FILM 3310: Screen Artists (Topic: Films of Alfred Hitchcock)

Course Description

This course will concentrate on the themes and style in the films of one of the most distinctive directors in the history of the medium, Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). Dubbed “The Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock worked with many top Hollywood stars to produce some of the most commercially successful and best-remembered movies of his time. In the mid-1950s, television made him a familiar American icon through the droll, on-camera introductions he provided for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the mystery anthology program that bore his name. Yet Hitchcock enjoys the rare distinction of being regarded simultaneously as a popular entertainer as well as one of the most significant artists in the history of cinema.

Instructor Biography

Dr. Rick Worland received his Ph.D. in Motion Picture/Television Critical Studies from UCLA. He is a Professor in the Division of Film & Media Arts at Southern Methodist University where his teaching includes International Film History, Documentary, popular genres including Westerns, science fiction, the horror, and the films of Alfred Hitchcock. He has been teaching courses on Hollywood movies of the 1960s and 1970s for the past twenty years and was the 1997-98 Algur H. Meadows Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Meadows School of the Arts. His work has been published in Cinema Journal, The Journal of Film & Video, and The Journal of Popular Film & Television among others. His first book, The Horror Film: An Introduction, appeared in 2007 from Blackwell Publishing. He is currently working on a new book, Ultimate Trips: Hollywood Films in the Vietnam Era, 1960-1979 (Wiley/Blackwell, forthcoming 2013).

Learning Outcomes and Benefits

• To acquaint you with some of the most engaging movies of a master filmmaker
• To give you some concepts and tools of film analysis that you can apply to other directors and movies
• To put the first two together in such a way that you will gain increased insight into Hitchcock’s films but understand more of the film industry processes and the social context of the mid twentieth century that produced them