Ashes to Classics: A Silent Film Podcast David Punch & Stephen Gillespie

The last of our key figures of Weimar era cinema, as well as the last to leave the country to find sanctuary and prestige in America, Fritz Lang may be the most enduring name silent neophytes would be familiar with. The titanic impact of films like Metropolis (1927) and M (1931) solidified his reputation as a master long before he made an impact shaping American cinema, bringing his expressionistic sensibilities to some of the most important Film Noirs working in the studio system in the 1950s.
He's best remembered, however, for the his numerous silent spectacles, the first of which was a two-part adventure serial which survives as the earliest work still existing from the burgeoning director. Die Spinnen (or, The Spiders) was the first step for Lang in an unparalleled career to come, as well as an exemplar of an often overlooked mode of filmmaking which was surging at the same time the Feature Film was coming into prominence as the default iteration of the medium. Lang's early career touches on many of the important touchstones covered throughout our survey of the Weimar period, as well as some additional figures and films we have yet to properly discuss. Join us for this final entry into the sage of 1920s Germany, capping off the foundational history of this important filmic era.

Many thanks to Graham Austin and Jack Davenport for the creation of our beautiful logo art and theme music respectively.Many thanks to Graham Austin and Jack Davenport for the creation of our beautiful logo art and theme music respectively.

The most prolific director to make his way over to America after breaking ground and blazing trails in Germany was none other than Ernst Lubitsch—the legendary comic filmmaker who made Garbo laugh in Ninotchka (1939) and Hitler the fool in eviscerative satire To Be or Not to Be (1942). His signature elegance and wit led to an ingenious moniker by which many recognize him still today: the famed "Lubitsch Touch," an at once inexplicable phenomena of his comic mastery which continues to set him apart even from those who studied arduously under his tutelage.
But how exactly did Lubitsch come to be this respected emigre of sensitivity and taste? Was he always a comic master, or did he have to work his way up the ranks and establish himself within a burgeoning post-war industry which favored artistry and expressionism over bawdy bedroom humor and slapstick antics? Was Lubitsch respected in his home country before moving to America, or did his prestige simply manifest as a result of foreign bohemian charm? The legacy of Lubitsch is far more than his iconic American career, and through the lens of a nearly lost Egyptian epic of his, we're able to explore and discuss the multifaceted as continuously adaptive career of one of the screen's most legendary directorial voices.

Herr Ernst Lubitsch: 00:00 - 49:31
Das Weib des Phrarao/The Loves of Pharaoh (1922): 49:32 - 1:07:04

Many thanks to Graham Austin and Jack Davenport for the creation of our beautiful logo art and theme music respectively.Many thanks to Graham Austin and Jack Davenport for the creation of our beautiful logo art and theme music respectively.

Some of the most enduring images of film ever conjured—not just of the Silent Era, but of all time— appear as a result of the vivid expressionism manifested in the oeuvre of Weimar Germany's leading director, F.W. Murnau. The man who's name is now associated some of the most important restoration efforts ever undertaken, had both an incalculable impact upon the filmmaking world in his time, as well as into today. Even if you've never seen a Murnau film before, it's almost impossible to not have come across some of the iconic imagery sprung from his brief yet unrivaled time working in the industry. His name is associated with some of the most acknowledged greatest films of all time, working in both Germany and America in the 1920s, and pioneering the medium with every new film. This episode marks our foray into the important directors of Weimar Cinema, the individuals with an even greater prestige than the actors with whom they worked so consistently. Murnau may have been the most influential of them all, despite an untimely end to his life and career in tandem with the foreclosure of Silent Film as a whole.

The Life and Career of F.W. Murnau: 00:00-45:58
Der brennende Acker/The Burning Soil (1922): 45:59-1:06:43

Many thanks to Graham Austin and Jack Davenport for the creation of our beautiful logo art and theme music respectively.

During the era of the Weimar Republic, there was famously a known movement advocating for the acceptance and normalization of homesexual people within society. Weimar Germany had a thriving gay scene, but one which still faced oppression and prejudice thanks to the tyrannical legal codes of the previous regime, which were not unlike the laws implemented elsewhere in the world. A brief window of free speech allowed advocates to create films about this subject, most of which were later censored and destroyed. One that survived was Anders als die Andern, a polemic starring German matinee idol Conrad Veidt, just a year before his career would take off staring as the terrifying somnambulant Cesare in Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. Veidt's career saw him starring in some of the most popular and celebrated films of the day, before eventually being forced to make a decision to leave or stay when Hitler and the Nazis seized power in 1933. Listen as we explore Veidt's expansive career and legacy, while also diving in to the progress politics and representations of a pioneering LGBTQ text which nearly didn't survive to today.
As a bonus, Stephen discusses his thoughts on the German Expressionist classic Der letzte Mann (The Last Laugh, 1924), after watching it for the first time in light of last week's discussion. This pillar of Weimar Cinema remains one of the chief text's in understanding the era, and should not be missed in any judicious overview.

Stephen discusses Der letzte Mann (1924): 00:00-16:51
Conradt Veidt Biography: 16:52-33:03
Anders als di Andern (Different from the Others, 1919): 33:03-1:01:09

Many thanks to Graham Austin and Jack Davenport for the creation of our beautiful logo art and theme music respectively.

The cinema of Weimar Germany was one that revolved around a key set of names throughout its brief tenure. Directors and performers were the shining lights of the industry, cementing the success of the era's biggest pictures and then redoubling on that prestige by teaming up again for an even more exceptional endeavor. One of the more celebrated personalities from this era was Emil Jannings, starring in more enduring classics of the German Expressionist movement than any other performer, as well as making a splash in America by becoming the first ever recipient of the Best Actor Oscar.
In 1920, Jannings star was quickly on the rise. With a series of costume drama successes behind him, he continued making lavish star vehicles, including the nascent science fiction film, Algol: Tragödie der Macht. The film, which was once believed lost, returned after rigorous restoration efforts in the 2000s, surviving now as an expressionist contemporary of Caligari and Metropolis. See how measures up as another example of what Siegfried Kracauer called Germany's "tyrant films," and how Jannings endures as one of the exemplifying actors of the era.

Many thanks to Graham Austin and Jack Davenport for the creation of our beautiful logo art and theme music respectively.

Second only to the star-spangled system of 1920s Hollywood, the German industry during the days of the Weimar Republic is perhaps the most widely recognized of the silent era. This is thanks in large part to the continued proliferation of the German Expressionist movement, a highly avant-garde and visually stylistic period which became an influential bedrock for many latter genres of cinema and distinct filmic classics. This overview of the German Expressionist movement, briefly covering its high points and enduring successes, will serve as in introduction to a historical survey of Weimar Cinema as a whole, as we kick off a new season exploring the iconic names and faces of the era which lent themselves to so many of the most recognizable Silent Films we still know today.
From Morn to Midnight (originally, Von morgens bis mitternachts), serves as the perfect introductory piece to German Expressionism, with an incredibly distinct visual rendering comparable only to that of the pioneering film of the era, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. The nightmare-like vision of a twisted world as seen through artistically oblique backdrops and makeup was a semi-common means of conveying a sense of destitution and decay in the aftermath of Germany's defeat in the First World War. Listen as we dissect the distinctive qualities of this visually arresting record of Silent Film's most recognizable movement, and measure its survival as a means of preserving the integral artistic history of the time.
A Brief History of Weimar Cinema and German Expressionism: 00:00 - 44:08
Von morgens bis mitternachts/From Morn to Midnight: 44:08 - 1:03:53

Many thanks to Graham Austin and Jack Davenport for the creation of our beautiful logo art and theme music respectively.