Film Appreciation
Kurt F. Stone, D.D., is in his 23rd year with Osher LLI. His passion for film is, he says, “genetic,” having been born in Hollywood, CA and raised both in and around the movie industry. A graduate of the University of California (B.A.), the Eagleton Institute of Politics and the Hebrew Union College (M.A.H.L. and D.D.), Professor Stone is the best-selling author of two books on the United States Congress and is currently continuing work on a massive history of Hollywood entitled “In the Land of Mink-Lined Pools.” A much sought-after lecturer, medical ethicist, occasional actor and ordained rabbi, his political op-ed column, “The K.F. Stone Weekly,” has, over the past 15 years, developed an international following. He now has a second blog called “Tales From Hollywood & Vine.”
Student Testimonials
- “Dr. Stone is very informative and knowledgeable about the movie industry and brings a great deal of personal and historical information forward and following the movie presentations.”
- “Dr. Stone has a wide breadth, depth and personal knowledge of movies and the film industry which makes his remarks about movies and the film industry interesting as well as educational.”
Making Heroes Out of Humans... and Humans Out of Heroes
Hollywood Hagiography
The noun “hagiography” is not on the top of most people’s vocabulary list. Simply stated, “hagiography” is a type of biography that puts a person in the most flattering possible light. Unlike modern biographies — which more often than not are “warts and all” presentations — hagiographies tend to turn humans into heroes and people into paragons. For years, classic Hollywood chose to do precisely this with both the famous and the infamous. And despite the fact that movies about historic characters were, generally speaking, based on at least a modicum of truth, in their pursuit of being entertaining, they frequently resorted to more than a modicum of fiction.
The eight films in this series represent Hollywood hagiography at its best – or worst. Together, we will spend our evenings in the company of some famously accomplished people and attempt to separate Hollywood’s creative fiction from history’s creditable fact.
Eight Lectures
- "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937) - Paul Muni and Gale Sondergaard, directed by William Dieterle. A brilliant bio-pic of the famous French novelist/muckraker and his involvement in the infamous Dreyfus Affair.
- "Man of a Thousand Faces" (1957) - James Cagney stars in a film about silent actor Lon Chaney, who never looked the same twice. Indeed, in his heydey, a famous quip went “Don’t step on that spider; it may be Lon Chaney!”
- "The Adventures of Mark Twain" (1944) - Fredric March stars as the legendary American writer/humorist
from his earliest days as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi until his death in 1910.
- "Madame Curie" (1943) - Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon star as husband and wife
physicists who, together, embark on the discovery of radium.
- "Lust For Life" (1956) - Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn. The life of the brilliant, but
tortured painter Vincent Van Gogh, his colleague Paul Gauguin
and brother, Theo. A bravura performance by Douglas with an
Academy Award winning screenplay by Norman Corwin.
- "The House of Rothschild" (1934) - George Arliss, Boris Karloff, Loretta Young, Robert Young. The
generations of a Jewish banking family which, despite living in a world of anti-Jewish prejudice, ultimately changed the face of Europe and all history.
- "Rembrandt" (1936) - Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, directed by Alexander Korda. This movie joins the iconic painter at the height of his fame and follows him through the final quarter century of his life.
- "Queen Christina" (1933) - Greta Garbo and John Gilbert; screenplay by Ben Hecht. Garbo
plays Queen Christina of Sweden, a popular monarch who is loyal to her country. However, when she falls in love with a Spanish envoy, she must choose between the throne and the man she loves.
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Course # F8M6 — Full 8 Weeks
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Place: | Auditorium, Lifelong Learning Complex, Jupiter Campus |
Dates: | Mondays, October 16, 23, 30; November 6, 13, 20, 27; December 4 2017 |
Time: | 7 - 9 PM |
Fee: | $80 / member; $110 / non-member |
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Register Now
Making Heroes Out of Humans... and Humans Out of Heroes (Last Four Weeks Only)
Hollywood Hagiography
The noun “hagiography” is not on the top of most people’s vocabulary list. Simply stated, “hagiography” is a type of biography that puts a person in the most flattering possible light. Unlike modern biographies — which more often than not are “warts and all” presentations — hagiographies tend to turn humans into heroes and people into paragons. For years, classic Hollywood chose to do precisely this with both the famous and the infamous. And despite the fact that movies about historic characters were, generally speaking, based on at least a modicum of truth, in their pursuit of being entertaining, they frequently resorted to more than a modicum of fiction.
The eight films in this series represent Hollywood hagiography at its best – or worst. Together, we will spend our evenings in the company of some famously accomplished people and attempt to separate Hollywood’s creative fiction from history’s creditable fact.
Four Lectures
- "Lust For Life" (1956) - Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn. The life of the brilliant, but tortured painter Vincent Van Gogh, his colleague Paul Gauguin and brother, Theo. A bravura performance by Douglas with an Academy Award winning screenplay by Norman Corwin.
- "The House of Rothschild" (1934) - George Arliss, Boris Karloff, Loretta Young, Robert Young. The generations of a Jewish banking family which despite living in a world of anti-Jewish prejudice ultimately changed the face of Europe and all history.
- "Rembrandt" (1936) - Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, directed by Alexander Korda. This movie joins the iconic painter at the height of his fame and follows him through the final quarter century of his life.
- "Queen Christina" (1933) - Greta Garbo and John Gilbert; screenplay by Ben Hecht. Garbo plays Queen Christina of Sweden, a popular monarch who is loyal to her country. However, when she falls in love with a Spanish envoy, she must choose between the throne and the man she loves.
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Course # F4M7 — Last 4 Weeks
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Place: | Auditorium, Lifelong Learning Complex, Jupiter Campus |
Dates: | Mondays, November 13, 20, 27; December 4 2017 |
Time: | 7 - 9 PM |
Fee: | $40 / member; $60 / non-member |
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Register Now