Expressionism, briefly defined, is art in an agitated, anxious mode that distorts the normal appearance of things by presenting them through a perturbed consciousness. It is an art of exaggeration and intense subjectivity; giving primacy to the disquieted self, it characteristically portrays the world as a disrupted, menacing place. This course will examine various manifestations of expressionism and its influence in the art of film. The first flourishing of expressionism in films took place in Weimar Germany, and we will study several notable instances: Dr. Caligari, Fritz Lang and Murnau. We will consider how expressionism took root when transplanted to American films: in the American work of German filmmakers, in the gangster films, the horror film, film noir, etc. We will look into the work of such expressionist-influenced filmmakers as Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman and the new Germans. We will also consider expressionism in the broader context of other art forms and of contemporary life.