The Evolution of the German Film Industry

Matthew Haglund

The German film industry has been in an almost constant state of change. Although its annual output of feature films is tiny when compared with Hollywood (at only around 60-70 films per year), its first fifty years were anything but modest (European Audiovisual Observatory, 2006). During the first half of the twentieth century, Germany was at the forefront of film innovation and technique, and even pioneered new types of films that changed the landscape of film forever. That reputation changed drastically during the rule of the Nazis, however, and the German film industry has been in a state of recovery ever since. It has not been until recently that much help from the government and Hollywood has helped to truly create a renewed international interest in German film and its industry.

The story of German film begins almost as early as the medium itself. In fact, the first public demonstration of film was held by the Skladanowsky brothers in Berlin in November of 1895, one month before the Lumière brothers’ show (Wikipedia, 2006). Germans, like most Europeans, were fascinated by film after its introduction, but up until the First World War, movies were seen as more of a distraction than a serious form of art. This all changed in Germany towards the end of the war with the creation of Universum Film AG, or UFA. UFA was a film production company created by the German government (at the insistence of General Ludendorff) with the purpose of producing propaganda films to counter those created in France and Britain during the war. This creation of film studio infrastructure, and the eventual privatization of UFA in the 1920s, paved the way for a literal explosion of the industry (Taylor, 1979).

The years of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) are usually considered the Golden Age of German Film, and for good reason. During this time, UFA was producing hundreds of films per year, and was a serious competitor to Hollywood. The years of silent film were especially important because, without spoken language, German films were easily exported and appreciated worldwide. German filmmakers pioneered several new film styles during the Weimar years, most famously film Expressionism. Typically, this style relied on the distortion of film sets and mise-en-scène to create certain emotions on the screen (Kracauer, 1947). Films such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) and Robert Weine’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) are examples of films that used this style. Caligari really pushed Expressionism to its extremes, with the sets themselves depicting the emotions of the characters (Jacobsen, 1993). Another type of film developed in Germany during the 1920s was the Mountain Film, or Bergfilm. These movies glorified mountain climbing, skiing and avalanches. Director Arnold Fanck was most influential in this genre with his famous film The Holy Mountain (1926). The invention of sound films in the 1930s did not hinder the German film industry. The first German sound film, The Blue Angel, was highly popular in America, and made Marlene Dietrich an international superstar. Later in that decade, a style called New Objectivity was created to replace Expressionism. Films of this style dealt with scandalous social subjects and, unlike Expressionism, did so in a highly realistic way (Wikipedia, 2006).

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they found many of the films of the Weimar Republic, especially those of the New Objectivity genre, to be highly perverse and un-German. The huge German film production company UFA had been taken over in 1927 by newspaper owner Alfred Hugenberg, and he, being a Nazi sympathizer, quickly turned over the company to the Nazis. Jews were soon banned from the industry, both as directors and actors, and permits were only issued to those film producers that had shown a leaning toward Nazi values during the Weimar Republic (Taylor, 1979). This hurt the German film industry immensely, as many of its greatest filmmakers fled the country for America. Many of the films during the Third Reich were nothing more than propaganda, though innovation did occur. Leni Riefenstahl developed new film techniques both for documentary and sports films when she was given large budgets from Hitler to film Triumph of the Will (1935) and Olympia (1938) (Jacobsen, 1993). This innovation was, however, somewhat minimal, as most of the films created by the Nazis were simplistic and highly anti-Semitic in nature. Their anti-Jewish films Jud Süß (1940) and The Eternal Jew (1940) are considered some of the most dangerous propaganda of all time (Taylor, 1979).

After the war, the German film industry, like Germany itself, took two separate paths until reunification. In the east, UFA was quickly dismantled by the Soviets due to its Nazi ties and replaced with the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft, or DEFA. The Soviets believed strongly in the power of film to influence the masses, and film production immediately restarted in 1946 with Wolfgang Staudte’s The Murderers are among Us (Jacobsen, 1993). DEFA was the sole creator of films during the life of East Germany, and their productions were closely controlled by the Soviets. In 1949, it was declared that all films produced in East Germany must conform to the style of Socialist Realism. Socialist Realism glorified the worker and the struggles of everyday life, ironically often portraying it in a completely unrealistic fashion. This regulation was heavily enforced until Stalin’s death in 1953, and has left the former East Germany with a legacy of unremarkable films (Wikipedia, 2006).

In the west, the postwar German film industry took a much different path. Like the Soviets, the remaining Allies dismantled any remnants of UFA, but only allowed for the creation of small, private film companies. The films produced by these small firms were dominated by two types: Trümmerfilms, or rubble films, dealing with life in a destroy Germany, and Heimatfilms, or homeland films, dealing simply with themes of love and the beauty of the German landscape (Jacobsen, 1993). These films were fairly unpopular with the German public, and with no control on film imports imposed, the German film market was quickly overrun by French, Italian, and especially American films. The later invention of television in the 1950s and 1960s led to the eventual bankruptcy of most of the smaller firms, and a complete drop in German film output (Reimer, 2005). It was not until the late 1960s that the industry would recover, due greatly to the help of a new generation of German filmmakers.

In the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the German film industry staged a substantial recovery that is often referred to as the New German Wave, or Neue Deutsche Welle, of cinema. This recovery was spearheaded by new directors who could utilize small budgets to create impressive and very artsy films. Directors of this movement included Werner Herzog (Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht), Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire), and Volker Schlöndorff (The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum). Their films caused Hollywood to take notice of modern German film, and soon they were helping to finance more expensive German productions (Finn, 2004). One of the most famous films of this era was Wolfgang Peterson’s Das Boot (1981), the most expensive film in German history. It was distributed throughout the world and was later nominated for six Academy Awards (Wikipeda, 2006).

Although the German film industry is today still tiny when compared to Hollywood, the government has done much throughout the years in hopes of changing this. One of the most important sources of funds for German filmmakers is the German Federal Film Board, or Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA). The FFA was created in 1968 with a mission to strengthen the output of the German film industry both culturally as well as economically. Government subsides are awarded to the German film community in hopes of raising the average standard of German films and creating a product that will be desirable worldwide. Today, its annual budget is over 70 million euros, and comes from a tax on profits from cinemas, the video industry, and television (Regierungonline, 2006). Another important incentive for German filmmakers is the many film festivals held throughout the country and internationally each year. Cash prizes are awarded to the best films, in hopes that they will be used to finance future productions. Examples are the Berlinale, held in Berlin, and the Berlin & Beyond festival held in San Francisco (About.com, 2006).

Despite the impact of American films, the German film industry is growing. 2004 saw the highest ticket sales for German films in German for years, reaching almost 25 percent domestically (European Audiovisual Observatory, 2006). Even internationally, recent hits such as Run Lola Run, Goodbye, Lenin!, Downfall, and The Edukators have been extremely successful. With a renewed international interest in their films, more government subsidies than ever before, and a willingness both from other European studios and Hollywood to help finance, German filmmakers are set to take a bigger part in the international film community than at anytime since the Second World War. It is very likely that the world may soon see a second, albeit much different, golden age of German film.

Works Cited

"Cinema of Germany." Wikipedia - English. 16 Apr. 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Cinema>.

"Das Boot." Wikipedia - English. 16 Apr. 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot>.

"Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft." Wikipedia - English. 16 Apr. 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEFA>.

"Deutsche Filmfeste." About.Com. 16 Apr. 2006 <http://german.about.com/library/blfilmfest.htm>.

Finn, Caryl. The New German Cinema : Music, History, and the Matter of Style. Los Angeles: University of California P, 2004.

Jacobsen, Wolfgang, Anton Kaes, and Hans H. Prinzler. Geschichte Des Deutschen Films. Stuttgart: Carl Ernst Poeschel Varlag, 1993.

Kracauer, Siegfried. From Caligari to Hitler. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1947.

"Regierungonline." Regierungonline. 26 Apr. 2006 <http://www.filmfoerderung-bkm.de>.

Reimer, Robert, Reinhard Zachau, and Margit Sinka. German Culture Through Film. New York: Focus, 2005.

"Trends of the German Film Market." European Audiovisual Observatory. 16 Apr. 2006 <http://www.obs.coe.int/oea_publ/eurocine/00001448.html>.