German Expressionist Film?
 

My favorites are..
M
Metropolis
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Faust
Three Penny Opera

Sorry I forgot to mention but I was rather wondering if any of you like them too. Sorry. 'Should have mentioned that before.

A fan of Fritz Lang, eh? I saw Metropolis on the big screen a couple years ago, I think at the UC (University of Cincinnati) campus. I'd seen it before that but it was quite an experience.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I like Metropolis; so did Hitler. What a wonderful world.

Wow...that's nice to know.....

It was part of his motivation for the Third Reich, nearly as much as Nietzche's concept of the ubermensch.

I guess I can see why but Fritz Lang never supported the reich that I know.

Not many people did; just enough ignorance to continue its growth.

It's still a good movie because it does reflect the societies of the last centuries as well as this one.

Ha...I guess Hitler missed the point, didn't he? I always saw Metropolis as anti-elitist, and I believe that's how Lang intended it to be.

My theory is that Hitler did think it was an anti-elitist film. The elitists that he believes were the rich jews of Germany. (just a thought)

Gee, this forum seems very limited. *sigh* I kind of wish that people knew about these kinds of films. They're actually descent, even better than what people are watching now. 'Just a thought.

Do you own any movies? I only have Nosferatu and Phantom of the Opera. Sadly I can't find them anywhere. -.-.

Lol, how didn't I think of Amazon.com?
Thanks Santarea:)

oh la lord.

Nosferatu is Incredible. Slow moving.. you gotta pay attention cuz its full of sub-text that is not found in modern movies so if attention is not paid, the whole movie will be wasted on you. But you would still get to see the georgeousness of it. Vampyr is another great one. Slow, and haunting, but it's hard to find a good copy of this, I've seen what I'm told was the best there is, and it was quite blurry, but on a good screen it would be watchable.

what else...i dunno im gettin msn'ily distracted.. more later...

apparently this forum is full of bitchy and stupid cunts.

Why Thank You.. :D

Also remember that the first letter in the beginning of a new sentence, should always be capitalized.

Capital Letters are also your friends..

I say this because with an attitude like yours, they will be your ONLY friends..

um.. so german expressionism is now off limits??

cuz if i start a new thread about it i'll be told to fuck off and that the thread already exists... and if I post on the thread that already exists ill be told to fuck off cuz the thread died out a long time ago.

well.. any forum that wants no talk of german expressionism is no friend of mind...

and you call yourselves goths. for shame.

enjoy your attitudes.

Auf Wiedersehen, werden Sie nicht vermißt.

Let me clear something up.

I don't mind you posting here, that's what the thread was started for in the first place. There is going to be down time within some threads, and that doesn't always make them "dead threads". Feel free to post in here anything you want to add to the topic.

We also don't mind if you start new threads, as long as they aren't duplicates, and you make some attempt at valid content.

What I do have a problem with, is your attitude.

When you join a new forum, that you know nothing about, being crappy right off the bat isn't the best idea.

So we're clear;

Posting in existing topics and creating valid new topics = good.
Being shitty for no reason and calling the Members & Moderators, "Cunts" = Bad.

Why don't you go Introduce yourself, and let's start over.

I own Nosferatu and I love it but I can't seem to find The Phantom of the Opera in stores. I suppose buying online is my only solution.

Have you looked on Amazon (click here)

Hope this helps :).

Thanks a bunch! Lon Chaney movies can scare me anyday.

Wow drama at the top of the thread... and I can't beleive I didn't see this thread! German Expressionist movies and Japanese Kwaidon are my favorite genres!

Has anyone here seen "Der Golem", Das Wachsfigurenkabinett", or Der Januskopf"?

I have a really great issue of Rue Morgue magazine that has a whole feature about expressionist films, followed by an article about the film "Shadow of the Vampire" (another of my favorite movies), and then a defense of the remake of Nosferatu (which I thought was all for notheing, 'cause I personally think that movie SUCKS). It's a really nice read if you happen to find it... it was from December of 2000, though.

ps Don't EVER call my sister Xngeula "bitchy", "stupid", or a "cunt" in any combination. I don't think the one who said that is around anymore, but that goes for everyone >.>

Don't know too much about German Expressionist film except for 3 things:

*There's a student club at my college with Drama major student-members dedicated to that genre of foreign film. I only sat in on their very 1st meeting/film screening. That was it.

*Fritz Lang, 1 of my favourite directors of all time, began his career making such films before he fled Hitler's Fascist Germany & resettled/continued filmmaking in the U.$.

*German Expressionism inspired U.$. Film-Noir.

My favourite G.E. flicks:

*Faust.
*Metropolis.
*M.
*Nosferatu.
*Destiny.

Hi Pathogen,

Have you seen the re-mastered version of Metropolis with the Giorgio Moroder `Rock` soundtrack, that was made in the eighties?. Nosferatu is one of my favorite films (I still have`nt got the version with the Type O Negative soundtrack...Doh!) , it has so much atmosphere and the mis-en-scene is amazing, it is so hauntingly eerie (spelling?).

Is `Faust` any good?.

Yes!!!

I saw Faust on DVD first and then at the National Gallery in London on the big screen - gobsmacking on both occasions. You wouldn't believe the images they were able to create...

A lot of very cynical and up-themselves folks were in there, but by the end, there was hardly a dry eye in the house.

Ooh! And another good one, which came with the "Vampyr" DVD is a short film called "The Mascot", about a little toy dog that comes to life to steal an orange for the sick child of the woman who made him - it even managed to mix 'live' action and stop frame - or at least make it appear to.

I have huge admiration for Metropolis... (And to say Hilter missed the point is a slight understatement) And I saw this re-mastered version! Christ it was awful... They colourised it using some odd method that reminds me of the updated version of "Reefer Madness", except it has a lot less meaning. And the soundtrack was of similar quality and irrelevant - Freddie Mercury's solo work with cheesey keyboards, and other offerings from cringe-inducing rawk dinosaurs...The blasphemy of it all... The songs just don't fit into the film in any way, shape, or form... If anyone can explain how they do, please enlighten the rest of us...

BEOWULF: Hella good. If you're into silent movies from the 1920s. Still haven't seen the re-mastered versions of "Metropolis" or "Nosferatu" with the Type O soundtrack. Mis-en-scenes are what make German Expressionist flicks [& Film Noir] everything that they are. My favourite part of "Metropolis" is the worker's revolt instigated by Maria's robot double.

Pathogen-German Expressionism didn't inspire Film Noir, Film Noir was a direct child of expressionism.

To understand this, you have to understand that "film noir" isn't even really a genre. Basically it was the nickname French film critics gave to american trash flicks from the 40's and 50's. They noticed a dark streak underneath the stories, and thus called it "dark film".

Where did this "darkness" come from? Well, when all these European film-makers emmigrated to the states to flee Hitler, they were usually tossed onto B films. A lot of these guys fidured out that as long as budgets were kept low and they didn't go TOO far over the line, they could slip in whatever they wanted to in the films. Thus, Hitchcock with his sexual perversions, Anthony Mann (an american, but whose crews were German refugees) and his Shakespearian dramaturge, Lang and his fascination with evil.....we could go into Siodmak, De Toth, and the influences upon other filmmakers such as Ray, Lupino, and the rest, but I gotta go to a party and lose my virginity, so I'll drop my geekiness for now.

Oh yeah, the 2 greatest Expressionist films were made in America, not Germany-King Vidor's "The Crowd" and Murnau's "Sunrise". Think about it for a second.

Wow. That's impressive.

I'm going to get my film geek hat on now and go and look up those references.

Once I've finished wiping the drool off my chin.

Love them, have them all. German Expressionist movies are wonderful. We also have Nosferatu, Metropolis, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Der Blaue Engel is wonderful too, you have to love Marlene Dietrich. I don't 'think' this fits into that genre though... Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. It is the same time frame of German cinema.

~L

Actually, "Der Blue Angel" was made after the heyday of Expressionism. As I pointed out earlier, all the great expressionist directors were leaving Europe right around the advent of sound (Lang was the last one to go, and he did so after making "The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse", where the nutcase bad guy spouts speeches lifted from Hitler).

But even taking this into consideration, the great expressionist directors were already leaving behind the ghetto of expressionism for richer pastures (except for Murnau, who made the silly mistake of dying). Lang had moved to crime serials ("Spiders", the "Mabuse" films, "M"), Pabst was working more with theatrically based materials (specifically the works of Brecht), Henrik Galeen was moving more into straight horror, and Robert Wiene was moving towards straight melodrama.

Even the ways Expressionism had influenced other film-makers was being bastardised to beautiful form (especially the works of Hitchcock and Dreyer, but we musn't forget the great Italian epics of the time, the awesome "La Rue", the works of Victor Sjostrom, and of course America's King Vidor, whose "The Crowd" stands as 1 of the 2 greatest expressionist films ever made).

So in the end, expressionism is (like it's bastard child Film Noir) not a real genre, but a ghetto created by film critics to lump together a bunch of films that in actuality have no connection to each other whatsoever.

Ah, my apologies. I'm not very aware of the history of the movement. Thank you for the insight. :)

Loy, if you don't mind me saying, I remain as ever in awe at the breadth of your knowledge on this subject.

Thank you. But remember, my breadth of knowledge only points to my personal dorkiness, which prevents me from getting laid....at least without alcohol being involved.

That's okay. Getting laid is highly overrated. I would rather be intelligent and lacking, than dumb as a post and over-sexed.

**Pretends to look cool.**

But Liriel, if you were dumb and oversexed, you wouldn't know anybetter, and be blissfully ignorant. Sometimes being smart hurts.

But getting back on topic, expressionist films interest me too, although I admit, my experience of them is Caligari, Nosferatu + Metropolis.
That was from my college film studies coarse.