CIN201Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cinema Of Germany, Siegfried Kracauer, Oskar Messter
Professor Charles Keil Oct. 11, 2016
CIN201 LECTURE 5
GERMAN CINEMA OF THE WEIMAR ERA
LECTURE OUTLINE:
1. Introduction German Cinema and Cinema as Art
2. The Rise of the German Film Industry
a) pre-war contributions
b) German theatre
c) increased self-sufficiency
d) exhibition power
e) involvement of the avant-garde
3. Characteristic and Impact of Expressionism
4. Expressionism in Film
5. Siegfried Kracauer’s Thesis
GERMAN CINEMA/CINEMA AS AN ART
• Our examination of German cinema of the Weimar period initiates a study of
international silent film of the 1910s and 1920s
• German cinema offers an example of the intersection of other arts and the cinema (unlike
Hollywood cinema)
• German cinema of the Weimar period also serves as a pertinent case study of the
relationship between cinema and the society that produces/views it
THE RISE OF THE GERMAN FILM INDUSTRY
a) The most notable pre-war contributions came from film pioneer OSKAR MESSTER
What accounts for the improved strength of the film industry after WWI?
The increased involvement of the German theatre world in film, no doubt
originally spurred by the success of the French FILM D’ART
• Promoter Paul Davidson helped to put theatrical luminaries like ASTA NIELSEN
and MAX REINHARDT into contact with filmmakers
• Playwrights were convinced to write for the cinema, resulting in the phenomenon
of the AUTORENFILM
b) WWI led to a ban on imports, which spurred industrial self-sufficiency
• The government forced the major film companies to merge in 1917, resulting in
the formation of UFA (UNIVERSUM FILM AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT) that
year.
c) UFA acquired the rights to movie theatres in neutral countries, thereby increasing its
exhibition power
d) The intellectual excitement following in the wake of the war, termed AUFBRUCH, led to
the involvement of the avant-garde in all art-forms, including filmmaking
CHARACTERISTICS AND IMPACT OF EXPRESSIONISM
• As a term, expressionism became popularized by 1912, and applied to
- music (Schoenberg)
- poetry (Trakl, Stramm)
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Document Summary
Hollywood cinema: german cinema of the weimar period also serves as a pertinent case study of the relationship between cinema and the society that produces/views it. The rise of the german film industry: the most notable pre-war contributions came from film pioneer oskar messter. Characteristics and impact of expressionism: as a term, expressionism became popularized by 1912, and applied to . Painting (kirchner, heckel, feininger, grosz, belling) architecture (gropius, mendelsohn: expressionism revolted against a false optimism and rejected art that attempted to reflect a visually-based perception of the world. It is primarily a question of distortion directed, above all, consciously or not, to the communication of some intense emotion (john willett) In the case of caligari, three of the film"s set designers (hermann warm, walter reimann, and walter. Rohrig) were painters closely associated with der sturm, a publication at the heart of expressionism: films must be drawings brought to life (hermann warm)
