Legends of Heroes, Monsters & Madmen – Great Classics of German Expressionist Cinema
Although German Expressionism had already developed in literature and painting before World War I, it achieved its most vivid statements only after 1918. The chief formative experience in the culture of the times was, not surprisingly, the horror and destruction of the War. The postwar intellectual climate favored radical change. Many yearned for nothing less than the spiritual rebirth of mankind. Some were optimistic, others skeptical, but all were anticipating a radical redefinition of man and society. And for most, Expressionism was the means. The cinema was especially suited to these revolutionary concepts. It was unencumbered by traditional dogma of style or technique. Furthermore it had only begun to realize its expressive possibilities and stir the imagination: an incredible assortment of phantoms, vampires, ghosts, devils, mandrakes, and themes of death, fate, mystery, and horror proliferated on the German screen during the Expressionist years – 1919 to 1925. Much was derived from eerie Gothic tales and legends, for the medieval period was a time when mysterious universal forces were tolerated and revered without explanation. Four of the greatest German expressionist films - which were arguably far ahead of Hollywood films during the same period - are being presented in this Monday movies series.
9 October 2017
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)
Director: Robert Wiene
A milestone of the silent film era, this eerie classic remains the most prominent example of German expressionism in the emerging art of the cinema. Stylistically, the look of the film's painted sets--distorted perspectives, sharp angles, twisted architecture--was designed to reflect the splintered psychology of its sinister title character, who uses a somnambulist as a circus attraction. But when Caligari and his sleepwalker are suspected of murder, their novelty act is surrounded by more supernatural implications.
With its mad-doctor scenario, striking visuals, and a haunting, zombie-like character at its centre, Caligari was one of the first horror films to reach an international audience.
16 October 2017
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
Director: Fritz Lang
Die Nibelungen is a courageous and hallucinatory work. Its extraordinary set-pieces, archetypal themes, and unrestrained ambition have proved an inspiration for nearly every fantasy cycle that has emerged on-screen since - from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings.
Siegfried, the film's eponymous hero acquires the power of invincibility after slaying a dragon and bathing in the creature's blood. Later, an alliance through marriage between the hero and the royal clan of the Nibelungen turns treacherous, with Siegfried's sole weakness exploited.
23 October 2017
Der Golem (1920)
Director: Paul Wegener
Der Golem is the first great monster movie:
When the Emperor decrees that the Jews of medieval Prague should be evicted from the ghetto, a mystical rabbi creates a clay giant and summons the demon Astaroth who breathes out in smoky letters the magic word that will animate the golem. Intended as a protector and avenger, the golem is twisted by the machinations of a lovelorn assistant and, like many a monster to come, runs riot, terrorising guilty and innocent alike until a little girl innocently ends his rampage.
The wonderfully grotesque Prague sets and the alchemical atmosphere remain potent.
30 October 2017
Vampyr (1932)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
The first sound-film by one of the greatest of all filmmakers, Vampyr offers a sensual immediacy that few works of cinema can claim to match. Legendary director Carl Theodor Dreyer leads the viewer, as though guided in a trance, through a realm akin to a waking-dream, a zone positioned somewhere between reality and the supernatural. Traveller Allan Gray arrives at a countryside inn seemingly beckoned by haunted forces. His growing acquaintance with the family who reside there soon opens up a network of uncanny associations between the dead and the living, of ghostly lore and demonology, which pull Gray ever deeper into an unsettling, and upsetting, mystery.
Deemed by Alfred Hitchcock to be 'the only film worth watching... twice'!
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