Examine one of the films listed in Module 2 from M2 Censorship or M2 Classic Hollywood, and write a short (400-600 words) response focused on the question, “What is the actor’s contribution (e.g., physical action, montage , characterization)? Pay particular attention to your perception of the emotional impact of the performance and whether you believe it is the actor’s art and intuitive response or a combination of cinematic techniques (editing, juxtaposition, sound, cinematography) that creates the experience for you. Please avoid extensively summarizing the plot at the expense of analyzing the actor’s performance. You must put the word count on your essay under your name.
M2 cencorship movies;
Queen Christina (1933)
The wise and peace-loving Queen Christina (Greta Garbo) has ruled Sweden since the age of 6, when her heroic father died in battle. Pressured to marry her cousin Karl Gustav (Reginald Owen) and produce an heir, the queen slips away incognito and ends up at a country inn, where she meets and falls in love with Antonio (John Gilbert), a Spanish envoy on his way to the palace. However, Count Magnus, himself in love with the queen, does not approve of her foreign lover.
Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), who owns a nightclub in Casablanca, discovers his old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) is in town with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Laszlo is a famed rebel, and with Germans on his tail, Ilsa knows Rick can help them get out of the country.
The life of legendary outlaw Billy the Kid, including his partnership with Doc Holliday and his clashes with lawman Pat Garrett. The film was notorious in its day because of producer/director Howard Hughes concentration on newcomer Jane Russell’s cleavage, and national release in America was delayed by some years.
After witnessing a Mafia murder, slick saxophone player Joe (Tony Curtis) and his long-suffering buddy, Jerry (Jack Lemmon), improvise a quick plan to escape from Chicago with their lives. Disguising themselves as women, they join an all-female jazz band and hop a train bound for sunny Florida. While Joe pretends to be a millionaire to win the band’s sexy singer, Sugar (Marilyn Monroe), Jerry finds himself pursued by a real millionaire (Joe E. Brown) as things heat up and the mobsters close in.
Based on the novel by Edward Lewis Wallant, this drama focuses on former professor Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), the survivor of a German concentration camp who now runs a pawn shop in East Harlem. Having witnessed his family’s death at the hands of the Nazis, he is embittered toward humanity and pushes away anyone around him, including his young Puerto Rican employee, Jesus (Jaime Sanchez). As Nazerman contends with his internal conflicts, the harsh realities of the city affect his life as well.
Thomas (David Hemmings) is a London photographer who spends his time photographing fashion models. But one day he thinks he may have photographed something far more sinister: a murder. After taking pictures in the park, Thomas is horrified to find an ambiguous image lurking on the edge of the frame, which could be a shadow, but looks like a gun. The only thing clear is that the woman (Vanessa Redgrave) in the photo has appeared at his studio — and wants the pictures he took.
This is an art film from the mid 1960s and is a satire on hedonism. Here is Roger Ebert’s review that might help you understand this film as you begin to critically analyze the acting performance:
In an alternate 1980s, the United States stands alone as communism grows stronger. When Soviet soldiers invade a small Colorado town, brothers Jed (Patrick Swayze) and Matt Eckert (Charlie Sheen) escape with friends to the forest. With their father, Tom (Harry Dean Stanton), a prisoner of the invading army, the children decide to fight against the Soviets. As the country comes under increasing attack, the group teams up with Lt. Col. Andrew Tanner (Powers Boothe) to take back their town.
John Ford’s landmark Western revolves around an assorted group of colorful passengers aboard the Overland stagecoach bound for Lordsburg, New Mexico, in the 1880s. An alcoholic philosophizer (Thomas Mitchell), a lady of ill repute (Claire Trevor) and a timid liquor salesman (Donald Meek) are among the motley crew of travelers who must contend with an escaped outlaw, the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), and the ever-present threat of an Apache attack as they make their way across the Wild West.
Epic Civil War drama focuses on the life of petulant southern belle Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh). Starting with her idyllic on a sprawling plantation, the film traces her survival through the tragic history of the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and her tangled love affairs with Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).
Former marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is preparing to leave the small town of Hadleyville, New Mexico, with his new bride, Amy (Grace Kelly), when he learns that local criminal Frank Miller has been set free and is coming to seek revenge on the marshal who turned him in. When he starts recruiting deputies to fight Miller, Kane is discouraged to find that the people of Hadleyville turn cowardly when the time comes for a showdown, and he must face Miller and his cronies alone.
Capt. Ahab (Gregory Peck) has a vendetta against Moby Dick, the great white whale responsible for taking his leg. He sets out on a treacherous sea voyage aboard The Pequod, along with a crew including Starbuck (Leo Genn), Father Mapple (Orson Welles) and Ishmael (Richard Basehart), to hunt down the elusive beast. With reckless abandon, Ahab leads the crew on his obsessive and suicidal quest, anxious for a final showdown with the legendary white whale.
Hitchcock’s romantic story of obsession, manipulation and fear. A detective is forced to retire after his fear of heights causes the death of a fellow officer and the girl he was hired to follow. He sees a double of the girl, causing him to transform her image onto the dead girl’s body. This leads into a cycle of madness and lies.
Adaptation of the Pierre Bouelle novel about POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American officers plot to blow up the structure, but the commander of the bridge’s construction has different plans.
Phoenix secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother.
Insurance worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) lends his Upper West Side apartment to company bosses to use for extramarital affairs. When his manager Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) begins using Baxter’s apartment in exchange for promoting him, Baxter is disappointed to learn that Sheldrake’s mistress is Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the elevator girl at work whom Baxter is interested in himself. Soon Baxter must decide between the girl he loves and the advancement of his career.
Remember to pay close attention to the actor’s contribution to the film.
Answer preview
The Actor’s Contribution in ‘The Red Dawn’ Film
‘Red Dawn’ is an American film focused on the spread of communism during the colonial period by the USSR’s soldiers. Milius John directed the film in mid-1984. The film starred Swayze P, Sheen C, Howell T, Savage B, and Grey J. This film focused on a group of high school teenagers ‘the Wolverines’ who responded on an attack by the Soviets who had taken control of the US. The actors’ contributions…
