Thursday Movie Picks - German Movies

For this week I will select a German film from three different eras. The first era will be pre 1933, the second era will from 1933-1945 and the final era will be post 1945. Just thought it would be interesting to mix it up a little.

Having already selected The Lives of Others in a previous Thursday Movie Pick I won't select it for this week but I assure you it would have been in the list if I hadn't already previously selected it.

Thursday Movie Picks is hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves

In the 1920s German expressionism was the height of experimental cinema and one of the most famous films of era was Nosferatu, an unofficial adaptation of the works of Bram Stoker which faced legal challenges from Stoker's estate. Directed by F.W Murnau, all Nosferatu prints were ordered to be destroyed but luckily one survived. Nosferatu is still a film with haunting images and contains a stunning Max Schreck performance. Nosferatu is a film that still has massive influence over the vampire subgenre.

Because my dissertation examined film propaganda during the Second World War I have Nazi Propaganda in my DVD collection, rest assured there isn't a swastika flag hanging nearby and I haven't got the films on a loop either.

You've more than likely have heard of Triumph of the Will and Olympia, both of which are directed by Leni Riefenstahl, so I won't select those two. The film I will select is Bismarck, a 1940 biography of Otto Von Bismarck who was a German statesman who united Germany in the latter half of the 19th century.  

The film was hugely successful financially and was used for extensive propaganda purposes. In the Nazi film industry feature films were used to draw parallels between Adolf Hitler and Germany's great leaders of the past such as Frederick the Great and Otto Von Bismarck. This was done to inspire faith in Germany's leader at a time of War. This was also something the British and Americans did with their respective leaders.

The comparisons drawn between Hitler and Bismarck, seen as the father of the United Germany (as Bismarck was a major figure in Germany’s unification in 1871), stress that Hitler is the father of the third, 1000 year German Reich. In the release booklet, Herman Goring drew comparisons to Hitler by arguing that Bismarck was a man who ‘fights [in a role given to him by destiny] against party politicians, liberal press, aristocracy and military, sustained only by his belief and knowledge' very much like Hitler.

Worth a watch to gain an insight into how the Nazis used feature films to spread propaganda.

Downfall is the greatest character study of Hitler, instead of presenting him as a one note psychopath Downfall presents him as a man capable of kindness, generosity and emotion but still showing his burning hatred and unparalleled evil acts and actions. Bruno Ganz's performance as the Nazi dictator is one of best and the film also inspired a parody Youtube video where Hitler rants about being banned from XBOX Live and the recent performances of Arsenal Football Club among other things.