German Expressionism
refers to two art movements that emerged in early 20th century and focused on
the emotional qualities of paintings brought out by vivid colours and distorted
shape.
Before the
Great War, German film was not nearly as technologically as other European
film. Until 1910, most German films consisted of short, pornographic snippets
and crude day-in-the-life anecdotes. Only the works of Oskar Messter showed
even the most minute level of innovation. He implemented the close-up,
artificial lighting and even some experimentation with sound. But not until
right before the start of the war did Germany begin to produce truly innovative
work.
In 1914, the
Great War began in Europe, cutting Germany off from its usual supply of
international cinema. German filmmakers were therefore unaware of the
innovation of technique D.W. Griffith had achieved in Birth of a Nation (1915). The only films imported into
Germany during the war years were from Denmark and Sweden. However, Sweden and
Denmark simply didn’t produce enough films. In 1917, the German film studio
Universum Film-Aktiengesellschaft (UFA) was founded. UFA remained the largest
European film production studio until World War II. After the German defeat in
1918, UFA went on to become a sizable competitor with Hollywood. Expressionism,
with the help of nation-wide abolition of censorship in 1919 and the
intellectuals’ adoption of cinema, was hailed as a new way of expressing a new
world.
In 1920 Das Kabinett Des Dr. Caligari, (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) (dir. Robert Wiene) one of the most
important and influential Expressionist films was released. With the outbreak
of sex murders – violent sexual crimes in which a victim was not raped but
savagely violated in a sexual manner as a means of murder – the German people
had yet another horrific product of war to fear. Dr. Caligari plays off of those fears by telling the story of
a traveling magician with a hypnotized servant who does his master’s murderous
bidding under the cover of night. In addition to being thematically appropriate
for the time, Dr. Caligari also
contains some of the most identifiably Expressionist examples of mise en scene.
Due to
budget constrains, the set could not be lit enough to produce the kind of
dramatic lighting that Expressionism required. Instead, lighting effects were
painted directly on the scenery and sets, creating an even more Expressionist
vision. The hard contrast of white and black rays on the walls gives the sense
that the action is taking place in the confines of a woodcut, a popular medium
for Expressionist art at the time. In some way, Expressionism was an inevitable
movement in Germany. It seeds were planted before World War I and probably
would grown even if the war did not give the German people a thirst for such
dark artistic expression.
The early
20th century artistic movement known as German Expressionism, which influenced
music, theater, painting and architecture, was perhaps most successfully
realized in the medium of film. Since the movement sought to reflect emotion
over realism, many Expressionist movies had horror themes whose fantastic
storylines invoked strong emotional responses and granted wide artistic
freedom. Feeding into the horror elements was a dark introspection brought
about by Germany’s involvement in World War I.
The first
Expressionist films made up for a lack of lavish budgets by using set designs
with widely non-realistic, geometrically absurd sets, along with designs
painted on walls and floors to represent lights, shadows, and objects. The
plots and stories of the Expressionist films often dealt with madness,
insanity, betrayal, and other intellectual topics. During the 20’s, a stable of
German actors, writers and directors pushed Expressionism to international
acclaim.
Film List
The
Cabinet of Dr.Caligari (1920)
Director: Robert Wiene
The Student
Of Prague (1913)
Director: Stellan Rye
and Paul Wegener
The Golem (1920)
Director:
Carl Boose and Paul Wegener
Nosferatu (1922)
Director: F.W. Murnau
Metropolis (1927)
Director: Fritz Lang
Pandora’s
Box (1929)
Director:
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Waxworks (1924)
Director:
Leo Brinsky and Paul Leni
Genuine: A
Tale Of A Vampire (1920) Director: Robert Wiene
From Morn To
Midnight (1920) Director: Karl
Heinz Martin
