Film Studies 1022 Lecture 12: Realism and Formalism, German expressionism, The cabinet of Dr. Caligari

• School: Western University
• Department: Film Studies
• Course: Film Studies 1022
• Professor: Barbara Bruce

Document Summary

Stemmed from wwi, when america and france banned german films, but they couldn"t afford to do the same, so the government started investing in german films/ propaganda films. Ufa created in 1917 by the government and bank hopped to control more of the german film market. After war, german propaganda films were not popular internationally, so they made historical spectacles. Ernst lubitsch: madame dubarry first german director to be hired by. Avant-garde movement, part of the expressionist style, different, gained more attention and could compete with more american films. Caligari = first pioneer film of the movement, it was like a moving expressionist painting. Mid 1920s: german films one of the best in the world. 1924: competition from foreign films too costly to make expressionist films. 1927: expressionism as a movement died out, but not fully, still used in some of the films today. Emotional states expressed through distortion and exaggeration of shapes. Actors move in jerky or slow patterns.