When I teach an introductory film course to freshmen/sophomores, I always use extensive summaries of each film (as a basis for note-taking, worksheets, and exercises) and share those summaries with students. I have taught these films in the introductory course as well as a freshman seminar on international cinema. Below is a listing of feature-length film summaries (from American and International films) as well as a listing of notes and exercises for those films (and selected other films). I hope some of these resources will be helpful for you in your film classes. If you have other resources to share on these and other films, please let me know. I also have resources on documentary films; see the link at the bottom of the page.

Feature-length Film Summaries:

• American Films

  • Casablanca, dir. Michael Curtiz (1942)
  • Dolores Claiborne, dir. Taylor Hackford (1994)
  • Dr. Strangelove, dir. Stanley Kubrick (1964)
  • Driving Miss Daisy, dir. Bruce Beresford (1989)
  • The Graduate, dir. Mike Nichols (1967)
  • The Killing Fields, dir. Roland Joffe (1984)
  • Midnight Cowboy, dir. John Schlesinger (1969)
  • Mo' Better Blues, dir. Spike Lee (1990)
  • Smoke, dir. Wayne Wang (1996)
  • Smoke Signals, dir.Chris Eyre (1998)
  • Taxi Driver, dir. Martin Scorsese (1976)
  • Testament, dir. Lynne Littman (1983)
  • What's Love Got to Do With It? dir. Brian Gibson (1993)

• International Films

  • Antonia's Line, dir. Marleen Gorris (1996)
  • Aparajito, Satyajit Ray (1958)
  • Before the Rain, Milcho Manchevski (1995)
  • The Bicyle Thief, dir. Vittorio DeSica (1948)
  • Central Station, dir. Walter Salles, (1998)
  • Chocolat, dir. Claire Denis (1989)
  • Cinema Paradiso, dir. Giuseppi Tornatore (1988)
  • City of Joy, dir. Roland Joffe (1992)
  • The Crying Game, dir. Neil Jordan (1992)
  • Death and the Maiden, dir. Roman Polanski (1994)
  • Dodes 'ka Den, dir. Akira Kurosawa (1970)
  • Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, dir. Ang Lee (1994)
  • The 400 Blows, dir. Francois Truffaut (1959)
  • The Fringe Dwellers, dir. Bruce Beresford (1986)
  • Grand Illusion, dir. Jean Renoir (1937)
  • The Piano, dir. Jane Campion (1993)
  • Red, dir. Krzyszof Kieslowski (1994)
  • Secrets & Lies, dir. Mike Leigh (1995)
  • The Seventh Seal, dir. Ingmar Bergman (1956)
  • Shall We Dance? dir. Masayuki Suo (1997)
  • The Virgin Spring, dir. Ingmar Bergman (1960)
  • Walkabout, dir. Nicolas Roeg (1971)
  • Welcome to Sarajevo, dir. Michael Winterbottom (1997)
  • A World Apart, dir. Chris Menges (1988)

  
  

• Notes/Exercises on Feature-length films:

• Casablanca: 7 Dumbest Questions
• Casablanca: Notes for Viewing
• Casablanca: Analysis of Climactic Scene
• Citizen Kane: · Brief Summary/Dramatic Structure/March of Time Analysis
• Citizen Kane: Editing in key scene & Worksheet on Film Techniques
• Dr. Strangelove: Previewing Notes
• The Exorcist: Opening Sequence
• The 400 Blows: Symbolic Settings
• The Graduate: Notes on Film Techniques and Worksheet
• Harold and Maude: Parallel Editing in the Climactic Scene
  
• Hombre: Analysis of the stagecoach scene, dir. Martin Ritt (1967)
• The Killing Fields: Questions
• The Natural: Editing in the Closing Scene
• The Piano: Discussion Questions
• Places in the Heart: Discussion Questions
• Potemkin: Editing in the Mutiny Scene
• Raging Bull: Analysis of Editing
• Smoke: Dramatic Structure & Plot Threads
• Taxi Driver: Variety of Notes & Questions
• Tender Mercies: Introductory Sequence
• What's Love Got to Do With It? -- Questions
• Welcome to Sarajevo: Notes

 

Conditions for Use:

Robert E. Yahnke is the sole author of all of these written materials. Permission is given by the author for educational use only. Please insure that the following lines are added in any handout you use for teaching purposes:

Summary/Exercise/Notes written by Robert E. Yahnke
Copyright by Robert E. Yahnke, 2001, used by permission of author

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.