Episode #108 - James Naremore (A Cottage on Dartmoor)

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"My cinephilia began with directors, and I still defend that old fashioned way of working."

When Peter first began studying criticism, one person seemed to have the aspirational career he wanted: James Naremore. Not only was he able to teach the history of cinema, but he had written some of the most influential books on Orson Welles, screen acting, and film noir. Now Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington, Naremore continues to write and research while still blending a line between film criticism and film academia, but always with a rigor and appreciation that makes him entirely unique. James sits down with Peter to talk about going from English literature to film studies, to his appreciation of classical criticism, and the politics of writing a study of Charles Burnett. Finally, they talk about a rarity that few have seen: the 1929 British silent film A Cottage on Dartmoor, which represents one of the great "last breaths of silent techniques" before sound would change filmmaking, which even gets its own strange cameo in the movie!

0:00-4:10  Opening
5:12-11:34 Establishing Shots — Edmond O'Brien The Noirish Chameleon
12:18-49:18 Deep Focus — James Naremore
49:54-54:04  Sponsorship Section
54:47-1:08:48 Double Exposure — A Cottage on Dartmoor (Anthony Asquish)

1:08:53-1:10:31 Close 

Notes and Links to the Conversation

—Check out James Naremore's new website with all of his writing and Out of Print books!
—Watch Edmond O'Brien in D.O.A. and The Man in the Dark
—Books by James Naremore: Charles Burnett: A Cinema of Symbolic Knowledge, The Magical World of Orson Welles, Acting in the Cinema, The Films of Vincente Minnelli, More Than Night: Film Noir in its Contexts, An Invention Without A Future
—Check out Deems Taylor's A Pictorial History of the Movies
—A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies
—Read Bernard Benstock's analysis of James Joyce
—Naremore analyzes the style of Portrait of an Artist
—Download a copy of Noel Burch's Theory of Film Practice
—On John Huston and adapting The Maltese Falcon
—Erving Goffman's The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life
—See the Chinese cover of Acting in the Cinema with Cary Grant
—A brief explanation of New Criticism
—The Academy Film Scholars Grant
—Jon Vickers at Indiana University
—Naremore's Film Quarterly Top 10s
—Watch Naremore's 1984 film, A Nickel for the Movies
—The Austrian Film Noir Series I mentioned
—More about Asquith's Shooting Stars
—A brief article about Asquith and his contexts

Theme Music: “Forward” by Northbound

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