From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses

[pherank]

I'm going to put in a plug for the cinema documentary, From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses - there is some spectacular footage from many old silent films. I just wish the DVDs I get were as beautifully restored as most of these film segments.

Venice Film Review: ‘From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses’

http://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/venice-film-review-from-caligari-to-hitler-german-cinema-in-the-age-of-the-masses-1201297252/

On Netflix:

https://www.netflix.com/title/80017036

[sandik]

Oh thanks for the heads-up -- we're big Caligari fans at our house.

[Quiggin]

J. Hoberman, who was the film critic at the Village Voice for years, wrote a good background piece on Siegfried Kracauer that is a little more generous to his achievements than the Variety review allows.

Hoberman also notes the link between the "Hitler" films and American film noir:

Published in Commentary in 1946, “Hollywood’s Terror Films: Do They Reflect an American State of Mind?” is an excellent early take on what was yet to be named “film noir.” Not surprisingly, Kracauer recognized the tendency as essentially Germanic: “The weird, veiled insecurity of life under the Nazis is transferred to the American scene. Sinister conspiracies incubate next door, within the world considered normal—any trusted neighbor may turn into a demon.”

http://www.thenation.com/article/trembling-upper-world-siegfried-kracauer/

From the good Wikipedia entry on Kracauer – which also helps round out Variety:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Kracauer

In 1930, Kracauer published Die Angestellten (The Salaried Masses: Duty and Distraction in Weimar Germany), a critical look at the lifestyle and culture of the new class of white collar employees. Spiritually homeless, and divorced from custom and tradition, these employees sought refuge in the new "distraction industries" of entertainment. Observers note that many of these lower-middle class employees were quick to adopt Nazism, three years later.