German National Cinema (National Cinemas) - Softcover

Hake, Sabine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415420989 ISBN 13: 9780415420983

Publisher: Routledge, 2007

Synopsis

German National Cinema is the first comprehensive history of German film from its origins to the present. In this new edition, Sabine Hake discusses film-making in economic, political, social, and cultural terms, and considers the contribution of Germany's most popular films to changing definitions of genre, authorship, and film form.

The book traces the central role of cinema in the nation’s turbulent history from the Wilhelmine Empire to the Berlin Republic, with special attention paid to the competing demands of film as art, entertainment, and propaganda. Hake also explores the centrality of genre films and the star system to the development of a filmic imaginary.

This fully revised and updated new edition will be required reading for everyone interested in German film and the history of modern Germany.

About this title

Review:

""German National Cinema provides colleagues and students with a stimulating and comprehensive historical summary of German cinema from Skladanowsky to Tykwer. The author's arguments are cogent, persuasive, and incorporate numerous current theoretical approaches without the use of technical jargon. It will serve as a valuable resource tool for colleagues teaching German cinema and should be in every college library." -Franz A. Birgel, Muhlenberg College "Hake (German studies, Univ. of Pittsburgh) offers an impressively comprehensive account that bristles with intriguing questions and opens new perspectives on many of the seven phases she persuasively identifies in German film history. She provides a more balanced presentation of the 1950s than has heretofore been available in English and also does a good job sketching East German cinema and the new initiatives since national reunification in 1991." -S. Liebman, "CHOICE ..."an excellent introduction to the history of German cinema." -Jaimey Fisher, Tulane University "German Studies Review, 2003

From the Back Cover:

German National Cinema is the first comprehensive account in English of German cinema from its origins to the present. From The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to Run Lola Run, Sabine Hake examines a range of films in relation to the social, political, economic and technological events surrounding them.
Covering a range of genres, Hake assesses the work of directors such as Fritz Lang and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and stars like Marlene Dietrich and Louise Brooks. From the Wilhelmine Empire to post-reunification, she traces the artistic currents, technological innovations, and social transformations which defined each era of German film and shows how a highly-politicised cinema often produced surprisingly apolitical films. Embracing popular traditions and other cultural legacies such as music, literature and prominent art movements like Expressionism, she explores the competing definitions of German cinema as art cinema, quality entertainment, political propaganda and rival of Hollywood.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0415420989
• ISBN 13: 9780415420983
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 288