All films are shown in the University Auditorium, 6 – 10 p.m.
This series is free and open to the public.
About the Maryville Talks Movies:
Maryville Talks Movies is a series dedicated to bringing culturally significant films to our student body and the St. Louis public. The faculty involved with this program are dedicated to advocating for film literacy and screen literacy to diverse audiences who are interested in discussing the issues these films explore. They believe film is the most significant art form of the 20th century and deserves to be taught alongside the novel and other literary genres.
September 3
Germaine F. Murray, PhD, professor of English, presents The Night of the Hunter (1955), directed by Charles Laughton.
The Night of the Hunter is the only film Charles Laughton ever directed and is considered one of the greatest American films of all time, despite the fact that it was completely misunderstood and ignored when it was released. The film blurs the lines between fantasy, horror and thriller, using elements of noir and its expressionistic lights and darks. The black and white photography is shot by Stanley Cortez who worked with Orson Welles. The screenplay was adapted by James Agee.
September 10
John Baltrushunas, MFA, professor of art and design, presents Woman of the Year (1942), directed George Stevens.
A witty romantic screwball comedy, this film about gender roles was originally developed by Garson Kanin especially for Katharine Hepburn, with an Oscar-winning script by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin. This marked the first onscreen pairing of Tracy and Hepburn (the first of nine such films that lasted over a period of 25 years). Woman of the Year earned an Oscar for Lardner Jr. and Kanin for Best Original Screenplay and also earned a nomination for Hepburn for Best Actress. It was selected as one of the “Top Ten” films of the year by the New York Times and others.
September 24
Davis Brown, PhD, assistant professor of political science, presents Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1992), by director Nicholas Meyer.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the acclaimed final installment of the 26-year franchise of Star Trek featuring the original cast. Bridging the gap between the original television series and The Next Generation series, the story is one of forgiveness and revenge, of trust and betrayal, of hatred and regret—but also of hope for the future. In sowing the seeds for peace between the Federation and Klingon Empire, the movie offers valuable insights for understanding international conflicts in our world.
October 1
Jessica Bowers, PhD, assistant professor of English, presents Cat People (1942), by director Jacques Tourneur.
This low-budget horror film, directed by Jacques Tourneur, photographed by Nicholas Musuraca and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Radio Pictures, was the first in a series of chillingly suggestive and stylistically influential films Lewton would develop during the next decade. The film was shot for $134,000 in 18 days and grossed $4 million, making it one of the most popular films of 1942. With the film, Lewton created the blueprint for horror film technique and suspense.
October 8
Jesse Kavadlo, PhD, professor of English, presents Psycho (1960), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Psycho, director Alfred Hitchcock’s best-known film, caused controversy in its time for its depictions of violence and sexuality. Today it retains its power to shock even as it continues to influence American culture. Its use of—and break from—traditional modes of storytelling, inventive cinematography, remarkable music, and psychological themes make it a movie masterpiece.
October 15
Johannes Wich-Schwarz, PhD, associate professor of English, presents, Peeping Tom (1960), by director Michael Powell.
Powell’s infamous movie effectively ended the director’s career—audiences rejected the movie as disturbing and disgusting. Yet, over the years, the movie has found new recognition, especially through the efforts of Martin Scorsese. On its surface,Peeping Tom is a thriller in the vein of Hitchcock’s Psycho (released the same year)—but its deeper significance lies in its existential questioning of the cinematic experience itself. Peeping Tom raises the unsettling question whether we as movie watchers are automatically implicated in the exploitative and violent aspects of the human gaze. How do we ethically justify watching another movie after having seen Peeping Tom?
October 22
Kent Bausman, PhD, associate professor of sociology, presents Do the Right Thing (1989), by director Spike Lee.
Do the Right Thing chronicles the simmering racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood over the course of a long hot summer day. An explosive drama leading to tragedy, it is a vivid and distinctly told tale without any clear heroes or villains. The film was released more than two decades before the recent events in Ferguson and Baltimore, yet it continues to speak volumes about the state of racial tensions in the United States. Written, directed and produced by Spike Lee, the film generated considerable public controversy upon its release, but most film critics were in agreement that it was filmmaking at its best. Largely shunned by the Academy Awards at the time, the film has since been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the “100 Greatest American Films” and in 1999 was selected for inclusion to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
November 5
Christopher O’Connor, PhD, assistant professor of biology, presents Gattaca (1997), by director Andrew Niccol.
With this film Andrew Niccol makes his directorial debut. The film explores eugenics and its unintended but very real consequences caused by technological advances meant to “aid” human reproduction. One can locate Gattaca’s roots in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Like Brave New World, the film explores the technologization of genetics and of human biological science in general. The title is composed entirely of the letters used to label the nucleotide bases of DNA which are guanine, adenine, thymine and cytosine. After the film was released, NASA scientists voted it the most scientifically accurate film ever made.
November 12
John Wickersham, PhD, professor of philosophy, presents Stand By Me (1986), by director Rob Reiner.
It this film, four 12-year-old boys set out on a quixotic adventure with quite unexpected consequences. The movie is based upon a Stephen King novella, The Body, and takes its title from a popular song from 1961. These four boys set out from their homes in fictional Castle Rock, Oregon, to find the remains of a boy who died mysteriously and whose body was never found. The quest is the whole point of the movie, not the body, and like Odysseus and his companions, the boys have many an adventure before the denouement. Stand By Me gives the viewer an exquisite view into the world of boys, comparable to the Twain novels. River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton have the central roles as two of the boys, with Kiefer Sutherland and John Cusack in supporting roles, and Richard Dreyfuss in a cameo.
November 19
Steve Coxon, PhD, associate professor of education, presents The Godfather (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
The Godfather is one of the most referenced and influential films of last 35 years. Nominated for 11 Oscars and winning three, it is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Featuring Marlon Brando, The Godfather, launched the acting careers of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, James Caan and others. A gangster film in which the bad guys seem to be good guys, The Godfather explores many themes, including freedom, family, respect, culture, power, good and evil, marriage, citizenship, courage and loyalty. Powerful in its character development, particularly of mob boss Vito Corleone’s son Michael,The Godfather centers around this complex father/son relationship.
December 1
Panel of Maryville faculty presents Fahrenheit 451 (1966), by director Francois Truffaut.
This film showing is co-sponsored by Maryville Reads and Maryville Talks Movies. Fahrenheit 451 is Truffaut’s first and only film in English. Its reception by theater audiences was cool, but its reputation has slowly grown among critics and filmgoers since it was released. Ray Bradbury, the novel’s author, came to appreciate the film over the years and even incorporated a couple of Truffaut’s plot changes into later renditions of the novel. The film cinematography influenced Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange and Martin Scorsese maintains his work has been strongly influenced by Truffaut’s view of modernity in the film.
December 3
Final Class