German Expressionism: Crash Course Film History #7

We've spent a lot of time focusing on France and the U.S. as that's where a significant amount of both infrastructure and business models were initially set up for film. But there were other countries adding their own stories to the annals of film history. In this episode of Crash Course Film History, we're going to focus on Germany and how they got a bit expressive with film.

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Images and Video Used are in the Public Domain and from the Library of Congress.

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[juanjuri]

"I'm not Dracula! I'm my own original character, Brapula!"

[v.k.]

Thumbs up for correct pronunciation of "Weimar!"

[queenofrapture]

Oh my god "Press F" on the gravestone made me laugh a little too hard...

[KassMcCormack]

Caligari is, without doubt, one of my favorite movies. It's creepy, visually interesting, and brilliantly performed. (Also, Conrad Veidt was super cute but I digress.)

[Rhomega]

I've seen The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, and Metropolis. I enjoyed all 3.

[paulrigsby]

The restored Metropolis, complete for the first time since the 30s, is amazing.

[CathForStew]

As a French-Canadian with a degree in Theatre, I feel compelled to mention that 'Mise en scène' (great pronunciation btw Craig) is also the word for directing a play. So in French the director of a Play is called a 'Metteur en scène' and the direction you chose for the play is the 'Mise en scène' (basically what you said about Mise en scène in the movie, style, blocking etc.) on the other hand, someone who directs Movies is called a 'Réalisateur' which can be loosely translated to someone who implements. It come form the verb 'Réaliser' which means several things, among which, to make, implement, construct. I've never heard the words Misen en scène used in the context of film making, but of course, it works!
Thank you for these videos, they are very fascinating!

[evanhardy]

I love crash course so much! I'm not even in a film class I just love to watch!

[quiroz]

So here's an important myth: Metropolis had a certain political flair to it that would not have been necessarily adverse to Nazi Germany. Goebbels liked the film quite a lot. So he met with Lang and asked him to become the head of the state's film production. Lang said yes, of course I'll do nazi films for nazi Germany. Then he went home, packed a suitcase, got the hell out of the country and came to Hollywood, where, among other things, he made propaganda films against the nazis.

Now his WIFE on the other hand....

[vilebeggar]

the way you pronounced 'autorenfilm' made me spit out my breakfast

[-Gorbi-]

I love this host. He has that compelling John-Hodgman-esque calm and dryness

[xThePinkApple]

I go to uni in Germany and had a film history class last semester where the lecturer said that Metropolis isn't as great as everyone makes it out to be (she said it's too long for one) and so instead we watched M (which is also slightly too long imo but still really good!) I was surprised M wasn't mentioned because it's pretty expressionistic but then again it's also a sound film (and we're still at silent films) so maybe it'll be mentioned later on. For the next video I predict Craig will talk a lot about Eisenstein and montage and the nationalistic Russian films and Battleship Potemkin (with that stairs scene!)

[Librarymania]

🖤 German expressionism. It was a great influence on one of my favorite films, Night of the Hunter.

[JuvenileStacks]

9:23 a friggin well placed "press f to pay respects" easter egg

[SickSticker]

Sick reference at 9:25, my guys. It took me a second, but that's a good inscription.

[coltondulin]

Loved the episode but how can you mention Lang without the masterpiece M?

[TheMogul]

It's strange to see the influence of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari discussed without Tim Burton's name coming up. His whole visual style is a direct lift from that film.

[mudawarsyed]

Can the narrator speak a bit slowly? i am playing the video at 0.75 speed.

[kyleolin]

Never thought I would have an interest in old movies, but after watching the camera work, and lighting on these movies, i'm intrigued

[markcysts]

I remember seeing Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in high school and thought it was just ho-hum and nifty that Tim Burton used the somnambulist as a model for Edward Scissorhands. It wasn't until after I came back from Iraq and spent more time in the waking world where I really appreciated it.

Nosferatu may seem tame now but it's exceptionally creepy if you watch it on an old reel to reel like how I saw it for the first time with my parents on some random Halloween.