Appendix 3.2: Sample films - synopses and character lists
REACH FOR THE SKY UK 56
|
58 |
Doctor in prioson hospital, France________________ |
4____ |
|
59 |
German soldier guarding prison hospital ward_____ |
4_____ |
|
60 |
Gilbert, French resistance fighter who meets Bader______________________________________________ |
4 |
|
61 |
German patrol in the French streets at night______ |
4_____ |
|
62 |
Old man, French resistance fighter________________ |
4_____ |
|
63 |
German patrol which recaptures Bader |
4____ |
|
64 |
Crowd watching as Germans take Bader away after |
4 |
|
65 |
German officers in POW camp, Germany______________ |
4_____ |
|
66 |
US soldiers liberating Colditz POW camp |
4____ |
|
67 |
Crowd watching peace declaration, London |
4____ |
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE dir Nicholas Ray US 1956
Set in contemporary USA, the film explores the problems
encountered by the hero, Jim Stark (James Dean) in his passage
from adolescence to manhood, the major part of the narrative
taking place within a twenty four hour period. This major
theme is summarised in the visual and symbolic contrast
between the opening and closing shots of the film. In the
opening shot an extreme low angle close up shows us the
adolescent Jim sprawled drunk on a city street at night,
cuddling with one hand a child's toy found among the litter
while, like an infant in a crib, he sucks the thumb of his
other hand. The final shot contrasts in every way: it is an
extreme high angle long shot, symmetrically composed and
showing the facade and forecourt of the Observatory in
daylight. An adult male carrying a briefcase walks towards
the central door which he reaches as the end title comes up.
It is unclear who the man is, and in any case it is
unimportant since his simple presence references the adult
world and its access to knowledge and power and understanding
of the secrets of the universe contained in the observatory.
The transition from confused and chaotic adolescence to
ordered and controlled manhood, chronicled in the film and
epitomised in this contrast, is played out against the
background of Jim's relationship with his parents and his
struggle to establish contact with his peer group in the town
to which his family has recently moved. The confusions of
adolescence are explored in detail through the characters of
Jim, Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo). The film
implicitly proposes that it is parental inadequacy that is
responsible for the unacceptable and ultimately, in Plato's
case, tragic behaviour of the young. Jim needs his father to
be strong; Judy needs her farther's affection; Plato simply
needs a father: yet the audience is also frequently invited to
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