production moved to Hollywood to avoid having to pay him royalties.

Which nation’s film industry does Cousins describe as “the best in the world” in the 1910s and why? – Scandinavia, specifically Denmark. Natural lighting there gave films specific innovative looks that could not be given elsewhere. Lack of censorship there gave European filmmakers the ability to have creative freedom.

Give an example of two films and two directors from this place and time cited by Cousins as remarkable. – Benjamin Christensen, director of Häxan, and Victor Sjöströ, director of The Phantom Carriage.

Who directed Birth of a Nation (1915) and why did the film continue to divide opinions among film critics, practitioners and theorists? – D.W Griffith, the film is controversial due to it’s racist depictions and portrayals of African Americans, and portraying the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force.

What was the name of the first film by the Lumiere Brothers and when was this? – La Sortie des ouvriers de l’usine Lumière (Workers leaving the Lumière Factory), 1895

What is the “Phantom Ride”? – Strapping a cameraman to a moving vehicle to create an effect similar to a POV shot.

What was ground breaking about the silent films “The Sick Kitten” and “Life of an American Fireman”? – The Sick Kitten (directed by George Albert Smith in 1903) was the first film to include a close-up shot. Life of an American Fireman (directed by Edwin S Porter in 1903) featured continuity editing from several different angles and locations, while maintaining a narrative throughout.

What was the name of the first “film star” in Hollywood? – Florence Lawrence

Realism

An example of realism in Bonnie and Clyde would be the verisimilitude that comes with the violent scenes. Before the New Hollywood era, heavy uses of things like blood were uncommon in films, so Arthur Penn challenges this by presenting a realistic depiction of what would have happened to characters when shot at.

Tone

Suspense is built in the final scene of the film, with the fast paced editing between shots creating a sense of panic for the audience before the eventual firing of the guns.

Visual Style

A common camera shot during the French New Wave era was tracking shots. One scene in which these are used in Bonnie and Clyde is the scene where Clyde exits the car to run after Bonnie. The camera follows the vehicle as it moves, as opposed to remaining stationary and having the car go into the distance.

Bonnie and Clyde mainly uses continuity editing, in which each scene flows naturally to the next. However, similarly to other films of the New Hollywood era, elements of discontinuity editing are also used.

Discontinuity editing can be seen in the death scene of the titular characters, in which there are rapid cuts between Bonnie, Clyde and the policemen shooting them from several angles.

Locations

The town area that Bonnie and Clyde walk through just after the opening of the film has visibility damaged buildings, whether it be graffiti written over walls or large omissions of paint. This suggests that the area is not one that was well looked after, especially since the film takes place during the Great Depression.

The farmhouse that the characters sleep in has very little done to it in order to keep trespassers away besides a sign, showing that in a time of high financial struggle, there was likely so many properties repossessed by banks that they just ended up deserted and left empty.

Interior Sets

The black and white film playing in the cinema scene reinforces the fact that the film, despite being produced and released in the late 60s, takes place in the 1930s.

The inside of the farmhouse is empty, creating the idea of abandonment. The broken windows also suggest a lack of care towards the building after being repossessed by the bank.

Costumes

Clyde is shown to wear a suit for the majority of the film, suggesting that his history of theft has given him the money to dress in more expensive clothing.

Bonnie also dresses in more valuable clothing, her clothes changing throughout the film as her and Clyde continue their country-wide robberies.

Props

The police badge that Frank Hamer wears builds an image of authority and power, therefore when the group take it from him, it signals a moment of weakness.

Newspapers are seen multiple times throughout the film as the way that the characters read about themselves, the most impactful scene being when Clyde angrily reads how he is being portrayed as leaving his brother to die and disagrees with this interpretation of the events.

Warren Beatty began his acting career on television in the late 50s, before performing in the Broadway play ‘A Loss of Roses’, which got him two award nominations. In 1961 he made his film debut in Splendor in the Grass, directed by Elia Kazan. His films in the early 60s primarily were in the drama genre. In 1965, he starred in Mickey One, a neo noir crime film directed by Arthur Penn. Two years later, Beatty collaborated with Penn again two years later for Bonnie and Clyde.

Faye Dunaway, similar to Beatty, began as an actress on Broadway prior to making her film debut in a 1967 comedy film titled The Happening, directed by Elliot Silverstein. Shortly after, she starred alongside Michael Caine and Jane Fonda in Hurry Sundown, a drama film by director Otto Preminger. That same year, she starred in Bonnie and Clyde, after Arthur Penn had scene her performance in The Happening and decided to let her audition for the role.

Michael J Pollard was a relatively unknown actor prior to Bonnie and Clyde, mainly having small roles in films such as Enter Laughing and Caprice, as well as episodes of television series such as Star Trek and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Gene Hackman, known for his performances in The French Connection and the Superman films (both of which released after Bonnie and Clyde), only had small roles in films like A Covenant with Death and First to Fight before Bonnie and Clyde.

Estelle Parsons also began her acting career on Broadway and with small television roles, having only appeared in the film Ladybug Ladybug in 1963 before being cast in Bonnie and Clyde.

Denver Pyle was another actor who primarily appeared in TV Shows, such as Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone. However, he had also appeared in Western films such as The Horse Soldiers, directed by John Ford, and John Wayne’s The Alamo.

Dub Taylor was an established Western film actor throughout the 40s, having significant roles in films such as The Last Horseman and Brand Of Fear. In addition to his western roles, he also had minor parts in films like Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and A Star is Born (1954).

Gene Wilder, most well known as the star of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 4 years after Bonnie and Clyde was released, made his feature film debut in Bonnie and Clyde. He had a few small roles in television beforehand, but none as significant as his still minor role in Bonnie and Clyde.

Score: 8/10

Memorable Scene – The final scene in which Bonnie and Clyde are shot to death. I found this to be memorable because of the fast paced cuts between different shots of the pair being killed.

Iconic Shot:

French New Wave – A film movement beginning in the late 50s and throughout the 60s that rose to popularity in Paris. It saw directors obtain full creative control of their work, making more experimental films then following traditional conventions of filmmaking.

Specific stylist and structural elements – These films countered tradition by including the likes of long tracking shots, fourth wall breaks, the breaking of the 180 degree rule, and existential themes. Discontinuity editing, such as jump cuts and freeze frames, was common at this time.

Directors and films that influenced Arthur Penn – François Truffaut (The 400 Blows) and Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless) both were approached during the production of the film.

The New Hollywood era of filmmaking showed a period of time in which creative control of films moved from the studios to individual directors, giving them the opportunity to tell stories that don’t particularly have to appeal to mass audiences.

Notable films from this period include Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Taxi Driver (1976), Planet of The Apes (1968) and Night of the Living Dead (1968).

Directors that became well-known through this era include Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and William Friedkin.

Some examples of stars from this period are Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Sean Connery and Robert De Niro.

Notable world events during this time include the rise of Communism, the assasination of JFK, and the Vietnam War.

Women are represented in Casablanca through the character of Ilsa. Her character is often presented stereotypically as an accessory to Rick and Laszlo. She can also be seen as innocent and harmless, as was the viewpoint of women at the time. However, she briefly breaks stereotypes by threatening Rick with a gun.

The audience see both stereotypes and countertypes of men through the character of Rick. He is shown to be confident, self-centred and ‘masculine’. However, once Ilsa is introduced, he becomes more vulnerable and emotinal.

Authority Figures are represented as powerful, antagonistic and corrupt. This can be seen with the character of Captain Renault who is after Rick for having Ilsa and Victor’s transport papers. However, this changes at the end when he allows Ilsa and Laszlo to escape and then tells the police to “round up the usual suspects” as opposed to arresting Rick.

People of Colour can be seen through the character of Sam, who challenges stereotypes by being among many white people while performing, in a time where racial segregation was a serious problem.

Americans are represented as being neutral in relation to the Second World War. This is seen with Rick, who allows people from both sides of the war into his café. However, Rick later shows his true self, assisting Laszlo and Ilsa in escaping the Nazi-occupied Casablanca.

Europeans are represented as defenceless and weak against the Nazis, as seen with the man at the beginning of the film who attempts to flee when questioned, subsequently getting shot dead.