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v Students will receive questions for a study guide via their 49er Express email accounts. v It is the student’s responsibility to make sure they sign the attendance sheet. Attendance will begin being counted starting with today. 10% of your grade is class discussion. More than 3 absences will earn you a zero in class discussion.
Early German Cinema (continued)
Recap of German history: The World War I has ended and it was a terrible time for the Germans in 1918. Improvement would not begin until 1925. The stock market crashed in the U.S. in 1929 affecting the rest of the world as well. Between 1930-1932, there was high unemployment and it was on the rise. The Nazis gain plurality and begin to persuade or intimidate others in order to gain a majority and power in 1933. Politics and film change. Some films that were allowed in 1932 were banned in 1933. Nazi film will be discussed at a later time.
World Film History: Silent films had an international market because there was no language barrier. Voices were not being heard, so viewers did not have to deal with accents or foreign languages. France, Italy, America and Sweden were the big film countries at the time.
The U.F.A. studio began in Germany which helped gain a foothold in to industry to compete commercially with the rest of the world. The Germans found a niche in high quality horror films between 1918-mid 1920s.
Silent Films
The monster in the movie is considered to be the original Frankenstein. He is the sleepwalking companion of a psychiatrist who orders him to kill people.
This movie was based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula with a monster who had a vague resemblance of Dracula himself.
This movie is best known of its kind and is an early sci-fi film. Visuals and architecture were referenced in later films.
Unlike the others above, this movie is not a horror film. It is a type of tragedy or melodrama. It’s about the downward spiral fall of an arrogant doorman after losing his job. American audiences would not buy into the sad ending, so the director added in a happier ending.
Clip 1: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari It was believed that authority, German institutions, were responsible for the tragedy of World War I. The psychiatrist was in charge of the sleepwalker. He was exposed and arrested in order to solve the problem of abusive authority. The movie had frames attached. This clip shows the main character, a young man, telling a friend about the story of Caligari. The setting is inside of an asylum. The man’s fiancé is approaching which is the woman in the back. Come to find out, the story of Caligari is all made up in the head of the main character. Everyone in the movie is an inmate/ patient of the asylum. Thus the film’s original intent is turned around and uncorrupt authority learns of a problem and tries to solve it.
Clip 2: Caligari on the right is shown with his sleep walking companion, Caesare. Caesare’s role is an alter-ego of Caligari.
Clip 3: The monster is shown with Jane with intent to kill. The cliché of beauty can never be slain was portrayed. He runs off with her instead to pursue romance. This scene is influential because of its design of expressionism. Expressionism began in German film in 1920. It relies on oblique lines and abstraction put together in an artificial way.
Clip 4: This was the bookend of the frame. The expressionism shown indicates that something is wrong. Triangular figures come to a point with other figures circling around the outside to indicate derangement.
Nosferatu Clip 5: This is a clip of Nosferatu. He’s far removed from Dracula. He’s not a good looking man who seduces upper middle class women. He is commonly shown as a shadow which shows that he is threatening. Shadows are a very common motif in expressionism.
Clip 6: This is the second to last scene. A wife sacrifices herself in order to save humanity.
Metropolis Clip 7: This movie was a cult favorite. Georgio Moroder colorized and filtered the original movie and re-released it in theaters in 1984. The movie was 60yrs old by this time. Clip 8: This is the creation of the false Maria. This movie was an early science fiction.
Clip 9: A picture of the hero shown taking up a collapsed worker’s position. He has told his father that he was rich and now he wants to join the poor. He is shown in a Christian-like pose as a martyr.
Clip 10: A picture of the main character in The Last Laugh as he takes care of the men’s bathroom.
Shows a program about movies--- (has scenes from various movies with commentary)
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Nosferatu
Faust (1775-1776)
Last Laugh
Early Sound Film
The Blue Angel: UFA. poured a lot of money into this project because they sensed the competition with Hollywood. People began to prefer talking films. They brought Jannings back to help with the film. They wanted Sternberg in exchange for hiring a “nobody” actress, Marlene Dietrich, who became an icon in late 1920s Germany and later in America.
Clip 11: Signature pose of Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel singing Falling in Love Again. German lyrics were colder than American version.
Clip 12: Wedding celebration
M: best known from this era. It’s a mystery thriller about a child murderer. It’s synonymous with Peter Lorre.
Kuhle Wampe: This film’s about the workers’ plight during the Great Depression. It was one of the few communist inspired movies which were later banned by Nazis.
Clip 13
Clip 14: Young people arguing with elders
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