In this video, David Thorburn shares his role at MIT and the story behind what inspired him to become a film scholar.

1. Introduction (2007)
2. Keaton (2007)
3. Chaplin, Part I (2007)
4. Chaplin, Part II (2007)
5. Film as Global & Cultural Form; Montage, Mise en Scène
6. German Film, Murnau
7. The Studio Era
8. The Work of Movies; Capra & Hawks
9. Alfred Hitchcock
10. Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window
11. The Musical
12. The Musical (continued)
13. The Western
14. The Western (continued)
15. American Film in the 1970s, Part I (2007)
16. American Film in the 1970s, Part II (2007)
17. Jean Renoir and Poetic Realism
18. Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937)
19. Italian Neorealism, Part I (2007)
20. Italian Neorealism, Part II (2007)
21. Truffaut, the Nouvelle Vague, The 400 Blows
22. Kurosawa and Rashomon
23. Summary Perspectives: Film as Art and Artifact
24. Meet the Educator
25. Why Study Film?
26. Approach to Lecturing
27. The Film Experience: A Course in Transition
28. The Video Lecture Conundrum
29. Beyond Film: Television & Literature
30. Thematic Spines of the Course

This course concentrates on close analysis and criticism of a wide range of films, from the early silent period, classic Hollywood genres including musicals, thrillers and westerns, and European and Japanese art cinema. It explores the work of Griffith, Chaplin, Keaton, Capra, Hawks, Hitchcock, Altman, Renoir, DeSica, and Kurosawa. Through comparative reading of films from different eras and countries, students develop the skills to turn their in-depth analyses into interpretations and explore theoretical issues related to spectatorship.

Note: Some videos in this course were recorded in 2007, not 2013.