Bruce Murray - Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic

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and the German Left in the Weimar Republic

FromCaligaritoKuhle Wampe

by
Bruce Murray

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS, AUSTIN

Copyright 1990 by the University of Texas Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition, 1990

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, Box 7819, Austin, Texas 787137819.

utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp-form

The publication of this book was assisted by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library ebook ISBN: 978-0-292-76715-7

Individual ebook ISBN: 978-0-292-78803-9

DOI: 10.7560/724648

Murray, Bruce Arthur.

Film and the German left in the Weimar Republic: from Caligari to Kuhle Wampe / by Bruce Murray,1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN O-292724659 (pbk. : alk.paper)

1. Motion picturesGermanyHistory. 2. Motion pictures Political aspectsGermany. I. Title.

PN1993.5.G3M87 1990

791.430943dc2o

8948354

CIP

CONTENTS

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

The following acronyms and abbreviations appear frequently in the text.

AIH	Aufbau, Industrie und Handels A.G.
AIZ	Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung
BPRS	Bund proletarisch-revolutionrer Schriftsteller
Bufa	Bild- und Filmamt
BVP	Bayrische Volkspartei
Comintern	Communist International
DDP	Deutsche Demokratische Partei
Derussa	Deutsch-Russische Film-Allianz A.G.
DNVP	Deutsch-Nationale Volkspartei
DVP	Deutsch Volkspartei
FuL	Film und Lichtbilddienst
IAH	Internationale Arbeiterhilfe
IfA	Interessengemeinschaft fr Arbeiterkultur
IKD	Internationale Kommunisten Deutschlands
KPD	Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands
L.B.B.	Lichtbild-Bhne
MSPD	Mehrheitliche Sozialistische Partei Deutschlands
NSDAP	Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
Prometheus	Prometheus Film-Verleih und Vertriebs-GmbH
SPD	Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
SPIO	Spitzenorganisation der Deutschen Filmindustrie
Ufa	Universum Film A.G.
VFV	Volksfilmverband
Weltfilm	Film-Kartell Welt-Film GmbH

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the United States Fulbright Commission, the International Research and Exchanges Board, and the Harold Leonard Memorial Film Studies Fund at the University of Minnesota for supporting my research for this book in libraries and archives in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and Switzerland. I also would like to thank the many people at the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek (SDK), the Technische Universitt (TU), and the Landesbildstelle in West Berlin; the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz, the Medienzentrum in Hamburg, the Deutsches Institut fr Filmkunde in Wiesbaden, the Sdwestfunk in Baden-Baden, the Bayrischer Rundfunk in Munich; the Staatliches Filmarchiv der DDR (SFA), the Staatsbibliothek, the Stadtbibliothek, and the Universittsbibliothek of the Alexander von Humboldt Universitt in Berlin, GDR; the Deutsche Bcherei in Leipzig, and the Stiftung Studienbibliothek zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung in Zrich for their invaluable assistance in identifying and locating sources of information for my project. I especially would like to thank Werner Sudendorf and Gero Gandert at the SDK, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Knilli and Siegfried Zielinski at the TU, Prof. Dr. Gerd Rscher at the Kunsthochschule in Hamburg, Wolfgang Klaue, Manfred Lichtenstein, Gerd Meier, Gertraude Khn, and Helmut Morsbach at the SFA, and Theo Pinkus in Zrich.

When I think back to the beginning of my work on this book, I realize that a number of other people have helped me greatly in completing it. I would like to thank Thomas Plummer, Frank Hirschbach, and Jochen Schulte-Sasse for their guidance at the University of Minnesota. I also would like to thank the colleagues who have encouraged me as I have revised the manuscript. I thank the editors at the University of Texas Press for their assistance in putting the final manuscript together. And I especially thank my wife, Gail Newman, whose continuing patience never ceases to amaze me.

I wish to dedicate the book to Gerhard Bienert, Erna Meseke/Beier, and Ilse Trautschold, three of the many individuals who possessed that indefinable something which enabled them to take risks and experiment during the Weimar era in ways that should inspire us all.

INTRODUCTION

THE FORGOTTEN STORY

At the end of 1925 a small film company emerged in Berlin to distribute a Soviet film that had failed to attract widespread acclaim in the Soviet Union. When German censors decided to forbid public screenings of the film early in 1926, a major controversy erupted, and interest in the film increased. The government finally acquiesced in the face of mass opposition to its decision, and the film premiered in Berlins Apollo Theater on 29 April 1926. The executives of the films fledgling distributor convinced two internationally famous film stars to attend the premiere, they and the critics raved about the film, and it ultimately became one of the best-known films in the history of cinema.

The film was Sergei Eisensteins Battleship Potemkin, and the visiting film stars were Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanksbut who remembers the names of the film company or its executives? Why did the company work so hard to distribute a film that had failed to win acclaim in its domestic market? And what other projects did the company undertake following its unprecedented success with Potemkin?

Later in 1926, the same film company began the production of what it hoped would be a second commercial blockbuster. The script was based on a selection of short stories by Anton Chekov. Another Russian, Alexander Rasumny, agreed to direct the film. The company also engaged a number of stars to appear in major roles. They included, among others, Heinrich George, Werner Krauss, and Fritz Kampers. The film premiered in one of Berlins largest movie houses, the Capitol Theater, on 2 November 1926. Its production values should have attracted national, if not international, attentionbut who can recall the film? Was this second film as successful as the first? How did the company then proceed?

Battleship Potemkin: Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford praise the film in the Film-Kurier, 7 May 1926. (Staatliches Filmarchiv der DDR)

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