ISP Week 24 – Michael Curtiz – Auteur?
Watch these three scenes from Angels with Dirty Faces (Curtiz, 1938) and take notes on the film form elements:
- Directional lighting to create shadows
- Functional/studio lighting to create high contrast of light
- Film noir
- Carefully detailed mise en scene and set design- shadows on the walls, poster ‘voice your protest against corruption’ uses dramatic irony
- Shadows- inspired by German expressionism
- European influence from personal background- German expressionism
- Expressionistic and motivated camera movement/ lighting
- Dolly- Tracking shots and pans
- Searchlight motif to reflect themes of entrapment and escape
- Witty and snappy dialogue
- (Editing) Fast cutting rate- during the chase and gun fight scenes
- Soft focus/ gauze filter when using close ups in the action/reaction shot between Bogart and Cagney
- Shift in genres- crime, western gun fight, thriller, film noir
- High profile actors- Bogart, Cagney
- Mirror motif- reflection of Cagney as the gun is fired
Then, select and watch three scenes from the Mildred Pierce (Curtiz, 1945) and take notes on the film form elements.
- Long takes to build the tension
- Dolly- tracking shot follows the characters
- Motivated directional lighting to create a contrast of shadows on the actors faces
- Shadows- German expressionism- shows Curtiz’s European background
- Soft focus- closeups
- Reoccurring collaborations with characters- Joan Crawford
- Focuses on characters as humans rather than archetypes
- Snappy dialogue
- Uses mise en scene to feel trapped- positions furniture between the actors and camera to surround and entrap them
- Expressionistic and motivated camera movement/ lighting
- Carefully detailed set
Interleaving task: Humphrey Bogart and Michael Curtiz made eight films together – write a 50-word summary on each of these films.
- Casablanca
Casablanca is regarded as one of Michael Curtiz’s masterpiece and most well-known piece of filmmaking. The film was made in 1942 set during WW2, commenting on America’s foreign policy and efforts to join the war as allies. In the Film, Rick agrees to help Ilsa, who happens to have an intimate past with Rick, and her husband Victor Laslo escape from Casablanca.
2. Angels with Dirty Faces
Angels with Dirty Faces is an 1938 noir/crime American gangster film that follows the friendship between gangster William ‘Rocky’ Sullivan and priest Father Jerry Connolly. After spending fifteen years in prison for armed robbery, Rocky intends to collect $100,000 from his co-conspirator Jim Frazier, a mob lawyer. All the while, Father Connolly tries to prevent a group of youths from falling under Rocky’s influence.
3. We’re No Angels
We’re No Angels is a 1955 comedy and crime film about Joseph, played by Humphrey Bogart, who breaks out of a prison on Devil’s Island with his two accomplices and flee to a nearby town to hide in a shop. The three convicts plan to rob the shop and board the ship but have a change of heart after spending Christmas with the shop owners. When they learn of the family’s financial troubles, the convicts decide instead to carry out a few good deeds.
4. Virginia City
Virginia City is a 1940 American Action/Adventure Western film shot in black and white, about a real-life outlaw John Murrell about a union officer who escapes from a confederate prison and is sent to Virginia City where his former prison commander is planning to send five million dollars in gold to Virginia to save the Confederacy.
5. Passage to Marseille
Passage to Marseille is a 1944 drama war film about allied soldiers attempt an escape from the formidable Devil’s Island fortress during WWII.
6. Kid Galahad
Kid Galahad is a 1937 drama/romance film about a retired boxer, Galahad, and his comeback for the last round in the rings for the sake of his daughter. In Florida, boxing promoter Nick Donati gets double crossed by his boxer, Galahad, who throws a fight for a $25,000 bribe from gangster Turkey Morgan.
7. Marked Woman
Marked Woman is a 1937 crime and film noir tells the story of a woman who dares to stand up to one of the city’s most powerful gangsters. A crusading district attorney persuades a clip joint hostess to testify against her mobster boss after her innocent sister is accidentally murdered during one of his unsavoury parties.
Retrieval practice: With reference to the scenes from Mildred Pierce and Angels with Dirty Faces and one scene from Casablanca, write a 500-word response to this question: In what ways can the auteur theory be applied to the work of Michael Curtiz?
Director Michael Curtiz’s auteur-ship can be seen in his work through his use of visual style, for example in the films Mildred Pierce, Angels with Dirty Faces and Casablanca. One thing that reoccurs in Curtiz’s work as a recognisable stylistic is trait is his use of expressionistic and motivated camera movement. This involves tracking shots, using the dolly, and long takes. This can be seen in the key sequence from Casablanca ‘Rick’s café’ as the camera tracks into Rick’s café and through the part in the crowd to reveal Sam at the piano. This is significant as it establishes Rick’s calm and collected manner through one long take, reflected in the smooth and fluid motion that the dolly provides. This style can also be seen in Mildred Pierce as the camera tracks Joan Crawford, a regular collaboration for Curtiz, as she moves around the room, utilizing the long takes to build the dramatic tension and immerse the audience in the scene.
One form of expressionistic camera work that can be seen in all of these three films is the use of a soft gauze filter and soft focus when showing a close up of a character’s face. This is shown perfectly in Casablanca as the camera uses an extended take to linger on a close up of Ilsa as Sam plays ‘As Time Goes By’ in order to reflect the character’s emotional and psychological state. This is similarly done in Mildred Pierce as the camera shifts between two close ups of Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth as they argue using action/reaction shots. This also links to Curtiz’s fast editing pace, for example Angels with Dirty Faces uses a fast cutting rate as Cagney fires the gun and is being chased to mimic to chaos and tension.
In terms of Curtiz’s influences, much of his work is influenced by his European background and personal life, having been born in Hungary and done a large part of his directing in Austria, then moved to America as the second world war began. This is reflected in his style of work through his use of the German expressionist art form. Curtiz would use motivated directional lighting by using studio or functional light in order to create shadows upon the characters faces or upon set walls, using the shadows of furniture, set pieces or foliage to produce artwork onto the walls. The shadows also contribute to Curtiz’s carefully detailed sets, providing a low-budget way to present a complex and effective set design. This is constantly used in Casablanca, specifically in the arrest scene where we see Rick’s silhouette as he opens the safe in his office. The shadow is used in this scene to represent Rick’s secretive past and his character motivations. Similarly, Curtiz uses detailed set in Angels with Dirty Faces as the poster in the background reads ‘voice your protest against corruption’, using dramatic irony in the scene.
Curtiz also uses mise en scene and set by positioning furniture between the actors and camera to surround and entrap them, linking to one of his reoccurring themes of escape. This can be particularly seen in Mildred Pierce as the furniture in the room is positioned in order to separate us from the two actors, similarly seen in Angels with Dirty Faces as the gunshots are fired through the bar which stands in the way of Bogart and Cagney. Curtiz’s reoccurring theme of being trapped and escape links to his personal life and interest in war, as his family were trapped in Europe during the second world war and he was unable to get them out before the German occupation. This is similarly used in Casablanca through the repeated use of the searchlight motif, and linking back to German expressionism, which indicates how Rick is trapped in Casablanca due to the war, just like Curtiz’s family.
Another reoccurring theme that Curtiz focuses his work on is presenting characters as humans rather than archetypes as he looks at the ‘human and fundamental problems of real people’. An example of this is in Angles with Dirty Faces where a reflection motif is used to show Cagney’s reflection in the mirror as he fire’s the gun. This theme is also found in Casablanca as Rick turns from a tough and cynical character at the start to a self-sacrificing man who is willing to join the war effort at the end. Curtiz therefore explores characters with a strong moral code or an internal conflict/dilemma that the audience is aware of. Lastly Curtiz may be considered a studio director due to his range of genres. For example, in the opening scene of Casablanca we are introduced to many genres, including war, crime, spy, thriller, adventure and comedy. Similarly, in the film Angels with Dirty Faces, within a single sequence, we are shown crime, western, thriller and film noir. However this is considered a studio director trait, Curtiz uses this technique in all his films so is argued to still be considered an auteur.
Emma Coe Film Studies 