into film studies.
Walter Korte, with whom I studied film as a graduate student at the University of Virginia.
I met Mr. Korte (all the professors are “Mr.” or “Ms.” at U.Va.; only the physicians are “doctors”) my second semester of graduate school, when I took his class in Film and Literature. I remember spending many hours alone in a storage room in Wilson Hall with a 16mm projector and a print of The Magnificent Ambersons; I watched those images over and over, my eyes wide open for what seemed to be the first time. The analytical vocabulary, the exquisite visual insightfulness, and most of all the committed love of cinema that Mr. Korte brought to every class session were deeply inspiring. I began to haunt the local repertory cinema (this was pre-video, my children). I began to go to each Wednesday’s “Filmwatchers” screenings at school. I started buying film books. In short, I became a cineaste, or at least a cineaste manque.
Mr. Korte introduced me to a world of films I’d never seen before–or never truly seen. Welles, Antonioni, Altman, Kubrick, Scorcese, Hawks, Brakhage, Bunuel, Visconti, Resnais, the list goes on. An unrepentant auteurist, Korte had his own pantheon a la Andrew Sarris, but he was always interested in the new, the fresh, the daring, and many times I saw him on a Monday morning in the grip of a movie he’d seen just that weekend. The man was simply besotted with film, which suited me just fine.
Best of all, Mr. Korte introduced me to the films of Errol Morris when he screened Gates of Heaven for our Film Aesthetics class in the fall of 1981. I later helped host Errol’s visit to the University of Mary Washington in 1997, just as he was finishing up Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. Thus the master’s lesson came full circle for the disciple.
For the last three years of my residence in graduate school, I was very happy and indeed extremely fortunate to share an office with this man. We used to talk for hours about everything having to do with movies. Those were golden moments for me. He let me have the run of his collection of cinema books, too. Even now, I will sometimes feel myself pining for those days. Though they were otherwise full of late-stage grad-student pre-dissertation angst, they were also full of discovery and intense conversations that continue to fuel my own work in film studies, both when I teach and when I write.
Read what Korte has to say about film here. You’ll understand my veneration for this teacher.
Thanks, Mr. Korte.
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Thanks for that. Snagging Altman while he was making Nashville (my all-time fave movie?)… now THAT’S a coup.
That’s a great note, especially the bit about how films have become objects rather than experiences. The video iPod in particular kills me.
AFI has been screening Kubrick all winter and I went to see A Clockwork Orange last night. It was tremendous on the big screen, and I was reminded of the time you took my 245 class to the Uptown for the anniversary of the SO: 2001 premiere. My date got a little restless when I wouldn’t budge through the credits.
Thanks, Dr. C.
Really interesting post — especially since you were the one who introduced me to Errol Morris! In fact, I just watched “Vernon, Florida” a couple of weeks ago. You should think about posting your movie recommendations on here; with Netflix, it is so easy to find relatively obscure films.
I had a similar experience to yours when I was in college at the University of Chicago back in the 70’s. Then, as now, there is a film group called DOC Films, short for documenatry films. This group is the oldest university film group having started in the 1930s. Through the campus screenings I attended weekly for $1 we were treated to Capra, Hitchcock, Welles, Buñuel, etc. classics which I may have seen on late-night tv, but rarely on film. I was also affected by a teacher there Gerald Mast, from whom I was lucky enough to learn from and really begin to understand the power and place of film. Now I’m trying to pass some of this interest to my daughters by dragging out my 16mm projectors and showing The Magnificent Ambersons too. The legacy will continue.
Thanks for a moving post. I’ve just come back from the Virginia Film Festival where Mr. Korte did a shot-by-shot analysis of Visconte’s “Rocco and His Brothers”. It was a very rewarding experience for me. Mr. Korte’s expertise and love of film were evident throughout the session. I have a dream of moving to Charlottesville after I retire and taking at least one class from him.
I took his Cinema as an Art Form class as an elective I was an Engineering student at the University of Virginia over 10 years ago. As a testament to what I learned and how much I enjoyed the class, I still have my notebook for the class.
The class got me involved in volunteering in film festivals and really got me into international and independent cinema. It broadened my horizons in innumerable ways.
I just came across this post as I was looking Walter up to see ‘whatever happened to…” I had the pleasure of taking the first cinema as an art form class in the fall of 1970 while an undergrad and Walter’s enthusiasm and scholarship turned me into a life long cinephile. I live in LA now and have an adult child in the film biz at least in part because of my own obsession. I also still have the notebook I used for that class. 40+ years later the notes and the memories still resonate. Thanks,Mr Korte, for showing me a world that has fascinated me my entire adult life.
I happened to come across this thread and was glad to read all the fine commentary see that Professor Korte is still active after 45 years at The University. I took his Cinema class as a Second-Year undergrad in 1986 and to this day Vernon Florida is my favorite film of all time.