Психологическая история немецкого кино. От Калигари до Гитлера

The book by a well-known foreign theorist and historian of cinema tells about the most interesting and equally controversial period in the history of German cinema, covering the years of the First World War, the 1920s and the early 30s. Analyzing the films of this period, the author goes far beyond the traditional film analysis and shows how these films directly or indirectly reflect the complex social processes and contradictions of the very life of the described period.

Siegfried Krakauer, one of the greatest German film theorists and historians, has detailed the development of cinematic art in Germany at its early stage, focusing on the silent film period and its masterpieces. Also historically important pages are devoted to the first sound cinema of the Third Reich era. The author provides interesting and rare biographical information about directors, screenwriters, actors and tells in detail about the birth of scripts, the creation of films, their content, acting successes and failures. Among his personalities: Wiene, Janowitz, Lang, Thea von Garbow, Murnau, Meyer, Jannings, Peel, Evers, Kraus, Riefenstahl, Lamprecht, Negri, Mayer, Lubitsch, Pabst, Voigt and hundreds of others, whose contribution to the German and world cinema the reader may know for the first time. The masterpieces of German expressionism and fantastic cinema are described in detail: Tired Death. Madame Dubarry. The office of Dr. Caligari. Dr. Mabuse, player. Nosferatu, mountain cat. Indian tomb. The Wax Museum. Golem. Nibelungen. Last person. Street. Dirty alley. Variety. Metropolis. The path to strength and beauty. Tartuffe. Love Jeanne Ney. Woman on the Moon. Blue Angel and others. Extensive film history notes. Numerous illustrations, stills from films, working moments of filming - on separate inserts.