film industry and remained second only to Hollywood until
Nazis in 1933
expanded because government banned most foreign films,
1916–1920
prod. cos rose from 25 in 1914 to 130 by 1918
Universum-Film AG
government-chartered private company
founded in 1917
bought and merged many studios into one large film making
unit
founded to counter negative images during the war
produced movies boosting German spirit at home
position it abroad since so many bad images during the War
moved to enormous studios near Berlin in 1920
Postwar German gloom
Decade of economic and political crisis
harsh war reparations
goods shortages and inflation
by 1923 food and consumer goods unbelievably expensive
Deutsch Mark was practically worthless
Postwar film boom
ban of import of foreign films lifted
300 film production companies forming by 1921
anti-German feelings dissipating by early 1920s
German film found favorable international reception
inflation helped film industry since saving money was useless
more theaters
more exports of film
less imports
Historical Epics
inflation made it easy for studios to finance big historical epics
these elaborate films could compete abroad with Hollywood films
Ernst Lubitsch
started out as a comedian
then comic director
made epic MADAME DU BARRY in 1919
big hit in Germany and abroad
by 1923 he was hired to work in Hollywood
became one of the most skillful directors of Hollywood style
Expressionism
Began in painting and theater in 1908
modernist movement
reaction against realism
extreme distortion to express inner emotional reality
jettisoned surface appearances
Painting
Wassily Kandinsky
Pioneered Expressionism in 1909
Murnau Street with Women (1908)
“beyond the impressionism he receives from the exterior
world from nature continually accumulates experience in
his inner world quest for artistic form which must be
liberated from all irrelevant elements, so as to express
only the necessary”
Avoided subtle shading and colors
bright unrealistic colors
dark cartoonish outlines
rejected materialism
arrive at new era of spirituality and the soul
important after World War I
Theater
started in 1908 as part of leftist political protests
Performances as distorted as expressionist sets
actors shouting
actors screaming
gesturing broadly
goal was to express feelings in most direct and extreme
fashion
Film
by 1910, Expressionism had gone from being avant-garde to
being fashionable
expressionist films followed, lasting until 1927, the coming
of sound
only about a dozen films made in the style
contrast with Hollywood cinema, where…
most important figure is human form
sets and costumes forming secondary elements
privileges 3 dimension space where action occurs
subjugates 2 dimensional graphic qualities of screen
Stylistic distortions
Sets
Hermann Warm, Caligari’s set designer: “film image
must become graphic art”
sets express inner emotional reality of scene
sets dictate actors’ movements who move like dancers
simple lighting from front and side, illuminating the
scene flatly and evenly
Acting
Expressionist acting deliberately exaggerated to
match settings
acting style, where behavior was seen as part of
mise-en-scene
Conrad Veidt, who played Cesare: “if the decor has
been conceived as having the same spiritual state as
that which governs the character’s mentality, the
actor will find in that decor a valuable aid in
composing and living his part”
Camera work
long shots, used to show actors’ movement against the
set
very little camera movement or unusual angles
slow paced movement
Narration
interest in fantasy and horror
frame stories
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
New aesthetic ambitions for film
first effort to bring Expressionist style to film
established links between infant cinema and most progressive
art movements of the day
no realistic sets or acting
attracted intellectual audience
brought German film culture unprecedented international
prestige
avant-gardists hoped their films would play in regular
theaters
New commercial ambitions for film
producers recognized a vast new audience could be won if
prejudices of middle class could be overcome
bigger theaters
lure of art
producers told designers to do sets as “eccentrically as you
are able” to help sell the film
thought public would be titillated
deliberately designed as an alternative to Hollywood
Screenplay
Hans Janowitz was a dramatist
Carl Mayer was a poet
directed by Robert Weine
started work in 1918–1919
Janowitz says idea came from insanity of his years of
military service
story came from a sideshow featuring a hypnotized strong man
they saw together in Berlin
Premiered in 1920
immediately caught public attention
Film came out at a crucial time for Germany film industry
opened overseas markets closed since WWI
war had cut off all film imports
most markets remained closed to Germany
British exhibitors voted 5 year ban
France instituted a 15 year ban
Great Critical reaction
premiered in NY on April 3, 1921
in fashion of time, there was a live prologue and epilogue
where host announces that Franzis is fully recovered
contrary to myth that film was a commercial flop at its
premiere
Expressionist film
critic & public: authentic manifestation of Expressionism
a momentous extension of new art to a new medium
a garment in which to dress the drama
no Expressionist content in original scenario
story might equally have been handled in naturalistic mode of
popular detective stories of the time
mise-en-scene familiar to public through posters and textile
designs
Legacy
attacked by film theorists
a “cinematic mistake”
it prestylizes reality
violating inherent photographic realism of the medium
artifice instead of nature
enormous influence not only in Germany but in France
inspired many avant-garde experiments in abstract cinema
performances, decor, and costume are, however, expressionist
in style, taken from current theater practices
Kammerspiel
based on Kammerspiele Theater
chamber drama
opened by Max Reinhardt
opened in 1906
stage intimate dramas for small audiences
opposed to expressionism
concentrating on a few characters
exploring a crisis in their lives in detail
slow, evocative acting
sets tended to be dreary
avoidance of fantasy
films
very few films made
movement ended in 1924
most written by Carl Mayer, cowriter of Caligari
shot entirely in studio
insured control over
lighting
decor
architectural shapes
B&W contrasts
unlike outdoors and vastness by Swedes and Americans
emphasized importance of designer (art directors)
designers came from painting, theater or architecture
in conversation with contemporary major art movements
combination of artists working together, unlike competitive
nature of Hollywood
UFA emphasized repertory company system over star system
F.W. Murnau
most celebrated filmmaker of Weimar era
Nosferatu
most famous film
written with Carl Mayer
filmed by Karl Freund
released in 1922
sued by Bram Stoker’s estate and all prints were destroyed
Last Laugh
example of Kammerspiel
film revolves around doorman played by Emil Jannings
film told without intertitles
international success, brought Murnau to Hollywood
subjective camera
entfesselte kamera
unfastened camea
camera will spin with him as he gets drunk
subjective narrative
emphasizes psychology rather than action
complex morality
we sympathize for doorman but is depicted as vain,
class-conscious, and deluded
lower class are callous and petty
define people by their uniforms
honored doorman until he fell
strange ending
uses an American character to motivate the happy
ending
seems like parody of Hollywood happy ending
almost Brecthian that the American character
introduces the American ending
Growth of UFA
German films enjoyed international success
Kammerspielfilms helpied to bring down prejudices
Controlled by bankers
Rivaled Hollywood
enormous backlots
technical sophistication
artificial lighting
backlighting
miniatures for false perspective
unfastened camera
Changed dramatic by the end of the 1920s
filmmakers lured to Hollywood
imitations of US product
inflation made big budget films less common, more difficult
to produce
UFA nearly went bankrupt in 1925 with producing Metropolis
(1926)
most expensive silent film
about $200 million in today’s money
Metropolis
directed by Fritz Lang
painter and screenwriter
directed expressionist films prior to Metropolis
called for expensive sets at 2 different studios
story
set in 2027
future divided by the ruling class
dominating at towering urban world inspired by Lang’s trip to
New York
planners and thinkers live above ground in luxury
workers go underground to hellish factory
End of Expressionist cinema
excessive budgets
head of UFA was forced to resign
departure of filmmakers to Hollywood
few filmmakers remained interest in the style
new genres
New Objectivity in the arts, revived realism
Bertolt Brecht
Street Films, focus on city environments such as Joyless
Street (G.W. Pabst)
influence
atmospheric settings for horror
dark style of film noir
Sunrise
William Fox
invited Murnau to New York
called Murnau the “genius of his age”
called Last Laugh the “greatest motion picture of all time.”
German filmmakers in Hollywood
German filmmaking seen as distinct from Hollywood
filmmakers seen as aspiring to art
applied to intellectual audience
unlike Hollywood that ignored them for profits
Filmmakers lured for prestige
Lubitsch
Dupont
Murnau
Fox’s expansion
improved studio’s prestige
bought rights to stage plays
gave Murnau unprecedented freedom and control
employed Carl Mayer
Expressionist influences
cinematography
objects in foreground are unusually large
plays with light and dark
power of urban environment
narrative
American melodrama
good vs. evil
focus on domestic life
prurience vs. adultery
female innocence
Expressionists
oppressive sense of doom
obsessive association of sensuality with evil
implicit contiunity between conscious and conscious
forces
acting
George O’Brien wore lead weights on his shoes to slow him
down