I've often heard that Christian Metz earned the first Ph.D. in cinema
studies, but that may well be myth.

There were two dissertations on motion pictures in the 1920s in the U.S.,
and none before:

MOTION PICTURES: A STUDY IN SOCIAL LEGISLATION 
YOUNG, DONALD RAMSEY
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
1922 

THE APPLICATION OF MOTION PICTURES TO EDUCATION 
DAVIS, ROY LEFEVRE 
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
1923    

    As for the departmental issue, I doubt that NYU had a graduate cinema
studies program in 1923.  Neither of the above works seem to actually study
film content though, and almost all early film dissertations tend to be
about education or psychology.  Outside of that realm, the earliest two I
could find are:

CENSORSHIP OF MOTION PICTURES IN THE UNITED STATES: A HISTORY OF MOTION
PICTURE CENSORSHIP AND AN ANALYSIS OF ITS MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS
LITZKY, LEO
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
1947    

FROM BOOK TO FILM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENT OF NOVELS AND THE
MOTION PICTURES BASED UPON THEM
ASHEIM, LESTER E.
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
1950    

    And in terms of dissertations that seem to be more in the realm of
today's cinema studies, I found four in the early '50s:

DANCING IN COMMERCIAL MOTION PICTURES
HUNGERFORD, MARY J.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
1951

A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN MOTION PICTURES WITH SPECIAL RESPECT TO FOUR
CLASSES OF CHARACTERS
LICHTENBERG, PHILIP
CASE WESTERN RESERVE
1952    

THE IDENTIFICATION OF PROPAGANDA IN MOTION PICTURES
LITTLE, MARTIN E. 
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
1953   

AMERICAN MOTION PICTURES IN NORWAY: A STUDY IN INTERNATIONAL MASS
COMMUNICATIONS 
GEIS, GILBERT L.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
1954    

    This is still within the U.S. though, and it seems likely that a cinema
Ph.D. was granted in Europe much earlier.  Again, the question remains if
the dissertation was done within a "Cinema Department", and when such
departments formed.  That is more of an educational history question, but
certainly one worth pursuing.

    Perhaps an even more intriguing question is when was the first cinema
studies Ph.D. written by a student with a professor who also had a cinema
studies Ph.D.?  My guess is that it did not happen until the '70s.

    I am curious to hear other responses in this query.

    Tim

Dr. Timothy Shary
Director of Screen Studies
Associate Professor of Screen Studies
Traina Center for the Arts
Clark University
Worcester, MA  01610
508-793-7285



on 1/24/06 4:08 PM, Krin Gabbard at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> When and where was the first Ph.D. in cinema studies awarded?   I'm
> interested in a variety of opnions.  For example, do we count a degree
> granted in an English or a Philosophy department for a dissertation
> entirely about movies?
> 
> Thanks to all for your help.
> 
> Cheers,
> krin
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Krin Gabbard
> Professor of Comparative Literature and English
> Humanities 2048
> State University of New York
> Stony Brook, NY 11794-5355
> (631) 632-7460
> (631) 632-5707 (fax)
> 
> ----
> Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
> http://www.ScreenSite.org
> 

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