Beyond Caligari

The Films of Robert Wiene
1. Auflage 1999
ISBN: 978-1-57181-196-7
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 327 g

While the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari became an international film classic, its director, Robert Wiene, was disparaged and even forgotten. Wiene's oeuvre, however, exhibits a surprising versatility and quality, featuring Raskolnikov, an expressionist adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel, INRI, a monumental Bible epic, Orlac's Hands, a psychological thriller, and Der Rosenkavalier, an ambitious opera film. His last film, Ultimatum(1938), is a vehement warning of approaching war, which remains relevant today. With painstaking research of the major European film archives, the author's detailed portrait reveals a career far more differentiated than hitherto acknowledged. Caligar/i - though rated the second most important film in German film history in a recent critic's and scholar's poll - was a landmark rather than a culmination in a career that successfully oscillated between artistic and commercial interests.

As the field of film studies rediscovers film history and the value of historical context for the analysis of individual films, monographs on filmmakers are increasingly valuable to scholars and students of both film history and cultural studies. Through the provocative and prolific career of Robert Wiene, a wider, more dynamic view of fantasy production in the Weimar Republic is revealed, enabling the reader to better appreciate the complex shapes of Weimar cinema, its inimitable blend of modernism and mass culture, of avant-garde enterprie, and generic production.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jung, Uli

Schatzberg, Walter

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmproduktion, Filmtechnik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1. Wiene's Life and Film Career

Chapter 2. Wiene's Pre-Caligari Film Career

Chapter 3. The Cabinet of Dr. Cagliari

Chapter 4. Post-Cagliari-Period Films 1920-1921

Chapter 5. Films for the Lionardo and Neumann Production Companies 1922-1924

Chapter 6. The Viennese Films 1924-1926

Chapter 7. The Last Silent Films: Berlin 1927-1929

Chapter 8. The Sound Films 1930-1938

Filmography

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jung, Uli
Uli Jung is a film historian who received his training at the RWTH Aachen, Clark University, Worcester, and Trier University. He has been working as a freelance researcher for the Cinématèque Municipale de Luxembourg and co-edited its series Filmgeschichte international.

Schatzberg, Walter
Walter Schatzberg is a professor of German and an adjunct professor of screen studies at Clark University. His research interests include the history of German-Jewish culture and German film history.

Uli Jung is a film historian who received his training at the RWTH Aachen, Clark University, Worcester, and Trier University. He has been working as a freelance researcher for the Cinématèque Municipale de Luxembourg and co-edited its series Filmgeschichte international.