Explain what the author means by the following.

1. The films have gained a charm and other worldliness with age but, inevitably, they have also lost something. What have the films gained? Are their achievements mainly associated with the progress of science and technology? What have they lost?

2. The impression they made when there was no rival to the moving picture was more profound, more intense to the easily accessible pictures of today.

There are three main functions of the first silent movies singled out by the author in this extract. Pick them out and enlarge on them. Do you think that these functions are performed by modern films as well?

     II. Read the text for obtaining information.

     Room at the Top (1959) is commonly spoken of as a turning point in British cinema and a forerunner of the new realism.

     The first sighn of change are already seen in the Fee Cinema movement pioneered by Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson and Karel Reiz. They laid emphasis on the individual and his environment and dealt with the pressures, corruptions and frustrations of everyday life.

     Room at the Top, directed by Jay Clayton, still clung to some of the old box-office values. It was based on a best seller, it relied on stars (Laurence Harney and Simone Signoret). But at its core was a concern with human and an honesty in expressing them which sharply differentiated it from its contemporaries. The attention given to the film by the critics measured its importance. It was the big talking point. The clamour of mixed opinion led, in England at any rate, to a great box-office success.

     The large social and economic changes that had shaken the 1950s echoed into the 1960s. Pop art flourished. The Beatles sang and were compared with Beethoven. Affluence was everywhere, but so were poverty and crime.

     For the cinema the permissive cult pushed back the frontiers to territory ever more violent and erotic and compelled a revision of cinema censorship. The 1960s carried screen permissiveness about as far as it could go. The new films explored the new moralities and attitudes of the younger generations, and at the same time alienated numbers of older people whose minds were rusted up in the past.

     In 1967 the Federation of Films Unions produced a report in which they repeated the charge that British production was dominated by the USA, and that 70 percent of screen time in 1967 was occupied by foreign films.

     In 1970, because of trade uncertainty and the smaller number of films being made, the most promising film projects went “Automatically” to the major American companies.

     During the time of economic vacuum when so much of promise in film-making had been brought to nothing, British Lion passed into other hands.

 

In this taxt the author singles out several periods in the development of british cinema. What are they ? What are the basic characteristics of each period?

Can the development of cinematography in this country illustrate the connection between film and society?

1. Are you familiar with the Soviet films of the 30s, 40s and 50s? What was characteristic of them?

2. Were all these films realistic or did some of them idealize, romanticize and glorify reality?

3. In what way can the films reflect the values of the society?

4. Do you think that most of the films carry an ideological message? Should they serve as an instrument of shaping public opinion?

5. What is characteristic of the latest Russian films? Don’t you find them something shocking in their portrayal of reality?

 

What kinds of films do you know?

Recollect a few screen adaptations of well-known novels and stories and speak of the artistic value of the screen versions.

What film is known to be the greatest hit of the season?

Do you like crime films? Give your reasons.

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