German Expressionism (Notes from FILM ART book by Bordwell and Thomson)

Below are some points that were raised and discussed by Bordwell and Thompson in their book entitled "Film Art: An Introduction" (pp. 447-450)

• German film industry was down at the start of World War I. Even if other countries like America and France already banned German films, they still played foreign films because of their situation. Because of this, they began to support the film industry. they banned foreign films except from Denmark in 1916. The production of films increased and grew to 131 in 1918. Cartels were also encouraged by the government.
• After the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917, rebellious tendencies increased. In late 1917, the large company called UFA, or Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft was created by the forces of the government, the Deutsche Bank and large industrial concerns to promote pro-war films. UFA was a move toward control of not only the German market but the postwar international market as well. This company was also able to gather great technicians and build best-equipped studios in Europe. Because of this, they attracted filmmakers from other countries, one of them was Alfred Hitchcock and they were able to spread German stylistic influence abroad.
• In the late 1918, the need for overt militarist propaganda disappeared. The German film industry concentrated on three genres: The internationally popular adventure serial, a brief sex exploitation cycle, and the popular Italian historical epics of the prewar period.
• In spite of the continued bans against German films in foreign countries, UFA finally was able to break into international market. In September 1919, Ernst Lubitsch’s Madame Dubarry inaugurated the magnificent UFA Palast Theater in Berlin. This film became popular and it helped reopen the world film market to Germany. After the success of this film, other Lubitsch historical films were soon exported. Ernst Lubitsch became the first German director to be hired by Hollywood in 1923.
• Some small companies remained independent. In 1919, Erich Pommer’s Decla (later Decla-Bioscop) undertook to produce an unconventional script by Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz. The other three designers assigned to the film suggested doing it in an Expressionist style. Expressionism had first been important in painting, and had been also adapted into other fields like in theater, literature, architecture and cinema.
• The inexpensive film entitled The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) created a sensation on other countries. It was one of the typical examples of German Expressionism. It was like a moving Expressionist painting or woodcut print. The success of this film influenced other filmmakers in adapting Expressionist style on their works. The result was a stylistic movement in cinema that lasted several years. Big firms like UFA and other companies invested in Expressionist films. Because of its popularity and success, th most prominent German films were widely regarded among the best in the world in the mid-1920s.
• Some of the characteristics of German Expressionism were cited. Expressionist films depend highly on mise-en-scene. Shapes are distorted and exaggerated unrealistically for its expressive purposes. Actors often wear heavy make-up and move in slow, sinuous patterns. The characters do not simply exist within a setting but rather form visual elements that merge with the setting. As Expressionism became an accepted style, filmmakers didn’t motivate this style as the narrative point of view of mad characters. Instead, it often functioned to create stylized situation for fantasy and horror stories or historical epics. Expressionist films also depended greatly on their designers.
• In spite of the success of German Expressionism, a combination of circumstances led to the disappearance of the movement. Because of the rampant inflation of the early 1920s in Germany, German exporters were able to sell their films cheap. Inflation also discouraged imports. In 1924, the U.S Dawes Plan helped to stabilize the German economy. Foreign films came in frequently. Because of this, a degree of unknown competition lasted nearly a decade. UFA drives deeper into financial difficulty, making Erich Pommer quit and try his luck in America. Other people also tried their luck in Hollywood as well. By the year 1927, Expressionism as a movement had died out.
• Some German Expressionist films are: Waxworks (1924), Nosferatu (1922), The Nibelungen (1923-1924), F.W. Murnau’s Faust (1926), Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), Lang’s M (193), Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1932), Son of Frankenstein (1939)
• Although German movement lasted about seven years, expressionism has never entirely died out as a trend in film style.

(Notes from the book Film Art:An Introduction by Bordwell and Thompson)

The book really had a lot of information about the rise and form of German Expressionism. As we discussed this topic on our cinema class, our professor shared the trailer of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". This film is a great example of German Expressionism. Watch it and see how German Expressionist films look like.

Source:

Bordwell, D., Thompson, K. (1979). Film Art: An Introduction (8^th ed.).  McGraw-Hill