Weimar Cinema

Noah Isenberg has brought together a superb collection of essays on Weimar cinema. Raucous, scary, and erotic, the pioneering films of Weimar Germany still generate surprise and pleasure and are critical to our understanding of the modern condition. Each of these authors is an expert in the field and provides a fresh and insightful reading of some of the era's greatest films, from the renowned Cabinet of Caligari and The Blue Angel to the superb, though less famous, People on Sunday. Weimar Cinema is a must read for film lovers and anyone interested in that turbulent, exciting period of German history. -- Eric D. Weitz, director, Center for German and European Studies, University of Minnesota, and author of Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy This anthology fills a distinct need: it brings together pertinent work previously published on Weimar cinema with new work in the field to provide a collection of essays that will be extremely useful for teaching. -- Brigitte Peucker, Yale University A substantial collective accomplishment, a real contribution to the fields of German studies and film studies, as well as for a general public interested in film and film history. -- Johannes von Moltke, University of Michigan

Taken as a whole, the sixteen remarkable films discussed in this provocative new volume of essays represent the brilliant creativity that flourished in the name of German cinema between the wars. Encompassing early gangster pictures and science fiction, avant-garde and fantasy films, sexual intrigues and love stories, the classics of silent cinema and Germany's first talkies, each chapter illuminates, among other things: the technological advancements of a given film, its detailed production history, its critical reception over time, and the place it occupies within the larger history of the German studio and of Weimar cinema in general. Readers can revisit the careers of such acclaimed directors as F. W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, and G. W. Pabst and examine the debuts of such international stars as Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks, and Marlene Dietrich. Training a keen eye on Weimer cinema's unusual richness and formal innovation, this anthology is an essential guide to the revolutionary styles, genres, and aesthetics that continue to fascinate us today.