The History of Film

The foundations of cinema from cave paintings to the invention of the chronophotographic gun. Visit the show's website at historyoffilmpodcast.com. If you want to get in touch, I would love to hear from you! My email is, predictably, historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com. Audio from movies are used here as transitions, to spice up the show and to remind us where the show is going; clips are from Casablanca (1942), The Maltese Falcon (1941),  and Rushmore (1999). Jake from the future here! Edgar Degas is not a filmmaker he is a painter. I misread the book I was using when I referenced this. If we do, for some reason, talk about Degas, it will not be in the context of filmmaking, because he... wasn't a filmmaker.Yours,-Jake12 April 2021Support the show

Cinema was not born of void. Earlier inventions, including, but not limited to, the magic lantern, diorama theater, the photograph, and vaudeville contributed to what went on in front of the camera in the earliest days of film history. Visit the show's website, historyoffilmpodcast.com for show notes, and contact me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com. Enjoy the show!I am using soundbites for movies as transitions, reminders of what this is all leading up to, and for my enjoyment (I hope yours too). Once we reach sound film, these clips will be relevant to the topic at hand, I promise. In this episode, these clips are:The Maltese Falcon (1941)The Wizard of Oz (1939)They Live (1988)Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)Support the show

Kodak, Edison, and Dixon are introduced, as are their first roles in the story of film history. Next week we cover movies they made.I use movie clips as transitions in this show. Once we reach sound film, all the clips will be very pertinent, but for now, it is just for the joy of movies and as a reminder of where we are eventually headed. This week the movies were:Iron Man (2008)Sabrina (1954)Jaws (1975)Brining up Baby (1938)If you want to contact me, please email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com, and visit the show's website: historyoffilmpodcast.com.Happy listening and I will see you next week!Support the show

Let's all go to the movies! Sorry, I am two days late. Today we discuss the kinetograph, and the movies made on it, including Fred Ott's Sneeze, Comic Boxing, Serpentine Dance, and more. If you want to contact me, my email is historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com. The website for the show is historyoffilmpodcast.com. I am using soundbites from movies as transitions, reminders of what this is all leading up to, and for my enjoyment (I hope yours too). Once we reach sound film, these clips will be relevant to the topic at hand, I promise. In this episode, these clips are:The 39 Steps (1935)3:10 to Yuma (1957)Harakiri (1962) (One of my favorite movies of all time, if not my favorite)Amadeus (1984)Support the show

This episode we cover an exciting, but ultimately unfruitful, film made in the Black Maria, and voyage to Europe to meet the Lumiere family, and their incredible contributions to cinema.I told you the clips would start becoming useful just as soon as I could make them do it! This week we have sound clips from The Edison-Dixon Experimental Sound Film (1895?)Singing in the Rain (1954)Amelie (2001) (the only one that isn't applicable to the episode)Hugo (2011)Support the show

This week we look at some of the "firsts" in film history as they occurred in the Lumiere's early projections. We also describe a few advancements in film technology, including the Latham Loop, and the Geneva Drive. I have had to take the website down for a little while. There were just too many tech issues. But you can still listen at historyoffilm.buzzsprout.com. But I will return with a website soon. You can email me still at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.comMovie Recommendation:Have you ever heard of Seconds? It's a 1966 film directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Rock Hudson. The best way I can describe it is like an episode of The Twilight Zone that has blossomed into a gorgeous, existentially terrifying movie that is unlike anything else I have ever seen. I first heard about it from this video here, and the good people at Criterion have made an amazing print. Support the show

In the most dramatic and magical episode of the show so far, we cover the life and achievements of cinemas first great magician, Georges Méliès. The only movie clip is from the 2011 film Hugo, which touches on subjects of film history and Méliès specifically.  I cover the origins of edition, and the first special effects, called "in camera effects." As of 21 October, 2020, the website still isn't up yet, but I am working on it, I promise! you need to see Georges Méliès' movies to understand just how special they are, and I hope within a few weeks to make that possible through the shows website again. Movie Recommendation:Its October, so it obligatory that a recommend a scary movie to you. This time, its the Val Lewton produced 1942 masterpiece Cat People,  a classic horror film thats easy to miss under the ocean of classic Universal Studio's monster pictures (though I love all of those too). Cat people is more eerie than frightening, but includes some of the best moments of tension in classic Hollywood fright films. The titular cat person, whose tale is just as tragic as it is fascinating, haunts a man and woman who become less sympathetic the more you think about them. I hope you enjoy, and like always, try and see the move in the context it was made in, and you may find it frightening too!Support the show

It was a big episode this time, and it took me a long time to write. But here it is! As I said at the end of the episode, a huge thanks to Stephen Herbert and Luke McKernan, whose work has proved to be the single most referenced resource I have used in making the show so far. You can their website here: https://www.victorian-cinema.netThe definition I used for "tracking Shot" came from the third edition of Film: A Critical  Introduction by Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis, which has a very helpful glossary.  Another thanks to my dear friend Jerry, who in ten minutes of teaching me how to use the free and open source program Audacity made this the best-sounding episode so far. If you want to contact me, you can email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you.  To see visual aids for this episode, visit https://www.historyoffilmpodcast.com/ which will have resources listed under episode 8. Movie clips used in this episode areHercules, directed by  Ron Clements and John Musker (1997)The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, directed by Wes Anderson (2004)Monty Python and the Holy Grail,  directed by Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones (1975)Support the show

We cover the life and accomplishments of Charles Pathé! This is actually the first in a series of at least two episodes, as I hope to upload one about Leon Gaumont and Alice Guy within two weeks. Thank you all for staying with me through my December 2020 hiatus. Look forward to exciting shows this upcoming year! Also, I accidentally said that my email was historyoffilm@...com (I wish) it is actually historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com. Thank you for listening!Support the show

CORRECTION: Okay, it turns out Max Linder is much more remembered than I thought he was. Not only is he featured, albeit briefly, in many of the texts I didn't initially find him in, but he is even mentioned in the 2009 film Inglorious Bastards directed by Quinten Tarantino. The reason I thought he wasn't in many film history books were:A) I had a lot less of them, andB) He is usually featured much later, sometimes even after Chaplin and Silent Hollywood because many textbooks follow an order of "early film–Hollywood–everything else" in their chaptering.  I am thrilled to be wrong about this because I love Linder's work, and the more people who know about him the better. -Jake, May 2021 This week we cover one of the amazing forgotten pioneers of comedy film: Max Linder. All of the movie clips you hear are from Maude Linder's 1983 documentary The Man in the Silk Hat. You can email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com, or visit the shows website, still under construction, at historyoffilmpodcast.com.Support the show

A longer episode this week, and we aren't even done yet! In this exciting episode, we cover the early career of Leon Gaumont and his first star director Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker. It was worth the wait, and I will see you next week!-JakeSupport the show

It's the second part of episode 11, in which we cover Alice Guy's movies. Movies, after all, are just as much a part of film history as the people who made them (more actually). In this episode, we discuss:Faust et Méphistophélès (1903)A Story Well Spun (1906)The Drunken Mattress (1907)A Sticky Woman (1906)Madame’s Cravings (1906)The Consequences of Feminism (1906)La Esmerelda (1905)The Barricade (1907)The Girl in the Armchair (1912)A House Divided (1912)A Fool and His Money (1912)Ocean Waif (1916)That looks like a big list, but the episode is still fun I promise. If you would like to contact me, you can email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com.  I will see you next week!Support the show

Edwin S. Porter and some of his early films and achievements are highlighted here, as well as some achievements that he did not... well, achieve.  There are a couple of references that didn't fit into the flow of the show that I would like to put here:All of the definitions I used in todays episode were taken directly from the third edition of Film: A Critical Introduction by Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis published by Person in 2011. I felt it would be tedious to say that three times during the show. The boo published by Kodack is How to Make Good Movies: A Complete Guide got the Amateur Movie Maker, published in the year?? by ???? Seriously, there is basically no information about this book’s publication inside of it besides "printed in the United States of America." I did a little bit of searching online and all I have found is that it is from the 1950's. These old filmmaking instructional books are helpful because they cover the ways people were making film before the advent of digital cameras and editing, which is understandable the focus of much of the internet's filmmaking resources. If you would like to contact me, you can email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.comand you can visit the show's website at historyoffilmpodcast.comsee you next week!-JakeSupport the show

It’s a big one again this week! We complete our second and Gil episode focused on filmmaker Edwin S. Porter, and discuss how his movies relate to film history. This includes technical innovations, genre development, and early examples of voyeurism in film. There are several movie clips used in the show, but one of them is unusual for this program. It’s an excerpt from an IGN video review. The link for you to watch the whole review yourself is this here: https://youtu.be/_ee8aFnRvgYIf you would like to contact me, email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com. You can visit the show's website at historyoffilmpodcast.com. I will have the episode 13 webpage up in a day or two. -Jake,23 March 2021Support the show

The reason my voice sounds just a little off is because I have been pretty sick for more than a week now. This is far and away the best I have sounded in a while though, so I went into the makeshift recoding booth and gave you my best! This week's show its all about the growth of cinemas's audiences and industry, and attempts by powerful people (mostly Thomas Edison) to control that industry. Towards the end of the show I use a few seconds from the 1977 film Star War's directed by George Lucas. If you would like to email me, you can do so at: historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.comAnd you can visit the show's website at: historyoffilmpodcast.comThanks for listening and enjoy!JakeSupport the show

This was a wonderful episode to produce, even if it was tricky. If you would like to learn all of the things that I didn't get to in this episode, like some of the wonderful names nickelodeon’s had, I really can't recommend At The Picture Show: Small-Town Audiences and the Creation of Movie Fan Culture by Kathryn Fuller enough. I wish there was an audiobook for it (but I feel that way about every book). A couple of clarifying points–I assume the "Latin races" that were talked about in the quote from the beginning of the episode were intended to be in reference to people of ethnically Italian origin. I'm fairly confident about this, as I don't think that LatinX people were a major minority population in the metropolitan centers of the Northeastern United States at the turn of the 20th century. People of Italian origin, however, definitely were, which is the basis of my assumption. I use the term "Latin races" as a segue to talk about LatinX peoples in the Southwestern United States, but by doing so I was removing the term from its original context. Women were not common in Nickelodeons of the South and Midwest, but undoubtedly some women, on rare occasions, would have seen movies. I'm not aware of any legal blockade against women attending movies, as was the case with the black populations of the South, but rather extremely powerful social and religious conventions. Still, for all intents and purposes, as I stated in the show, nickelodeons in these regions were dominated by white men and boys. The song I played in the show was "Let's Go into a Picture Show" as performed by Byron G. Harlan. It was written by Jack Norworth and was released as an Edison Phonograph record in 1909. If you would like to listen to the song in full (I didn't play the first verse in the show) you can look it up on YouTube, or, as I did, the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive. Support the show

This is actually the first of a two-part episode that I was originally going to call "Trustbusters." This week, we cover the early events of Carl Laemmle's life and see the feature film become the dominant form of cinematic presentation in the United States.  Next week it is the star system and the exodus to California, where the center of film production has stayed (in the U.S. at least) ever since. If you would like to contact me, you can do so at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.comand you can visit the show's website at http://historyoffilmpodcast.comThanks, and I will see you next week!-Jake, May 2021Support the show

16- The Stars are BornHere it is, episode 16, which in my heart, is the Kill Bill Vol. II of the podcast. This one pares a lot with episode 15, so I have a couple of brief recaps of the last episode to make the episode flow a little better.I played a clip from Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal from 1982 and was very tempted to play the emperor’s death sounds again when I was talking about the downfall of Edison’s trust. If you would like to contact me you can email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com, and you can visit the show's website, historyoffilmpodcast.com, to access resources for each episode. I'm a little behind on updating it, but by the end of the week (22 May 2021), it should be all caught up. -JakeSupport the show

This episode is actually a bonus episode, rather than the other “bonus” episode I’ve released, which was 30 minutes long and took weeks to make. This episode gets a little heavy, but suicide is a heavy subject. If you, or someone you know, is having suicidal thoughts, know that there is help. In the United States, you can visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org to make contact with people who are here to help you right now. You can also call them on the phone, just dial 800-273-8255. I'm a great admirer of the writer and philanthropist, John Green, who put it excellently when he said “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” People struggling with suicidal thoughts make it through them, and you, or the people you know, can too. I'm sorry that I don't have the information here of other countries, but this kind of help is available in many places across the world.I also really recommend This Was Hollywood by Carla Valderama. It's entertaining and packed full of information that I used for both this episode and episode 16. If you would like to contact me you can email me at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.com, and you can visit the show's website, historyoffilmpodcast.com.Jake.Support the show

Just as promised in episode 15, this week we begin our journey through the early influences of feature-length movies that will eventually take us into the studio era of the U. S. film industry and D. W. Griffith. Film D'art is more important for what it inspired than what it accomplished, and funnily enough, is skipped over entirely in a book I have on the History of French film, but is still worth discussing. It represents the last holdouts from the Edison/Black Maria style of filmmaking. This "un-cinematic" style of filmmaking will, happily, be in the rearview mirror (unless you count some of the crummy movies I tried to make as a freshman in high school). If you want to email me you can do so at historyoffilmpodcast@gmail.comyou can visit the show's website at "historyoffilmpodcast.com"Support the show