The Context

• Post-war mood in Germany• Production context

Post-war mood in Germany

• Development of horror cinema• Fear of the outsider• Chaos• Useless authority

Production context

• Writers:

• Carl Mayer and Hans Janovitz

• The two men considered the new film medium as a new type of artistic expression – visual storytelling that necessitated collaboration between writers and painters, cameramen, actors, directors.

• Janowitz – memory of a fairground murder in 1913

• Mayer – War experiences with military doctors

• Producer – Erich PommerCommercial considerations

• Initial director – Fritz LangChanges to the framing narrative

To what extent does an understanding of context influence our understanding of a sequence from

Caligari?

Homework

Choose a Weimar film from the list. Research plot, link to other contemporary films and any key features of expressionism.

• Der Student Von Prag (The Student Of Prague) (1913)– Paul Wegener/ (1926) - Henrik Galeen • Faust – 1926 F. W. Murnau

• Der Lestze Mann (The Last Laugh) 1924 – F. W. Murnau

• The Joyless Street (Die Freudlose Gasse) 1925 - Georg Wilhelm Pabst

• Schatten - Eine nächtliche Halluzination ("Shadows - a Nocturnal Hallucination", also known in English as Warning Shadows) 1923 - Arthur Robison.

• Der Mude Tod (Destiny) 1921 – Fritz Lang

• Secrets Of A Soul (Geheimnisse einer Seele) 1923 - Georg Wilhelm Pabst

• Waxworks (Das Wachsfigurenkabinett) 1924 – Paul Leni

• The Niebelungen 1924 – Fritz Lang

• Dr Mabuse, The Gambler 1922 – Fritz Lang

• Phantom (1922) - F. W. Murnau

• From Morn To Midnight (1920) - Karl Heinz Martin

• Genuine: A Tale Of A Vampire (1920) - Robert Wiene

• The Hands of Orlac (Orlacs Hande) (1925) Robert Wiene