Editing Cinema of Germany (section)

===1918–1933 Weimar Republic===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1991-0109-502, Berlin, Aufnahmegelände der Ufa in Tempelhof.jpg|thumb|[[Universum Film AG|UFA Studios]] in [[Berlin-Tempelhof]], 1920]]
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The German film industry, which was protected during the war by the ban on foreign films import, became exposed at the end of the war to the international film industry while having to face an embargo, this time on its own films. Many countries banned the import of German films and audiences themselves were resisting anything that was "German".<ref name=":0" /> But the ban imposed on German films involved commercial considerations as well – as an American president of one of the film companies was quoted, "an influx of such films in the United States would throw thousands of our own... out of work, because it would be absolutely impossible for the American producers to compete with the German producers".<ref>{{Cite journal|date=14 May 1921|title=Restrict German Imports|journal=Motion Picture News|volume=XXIII| issue = 21|pages=3027}}</ref> At home, the German film industry confronted an unstable economic situation and the devaluation of the currency made it difficult for the smaller production companies to function. Film industry financing was a fragile business and expensive productions occasionally led to bankruptcy. In 1925 UFA itself was forced to go into a disadvantageous partnership called [[Parufamet]] with the American studios [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] and [[MGM]], before being taken over by the [[nationalist]] industrialist and newspaper owner [[Alfred Hugenberg]] in 1927.<ref name=":1" />

[[File:Metropolis (German three-sheet poster).jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927), directed by [[Fritz Lang]], first film to be inscribed on [[UNESCO]]'s [[Memory of the World Programme|Memory of the World Register]]]]

Nevertheless, the German film industry enjoyed an unprecedented development – during the 14 years which comprise the Weimar period, an average of 250 film were being produced each year, a total of 3,500 full-feature films.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema|last=Rogowski|first=Christian|publisher=Camden House|year=2010|isbn=978-1-57113-532-2|location=Rochester, New York|pages=Xi-12}}</ref> Apart from UFA, about 230 film companies were active in Berlin alone. This industry was attracting producers and directors from all over Europe. The fact that the films were silent and language was not a factor, enabled even foreign actors, like the Danish film star [[Asta Nielsen]] or the American [[Louise Brooks]], to be hired even for leading roles. This period can also be noted for new technological developments in film making and experimentation in set design and lighting, led by UFA. [[Babelsberg Studio]], which was incorporated into UFA, expanded massively and gave the German film industry a highly developed infrastructure. Babelsberg remained the centre of German filmmaking for many years, became the largest film studio in Europe and produced most of the films in this "golden era" of German cinema.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Macropedia – Volume 24 – Motion Pictures|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.|year=2010|location=Chicago|pages=376–378}}</ref> In essence it was "the German equivalent to Hollywood".<ref>{{cite book|title=A Critical History of German Film|last=Brockmann|first=Stephen|publisher=Camden House|year=2010|isbn=978-1-57113-468-4|page=24}}</ref>

Films about an exaggerated version of [[Culture of Japan|Japanese culture]] that included "[[geisha]]s, [[samurai]], and [[Shinto shrine]]s" were popular in Germany during this era.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dawsey |first=Jason |date=2021-11-03 |title=Adolf Hitler and the Origins of the Berlin-Tokyo Axis |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/adolf-hitler-and-origins-berlin-tokyo-axis |access-date=2023-06-26 |publisher=[[The National WWII Museum]] |language=en}}</ref>

Due to the unstable economic condition and in an attempt to deal with modest production budgets, filmmakers were trying to reach the largest audience possible and in that, to maximize their revenues. This led to films being made in a vast array of genres and styles.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:CABINETOFDRCALIGARI-poster.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|''[[The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari]]'' (1920), directed by [[Robert Wiene]], a major influence on [[film noir]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/opinion/how-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-changed-cinema | title=How the Cabinet of Dr Caligari changed cinema - the Skinny }}</ref>]]

One of the main film genres associated with the Weimar Republic cinema is [[German expressionist cinema|German Expressionism]] which was inspired by the [[Expressionism|expressionist]] movement in art. Expressionist movies relied heavily on [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolism]] and artistic [[image]]ry rather than stark [[Realism (arts)|realism]] to tell their stories. Given the grim mood in post-[[World War I]], it was not surprising that these films focused heavily on crime and horror. The film usually credited with sparking the popularity of expressionism is [[Robert Wiene]]'s ''[[The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920 film)|The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari]]'' (1920), produced by [[Erich Pommer]]. The film tells the story of a demented [[Hypnosis|hypnotist]] who is using a sleepwalker to perform a series of murders. The film featured a dark and twisted visual style – the set was unrealistic with geometric images painted on the floor and shapes in light and shadow cast on walls, the acting was exaggerated and the costumes bizarre. These stylistic elements became trademarks of this cinematic movement. Other notable works of Expressionism are [[Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau]]'s ''[[Nosferatu]]'' (1922), a classic period-piece horror film that remains the first feature-length film adaptation of ''[[Dracula|Bram Stoker's Dracula]]'', [[Carl Boese]] and [[Paul Wegener]]'s ''[[The Golem: How He Came Into the World]]'' (1920), a Gothic retelling of the Jewish folktale, and ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927), a legendary [[science-fiction]] epic directed by [[Fritz Lang]]. The Expressionist movement began to wane during the mid-1920s, but perhaps the fact that its main creators moved to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood, California]], allowed this style to remain influential in world cinema for years to come, particularly in American [[horror films]] and [[film noir]] and in the works of European directors such as [[Jean Cocteau]] and [[Ingmar Bergman]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts|last=Hayward|first=Susan|publisher=Routledge – Taylor & Francis|year=2000|isbn=0-415-22739-9|location=New York, NY|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780415227407/page/175 175–178]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780415227407/page/175}}</ref>

Despite its significance, expressionist cinema was not the dominant genre of this era.<ref name=":2" /> Many other genres such as period dramas, melodramas, romantic comedies, and films of social and political nature, were much more prevalent and definitely more popular.

The "master" of period-dramas was undoubtedly [[Ernst Lubitsch]]. His most notable films of this genre were ''[[Madame DuBarry (1919 film)|Madame DuBarry]]'' (1919) which portrayed the [[French Revolution]] through the eyes of the King of France's mistress, and the film ''[[Anna Boleyn (film)|Anna Boleyn]]'' (1920) on the tragic end of [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]]'s second wife. In these films, Lubitsch presented prominent historic personalities who are caught up by their weaknesses and petty urges and thus, ironically, become responsible for huge historical events. Despite modest budgets, his films included extravagant scenes which were meant to appeal to a wide audience and insure a wide international distribution.

As the genre of expressionism began to diminish, the genre of the [[New Objectivity (film)|New Objectivity]] (die neue Sachlichkeit) began to take its place. It was influenced by new issues which occupied the public in those years, as the rampant inflation caused deterioration in the economic status of the middle class. These films, often called "street films" or "asphalt films", tried to reflect reality in all its complexity and ugliness. They focused on objects surrounding the characters and cynically symbolized the despair felt by the German people, whose lives were shattered after the war. The most prominent film maker who is associated with this genre is [[G. W. Pabst|Georg Wilhelm Pabst]] in his films such as: ''[[Joyless Street]]'' (1925), ''[[Pandora's Box (1929 film)|Pandora's Box]]'' (1929), and ''[[The Loves of Jeanne Ney]]'' (1927). Pabst is also credited with innovations in film editing, such as reversing the angle of the camera or cutting between two camera angles, which enhanced film continuity and later became standards of the industry.<ref name=":1" />

Pabst is also identified with another genre which branched from the New Objectivity – that of social and political films. These filmmakers dared to confront sensitive and controversial social issues which engaged the public in those days; such as [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitism]], prostitution and homosexuality. To a large extent, Weimar cinema was playing a vibrant and important role by leading public debate on those issues.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shapira|first=Avner|date=20 December 2010|title=Going Into the Night – New Look at Early German Cinema by Ofer Ashkenazi|url=http://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/1.1235958|journal=Haaretz}}</ref> Pabst, in his film ''[[Diary of a Lost Girl]]'' (1929), tells the story of a young woman who has a child out of wedlock, is thrown out into the street by her family and has to resort to prostitution to survive. As early as 1919, [[Richard Oswald]]'s film ''[[Different from the Others]]'' portrayed a man torn between his homosexual tendencies and the moral and social conventions. It is considered to be the first German film to deal with homosexuality and some researchers even believe it to be the first in the world to examine this issue explicitly.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kiss |first1=Robert |chapter=Queer Traditions in German Cinema |editor1-last=Bergfelder |editor1-first=Tim |editor2-last=Carter |editor2-first=Erica |editor3-last=Goektuerk |editor3-first=Deniz |title=The German Cinema Book |publisher=British Film Institute |date=2002 |isbn=0-85170-946-X |page=[https://archive.org/details/germancinemabook00timb/page/48 48] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/germancinemabook00timb/page/48 }}</ref> That same year, the film ''[[Ritual Murder]]'' (1919) by Jewish film producer [[Max Nivelli]] came to the screen. This film was the first to make the German public aware of the consequences of anti-Semitism and [[xenophobia]]. It portrayed a "[[pogrom]]" which is carried out against the Jewish inhabitants of a village in [[Russian Empire|Tsarist Russia]]. In the background, a love story also evolves between a young Russian student and the daughter of the leader of the Jewish community, something that was considered a [[taboo]] at the time. Later on, in an attempt to reflect the rapidly growing anti-Semitic atmosphere, Oswald confronted the same issue with his film [[Dreyfus (1930 film)|''Dreyfus'']] (1930), which portrayed the 1894 political scandal of the "[[Dreyfus affair]]", which until today remains one of the most striking examples of miscarriage of justice and blatant anti-Semitism.

[[File:Marlene Dietrich 02.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Marlene Dietrich]], one of the biggest stars in German cinema history, was also a vocal figure in terms of politics.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dw.com/en/5-things-we-can-learn-from-marlene-dietrich/a-60195584 | title=5 things we can learn from Marlene Dietrich – DW – 05/05/2022 | website=[[Deutsche Welle]] }}</ref>]]
The polarised politics of the [[Weimar culture|Weimar period]] were also reflected in some of its films. A series of patriotic films about [[Prussia]]n history, starring [[Otto Gebühr]] as [[Frederick the Great]] were produced throughout the 1920s and were popular with the nationalist right-wing, who strongly criticised the "asphalt" films' decadence. Another dark chapter of the Weimar period was reflected in [[Joseph Delmont]]'s film ''[[Humanity Unleashed]]'' (1920). The film was an adaptation of a novel by the same name, written by [[Max Glass]] and published in 1919. The novel described a dark world consumed by disease and war. The filmmakers decided to take the story to a more contemporary context by reflecting the growing fear among the German public of political [[radicalization]]. They produced what was to become the first fictional account of the events of January 1919 in Berlin, the so-called "[[Spartacist Uprising]]". This film is also considered one of the anti-[[Bolshevik]] films of that era.<ref>{{Cite book|title="Humanity Unleashed: Anti-Bolshevism as Popular Culture in Early Weimar Cinema" in The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema (Edited by Christian Rogowski)|last=Stiasny|first=Philipp|publisher=Camden House|year=2010|isbn=978-1-57113-532-2|location=Rochester, New York|pages=48–66}}</ref>

Another important film genre of the Weimar years was the [[Kammerspielfilm|Kammerspiel]] or "chamber drama", which was borrowed from the theater and developed by stage director, who would later become a film producer and director himself, [[Max Reinhardt]]. This style was in many ways a reaction against the spectacle of expressionism and thus tended to revolve around ordinary people from the lower-middle-class. Films of this genre were often called "instinct" films because they emphasized the impulses and intimate psychology of the characters. The sets were kept to a minimum and there was abundant use of camera movements to add complexity to the rather intimate and simple spaces. Associated with this particular style is also screenwriter [[Carl Mayer]] and films such as Murnau's ''[[The Last Laugh (1924 film)|Last Laugh]] (1924).''

[[File:Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (screenshot).jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Adventures of Prince Achmed]]'' (1926), directed by [[Charlotte Reiniger]], the oldest surviving animated feature film and first use of a [[multiplane camera]]]]  

Nature films, a genre referred to as ''[[Mountain film|Bergfilm]],'' also became popular. Most known in this category are the films by director [[Arnold Fanck]], in which individuals were shown battling against nature in the mountains. Animators and directors of [[experimental film]]s such as; [[Lotte Reiniger]], [[Oskar Fischinger]] and [[Walter Ruttmann]], were also very active in Germany in the 1920s. Ruttman's experimental documentary ''[[Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis]]'' (1927) epitomised the energy of 1920s Berlin.

[[File:Fritz Lang (1969).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Fritz Lang, director of important German expressionist films like ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' from 1931, an indispensable influence on modern crime and thriller fiction<ref>{{Cite web|title=M: In Context|url=http://www.thecinessential.com/m-in-context|access-date=28 September 2020|website=The Cinessential|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The long shadow of M|url=https://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/913-the-long-shadow-of-m/|access-date=28 September 2020|website=The Dissolve|archive-date=27 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127230411/https://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/913-the-long-shadow-of-m/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=A Peerless Classic|url=https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/kul/mov/ies/ygf/21338313.html|access-date=28 September 2020|website=@GI_weltweit|language=en}}</ref>]]

The arrival of sound at the very end of the 1920s, produced a final artistic flourish of German film before the collapse of the Weimar Republic in 1933. As early as 1918, three inventors came up with the [[Tri-Ergon]] [[sound-on-film]] system and tried to introduce it to the industry between 1922 and 1926. [[Universum Film AG|UFA]] showed an interest, but possibly due to financial difficulties, never made a sound film.<ref>Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristen. (2003) "Film History An Introduction". New York: McGraw-Hill, p.200.</ref> But in the late 1920s, sound production and distribution were starting to be adopted by the German film industry and by 1932 Germany had 3,800 cinemas equipped to play sound films. The first filmmakers who experimented with the new technology often shot the film in several versions, using several soundtracks in different languages. The film ''[[The Blue Angel]]'' (1930), directed by the Austrian [[Josef von Sternberg]] and produced by [[Erich Pommer]], was also shot in two versions – German and English, with a different supporting cast in each version. It is considered to be Germany's first "[[talkie]]" and will always be remembered as the film that made an international superstar of its lead actress [[Marlene Dietrich]]. Other notable early sound films, all from 1931, include [[Phil Jutzi|Jutzi's]] adaptation to Alfred Döblin's novel ''[[Berlin-Alexanderplatz (1931 film)|Berlin Alexanderplatz]]'', Pabst's [[Bertolt Brecht]] adaptation ''[[The Threepenny Opera (1931 film)|The Threepenny Opera]]'' and Lang's ''[[M (1931 film)|M]],'' as well as [[Werner Hochbaum|Hochbaum's]] ''[[Raid in St. Pauli]]'' (1932). Brecht was also one of the creators of the explicitly [[communist]] film ''[[Kuhle Wampe]]'' (1932), which was banned soon after its release.

In addition to developments in the industry itself, the Weimar period saw the birth of [[film criticism]] as a serious discipline whose practitioners included [[Rudolf Arnheim]] in ''[[Die Weltbühne]]'' and in ''Film als Kunst'' (1932), [[Béla Balázs]] in ''Der Sichtbare Mensch'' (1924), [[Siegfried Kracauer]] in the [[Frankfurter Zeitung]], and [[Lotte H. Eisner]] in the ''Filmkurier''.

{{See also|List of German films 1919–1933}}