STOCKMYER'S MOOD MOVIES

In the five minutes preceding every class period, I will show a portion (five minutes worth) of a Hollywood movie. Showing these film clips gives you a chance to relax while seeing something related to the topic of that day's lecture. Should you like what you see and want to watch the entire movie, our library has most of the films and will check out to you any movie you want to take home to see. Listed below are the lecture titles, the film from which the "class clip" is to be shown, and Stockmyer's commentary on the movie.

  1. Feudalism
    El Cid. Not accurate historically but a good film to see.
  2. Manorialism
    The Vikings. You've got to admire the effort it took to make heroes out of Vikings. Good visually.
  3. Catholicism
    The Name of the Rose. Shows the Middle Ages for what it really was: grubby, dirty and unlearned. If you like "dark" films, you'll love this one!
  4. Nation States in 1500
    1492: Conquest of Paradise. Boring. Not recommended.
  5. England -- Italian Renaissance
    Flesh + Blood. The film critic, Leonard Maltin, calls this film, "rather foul and nasty" -- and he's right. You'll like it! Good picture of the chaos of Renaissance Italy.
  6. Renaissance -- Germany
    The Agony and the Ecstasy. "Stills" of Michelangelo's sculpture. Good film.
  7. Capitalism -- Banking -- Exploration
    Another clip from 1492: Conquest of Paradise. Unfortunately, even the passage of time -- in this case, a week -- has not helped this film. Avoid it.
  8. Life and Times of Charles V
    Amistad. Great in parts. Even though long and uneven, worth seeing.
  9. The Reformation -- Luther
    Another clip from The Name of the Rose, this time showing burning at the stake -- an old religious favorite.
  10. Calvinism and the Catholic Reformation
    May show the last clip again. Depends on where I am in lecture.
  11. Henry VIII and the English Reformation
    Anne of the Thousand Days. Good looking film. Often inaccurate. Good performances. Worth seeing.
  12. Elizabethan England
    Elizabeth. Recent film. Not historically accurate, but shows the times quite well. Well- acted. Dark. Depressing. You'll like it.
  13. Spain -- France -- Germany
    Sea Hawk. Romance. Swordplay. A fun movie. Get the colorized version.
  14. Beginnings of Modern Science
    Stills of Leonardo Da Vinci's scientific drawings.
  15. The Stuarts Through the Civil War
    Cromwell. Great battle scenes. Accurate costumes. Great set. All wasted because of a confused plot. Talky. Boring. A complete waste of time.
  16. Charles ll through Louis 14
    Restoration. Splendid visually. And when you've said that, you've said it all. Run -- do not walk -- away from this film.
  17. Russia -- Prussia -- Austria
    No clip.
  18. Catherine the Great Through George III
    The Madness of King George. Well worth seeing.
  19. Background of the French Revolution
    Tale of Two Cities. From the Dickens novel of the same name, this is a 1934 movie that holds up. Interesting camera work. Shot in "black and white", which is perfect for this film.
  20. French Revolution to Napoleon
    No clip.
  21. Napoleon through Waterloo
    Desiree. How anyone can make a Napoleonic film without a single action scene, I will never know! Skip this one.
  22. England 1815-1848
    How Green Was My Valley. Shows coal mining in the early industrial revolution. Ugh! A fine film (winner of five Academy Awards). Well worth seeing.
  23. Revolutions of 1848 through the Crimean War
    Charge of the Light Brigade. Errol Flynn Version. Action. Romance. Even though this film was shot in 1936, it holds up as a campy classic. [Attention women! Think Leonardo DiCaprio is good looking? Check out Errol Flynn!]
  24. Unification of Italy and Germany
    No clip.
  25. Darwinism -- Capitalism
    Inherit the Wind. A movie about the Scopes "monkey trial" of 1925. A fine film in spite of unfairly portraying the anti-evolution forces as idiots. (Because less was known about evolution in the 1920s, it was easier to doubt evolutionist theory than it is today.) Accurately depicts the "zoo-like" atmosphere of the Tennessee town where the trial was held.
  26. Marx and other "isms"
    No clip.
  27. Background of WW I
    Zulu. True story about the British Empire in Africa. Gripping battle against heavy odds. British firepower and discipline vs native numbers and bravery. I give it four stars.
  28. World War I
    Paths of Glory. This film depicts the horrors of WWI like no other. A must see!
  29. Communist Revolution
    Doctor Zhivago. From Boris Pasternak's novel of the same name. Sprawling epic. Romantic vistas. Sweeping music. Packed with movie stars. A long movie from a long novel -- but with many good things in it. See it -- if not as the semester is coming to an end, sometime soon!
  30. Fascism
    Triumph of the Will. Here's what the movie critic, Leonard Maltin, says about this film: "Riefenstahl's [the director] infamous documentary on Hitler's 1934 Nuremberg rallies is rightly regarded as the greatest propaganda film of all time. Fascinating and (of course) frightening to see." Enough said! Our Audio Visual Dept. has this film.
  31. Europe Between the Wars
    Gandhi. Eight Oscars including Best Picture. Shows Gandhi inventing the peaceful protest demonstration -- a tactic used by Martin Luther King in the American Civil Rights Movement. A must see!
  32. World War II
    Schindler's List. Seven Oscars including Best Picture. Gripping. Realistic. Frightening! Unforgettable performances. Though everyone should see this film, no one should be made to see it twice!
  33. Post World War II Europe
    Time Machine. H.G. Wells view of the distant future. Look out!
    Blade Runner. Presents another vision of what the world might become in the near future -- if we're not careful! See it!

Other movies about the future that you will want to see are:


Foundations of West. Civ Modern West Civ. Extras