These pages gather films that can be paired with selected chapters and texts from the book. The material is intended to help bring the readings to life. Users looking for better-quality copies of the films below can consult the following lists of German films on DVD: 


  

1919-1926

 

 

1919

Anders als die Andern / Different from the Others

Richard Ostwald (51 min. English subtitles)

Anders Als Die Andern

 

See chapter 7, “Moral Panic and Reform”

 

 

 

1919

Bull Arizona – der Wüstenadler/Bull Arizona – The Desert Eagle

Horst Krahe/Piel Jutzi (6 min. – a German Western)

See chapter 7, Moral Panic and Reform

Mierendorff, If I Only Had the Cinema, text no. 193

 

 

 

1919

Unheimliche Geschichten / Eerie Tales

Richard Ostwald (97 mi., German only)

See chapter 13, “The Expressionist Turn”

 

 

 

1920

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari / The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Robert Wiene (77 min. English subtitles)

See chapter 13, “The Expressionist Turn”

 

 

 

1920

John Hagenbecks lustige Jagden und Abenteuer Nr 3, Die Elfantenjagd / John Hagenbeck’s Funny Hunts and Adventures, No. 3, The Elephant Hunt

Kurt Wiese (8 min.)

See chapter 2, The World in Motion

Schomburgk, Africa and Film, text no. 21

 

 

 

 

 

1920

Der Feuerteufel / The Fire Devil

Piel Jutzi (6 Min.)

See chapter 7, Moral Panic and Reform

 

 

1921

The Kid

Charlie Chaplin (53 min.)

 

See chapter 12, Chiffres of Modernity

Weill, Possibilities for Absolute Radio Art, text no. 268

Lang, Kitsch-Sensation-Culture and Film, text no. 90

Clair Goll, American Cinema, text no. 126

 

 

 

1921

Scherben / Shattered

Lupu Pick (61 min. English subtitles)

 

See chapter 13, “The Expressionist Turn”

Pick, “Individual and Montage,” text no. 170

Pander, “Intertitles,” text. No. 221

 

 

 

1922

Aschenputtel / Cinderella

Lotte Reiniger (13 min.)

See Reiniger, Living Shadows, text no. 1929

Schlesinger, Kulturfilm and Cinema, text no. 243

Diebold, The Future of Mickey Mouse, text no. 277

 

 

 

1922

Das Geheimnis der Marquisin / The Secret of the Marquise

Lotte Reiniger and Julius Pinschewer (2 min.)

see chapter 14, Avant-Garde and Industry

chapter 16, Film as Knowledge and Persuasion 

Reiniger, Living Shadows, text no. 211

Pinschewer, Advertising Film, text no. 237

Nikolaus, Advertising Film and Its Psychological Effects, text no. 246

 

 

 

 

1923

Film ist Rhythmus / Rhythm 21

Hans Richter (3 min. in production 1921-23)

See chapter 14

Richter, Basic Principles of the Art of Movement, text no. 203

 

 

 

1923

Die Strasse / The Street

Karl Grune (90 min., French subtitles, no audio)

See chapter 12, “Chiffres of Modernity”

 

 

 

1924

Der letzte Mann / The Last Laugh

F.W. Murnau (90 min. in German)

 

See chapter see chapter 13, “The Expressionist Turn”; chapter 15, “The Aesthetics of Silent Film”

Murnau, “My Ideal Screenplay,” 1924, text no. 223

Pander, “Intertitles,” 1923, text. No. 221

 

 

 

1925

Die Biene Maja / Maya the Bee

Wolfgang Junghans (9 min.), excerpt from the restored Kulturfilm

See Kracauer, The Weekly Newsreel, text no. 30

Eduard Bäumer, Cinematograph and Epistemology, text no. 33

Witlin, The Psychomechanics of the Spectator, text no. 57

Fritz Lang, The Art of Mimic Expression in Film, text no. 59

Breuer, The Film of Factuality, text no.199

Seeber, The Delirious Camera, text no. 226

Polimanti, The Cinematograph in Biological and Medical Science, text no. 234

Schlesinger, Kulturfilm and Cinema, text no. 243

 

 

 

 

1925

Jeu des reflets et de la vitesse / Play of Reflections and Speed

Henri Chomette (8 min.)

See chapter 14, Avant-Garde and Industry

Kracauer, Abstract Film, text no. 209.

 

 

 

1925

Panzerkreuzer Potemkin / Battleship Potemkin

Sergei Eisenstein; Music by Edmund Meisel (72 min. English subtitles)

 

See chapter 11, The Mobilization of the Masses

Olimsky, Film Bolshevism, text, no.107

Kracauer, The Klieg Lights Stay on, text no. 159

Schmitz, Potemkin and Tendentious Art, text no. 160

Benjamin, Reply, text no. 161

Toller, Who Will Create the German Revolutionary Film? Text no. 166

Breuer, The Film of Factuality, text no. 199

Balazs, Productive and Reproductive Film Art, text no. 227

 

 

 

1925

Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit / Paths to Strength and Beauty

Nicholas Kaufmann and Wilhelm Prager

See chapter 16, Film as Knowledge and Persuasion

Osborn, “The Nude Body on Film,” text no. 53

Duenschmann, Cinema and Crowd Psychology, text no. 109

 

 

 

1925

Das wiederentdeckte Paradies/The Rediscovered Paradise

Walter Ruttmann and Lotte Lendesdorff, produced by Julius Pinschewer (4 min.)

See chapter 16, Film as Knowledge and Persuasion

Pinschewer, Film Advertsing (1913), text no. 237
Lassaly, “Film Advertising and Advertising Films,” text no. 240
Nikolaus, “Advertising Film and Its Psychological Effects, text no. 246

 

 

 

1926

Blumenwunder / Miracle of Flowers

Max Reichmann (81 mins), excerpt

See Bäumer, “Cinematograph and Epistemology,” text no. 33

Taut, “Artistic Film Program,” text no. 238

Schlesinger, “Kulturfilm and Cinema,” text no. 243

 

 

 

 

1926

Der Drechsler / The Wood Turner

(Reichsstelle für den Unterrichtsfilm (11 min.)

See chapter 16

Beyfuss, “School and Film,” text. no. 241

Kayser, “Industrial Films,” 242.

 

 

 

1926

Der heilige Berg / The Holy Mountain

Arnold Fanck (106 min.), excerpt

See Balázs, “The Case of Dr. Fanck,” text. no. 29

Riefenstahl, “How I Came to Film,” text no. 55

Laban/Eisner, “Dance and Film Belong Together,” text no. 58

 

 

 

1926 

Schaffende Hände: Die Maler / Productive Hands: The Painters 

Hans Cürlis (2 min.), excerpt on Kandinsky

See chapter 16, Film as Knowedge and Persuasion

Taut, Artistic Film Program, text no. 238

Cürlis, Film is Promotion, text no. 245

 

 

 

1926

Spiel der Wellen / Play of the Waves

Walter Ruttmann and Lore Leudesdorff (3 min.)

See chapter 14, Avant-Garde and Industry

chapter 16, Film as Knowledge and Persuasion

chapter 17, Sound Waves

chapter 18, Technology and the Future of the Past

 

 

 

1926

Vom Werden eines Flügels

Döring-Film commissioned by C. Bechstein Piano Manufacture (22 mins), re-edited from original 40 min. version.

See chapter 16, Knowledge and Persuasion

Lassally, Film Advertising and Advertising Films, text no. 240

Kayser, Industrial Films, text no. 242

Schlesinger, Kulturfilm and Cinema, text no. 243

Dreyer, The Trick Film, text no. 244