The 1930's and 1940's have come to be known as the "Golden Age" of Hollywood cinema, because during this era Hollywood set the stylistic and narrative norms for mainstream cinema and turned out more films, of an arguably higher general quality, than at any other time in its history. This seminar, intended primarily for majors with some experience of film and upper-level literature courses, offers the opportunity for intensive study of one of the crucial genres of classical Hollywood cinema: comedy, whose varied resources inspired Hollywood's foremost directors and stars to make many of the finest films of the classical era. The diversity of these works-ranging from the brilliantly anarchic slapstick of the Marx Brothers, through the resonant social and cultural allegories of Hawks's and Capra's screwball comedy, to the witty urbanity of Lubitsch and the zany subversiveness of Sturges-will permit us to engage a wide array of questions. We will be concerned with issues of mechanism and victimization in slapstick comedy; with the social conflicts arising from class and gender difference and their possible conciliations; with travesties and rediscoveries of one's identity; with the nature of romantic fidelity and betrayal; with a newly emerging type of female protagonist, bemusing yet strangely powerful; and with the volatile comic rapport between reason and the unconscious, sexuality and moral constraint. The course, which will normally function as a small seminar but will occasionally change to a tutorial and/or workshop mode, will culminate in a final paper based in part on research into theory and criticism in this field. Format: seminar/tutorial. Requirements: active participation in class discussions, two short papers, some bibliographic work, and a long final paper incorporating the earlier writing and research. Prerequisite: English 203 or 204 and one 300-level English course, or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 15 (expected: 15). (Post-1900)