GW Pabst entered film history as a luminary of Weimar cinema, an astute observer of social struggle and psychic process, the espouser of a progressive and engaged film art. He gained international renown as the director of "The joyless street, Pandora's Box, Westfront 1918 and Kamaradschaft". After 1933, the once-revered auteur would become a voice incessantly modified and modulated by socio-political forces more sovereign than his best intentions, experiencing exile, emirgration, a sojourn in Holywood, a fateful return to Germany and an unsuccessful postwar attempt to regain a once considerable reputation. This collection of essays presents the first truly comprehensive image of a problematic firmmaker whose life and oeuvre compellingly reflect both the turbulent character of recent German history as well as the fate of artistic producers in the transcultural machinery of the modern world.
GW Pabst entered film history as a luminary of Weimar cinema, an astute observer of social struggle and psychic process, the espouser of a progressive and engaged film art. He gained international renown as the director of "The joyless street, Pandora's Box, Westfront 1918 and Kamaradschaft". After 1933, the once-revered auteur would become a voice incessantly modified and modulated by socio-political forces more sovereign than his best intentions, experiencing exile, emirgration, a sojourn in Holywood, a fateful return to Germany and an unsuccessful postwar attempt to regain a once considerable reputation. This collection of essays presents the first truly comprehensive image of a problematic firmmaker whose life and oeuvre compellingly reflect both the turbulent character of recent German history as well as the fate of artistic producers in the transcultural machinery of the modern world.
From 2009 to 2014, The Museum of Modern Art presented a weekly series of film screenings titled An Auteurist History of Film. Inspired by Andrew Sarris's seminal book The American Cinema, which elaborated on the "auteur theory" first developed by the critics of Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1950s, the series presented works from MoMA's expansive film collection, with a particular focus on the role of the director as artistic author. Film curator Charles Silver wrote a blog post to accompany each screening, describing the place of each film in the oeuvre of is director as well as the work's significance in cinema history. Following the end of the series' five-year run, the Museum collected these texts for publication, and is now bringing together Silver's insightful and often humorous readings in a single volume. This publication is an invaluable guide to key directors and movies as well as an excellent introduction to auteur theory. -- from back cover.
Biography of G.W. Pabst, an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic.
In this comprehensive companion to Weimar cinema, chapters address the technological advancements of each film, their production and place within the larger history of German cinema, the style of the director, the actors and the rise of the German star, and the critical reception of the film.
=1. Develops a theory of poetic cinema through detailed analysis of silent and sound films and establishes link between poetic images and poetic (oblique) modes of acting. 2. Introduces non-Western theoretical ideas outside the purview of Euro-American film theory, such as Henry Corbin's Sufi ideas of the 'Iimaginal World' and 'Cognitive Imagination' to analyse Parjanov's Ashik Kerib, on a Sufi poet. 3. Marcel Mauss' concept of the gift derived from his anthropological study of Maori culture is used to formulate a reciprocal relationship between film and the viewer as a scholar of cinema.
Are you an art-movie buff or a blockbuster enthusiast? Can you reel off a list of New Wave masterpieces, or are you more interested in classic Westerns? Most of us love the movies in one form or another, but very few of us have the all-round knowledge we'd like. 30-Second Cinema offers an immersion course, served up in neat, entertaining shorts. These 50 topics deal with cinema's beginnings, with its growth as an industry, with key stars and producers, with global movements--from German Expressionism to New Hollywood--and with the movies as a business. By the time you've worked your way through, you'll be able to identify the work of George Melies, define auteur theory or mumblecore in a couple of pithy phrases, and you'll have broadened your knowledge of global cinema to embrace not only Bollywood but Nollywood, too. All in the time it takes to watch a couple of trailers.
G.W. Pabst's 1929 silent classic Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora), stars Hollywood icon Louise Brooks as the enigmatic heroine whose erotic charms lead to disaster for the men drawn into her web. Despite failing commercially upon release, it has evolved into a cult film long after it should have been forgotten. Pandora's Box captivates audiences with its libidinous, violent story, and its mysterious heroine whose motivations, as well as whose guilt or innocence, are difficult to determine. It is a sophisticated adaptation of Frank Wedekind's Lulu plays, and indisputably Louise Brooks' finest performance on film. In her compelling study, Pamela Hutchinson traces Pandora's production history and the many contexts of its creation and afterlife, revisiting and challenging many assumptions made about the film, its lead character and its star. Analysing the film act by act, she explores the conflicted relationship between Brooks and the director G.W. Pabst, the film's historical contexts in Weimar Berlin, and its changing fortunes since its release.
Film is the world's most popular artistic medium. What began as a novelty at country fairs rapidly became the consummate art form of the twentieth century, spanning both popular culture and high art. The Film Book enables you to identify different cinematic genres, appreciate the style of celebrated directors, see how a film is made, and understand why the greatest movies deserve their reputation. The book is unique in encompassing each of these key aspects and, as such, outspans the many other guides and film companions on the market. The guide is split into seven distinct sections, each of which deals with a particular aspect of film. The first of these chapters is a detailed history of the art form over the last 120 years, charting its evolution from a musical event accompanied by pictures, through its numerous developments and innovations-talking pictures; color film; video and DVD; online films; computer-generated special effects; and the modern 3D experience. The second shows how these techniques are applied in practice, taking the reader behind the camera to explore the film-making process and find out who's who on set, offering a useful insight into how movies are brought to life. Sections 3 to 6 look at the films themselves. Providing an overview of cinematic styles and genres, the third section covers everything from westerns, musicals, and sci-fi to arthouse cinema, the avant-garde, and the cult movie, whilst the fourth compares and contrasts the major styles of international cinema, with key schools, movements, directors, and films. The fifth section profiles 100 of the film industry's greatest and most influential directors, listing their key works and assessing their cinematic legacy, whilst the sixth section discusses 100 key cinematic works which invented, extended, or reinvented the art form. The closing section of the book is an interesting, and often provocative, range of lists compiled by a variety of film associations, publications, and institutions. Comprehensive, authoritative, and written with passion and verve, The Film Book is a unique treasure-trove of a guide that will appeal to anyone who loves movies. Table of Contents Prelims (5pp) Introduction (4pp) The story of film (56pp) 1896-1919: The Birth of Cinema 1920-1929: Silence is Golden 1930-1939: The Cinema Comes of Age 1940-1949: The Cinema Goes to War 1950-1959: The Cinema Fights Back 1970-1979: Independence Days 1980-1989: The International Years 1990-: Celluloid to Digital How movies are made (20pp) Pre-production Production Post-production World cinema (52pp) Africa The Middle East Iran Eastern Europe (including Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic) The Balkans (including Yugoslavia, Bugaria, Romania, Greece, and Turkey) Russian The Nordic countries (including Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark) Germany France Italy United Kingdom Spain Portugal Canada Central America South America (including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Chile) Australian and New Zealand China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan Japan Korea India Movie genres (52pp) Action-adventure Animation Avant-garde Biopic Comedy Costume drama Cult Disaster Documentary Epic Film Noir Gangster Horror Martial Arts Melodrama Musicals Propaganda Science Fiction and Fantasy Serials Series Teen Thrillers War Westerns 100 Key directors (92pp) Woody Allen Pedro Almodo ́var Robert Altman Michelangelo Antonioni Ingmar Bergman Bernado Bertolucci Tod Browning Luis Bun~uel Tim Burton Jane Campion Frank Capra Marcel Carne ́ Charlie Chaplin Chen Kaige Joel and Ethan Coen Francis Ford Coppola David Cronenburg George Cukor Michael Curtiz Cecil B. DeMille Jonathan Demme Brian De Palma Vittorio De Sica Stanley Donen Carl Drayer Clint Eastwood Blake Edwards Sergei Eisenstein Rainer Werner Fassbinder Federico Fellini Victor Fleming John Ford Milos Forman Abel Gance Jean-Luc Godard D.W. Griffith Howard Hawks Werner Herzog Alfred Hitchcock Hou Hsiao-Hsien John Huston Peter Jackson Elia Kazan Buster Keaton Krzysztof Kieslowski Fritz Lang David Lean Ang Lee Spike Lee Sergio Leone Ernst Lubitsch George Lucas Sidney Lumet David Lynch Alexander Mackendrick Joseph L. Mankiewicz Sam Mendes Lewis Milestone Vincente Minnelli F.W. Murnau Max Ophu ̈ls Yasujiro Ozu Georg Wilhelm Pabst Pier Paolo Pasolini Sam Peckinpah Roman Polanski Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger Nicholas Ray Satyajit Ray Carol Reed Jean Renoir Eric Rohmer Roberto Rossellini John Schlesinger Martin Scorsese Ridley Scott Stephen Spielberg Josef von Sternberg Oliver Stone Erich von Stroheim Quentin Tarantino Andrei Tarkovsky Jacques Tati Franc ̧ois Truffaut Dziga Vertov Luchino Visconti Andrzej Wajda Raoul Walsh Peter Weir Orson Welles William Wellman Wim Wenders Billy Wilder Robert Wise John Woo William Wyler Franco Zeffirelli Zhang Yimou 100 Key Movies (52pp) Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1919) Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror (F.W. Murnau, 1921) Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922) The Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1926) Napole ́on (Abel Gance, 1927) An Andalucian Dog (Un Chien Andalou) (Luis Bun~uel, 1928) The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer, 1928) All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930) The Blue Angel (Joseph von Sternberg, 1930) City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931) 42nd Street (Lloyd Bacon, 1933) Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933) King Kong (Merian Cooper/Ernest Schoedsack, 1933) L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Walt Disney, 1937) Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938) The Rules of the Game (La Re`gle du Jeu) (Jean Renoir, 1939) Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) The Little Foxes (William Wyler, 1941) To Be or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942) In Which We Serve (Noe ̈l Coward, 1942) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1942) Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis) (Marcel Carne ́, 1945) A Matter of Life and Death (Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, 1946) It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) Bicycle Thieves (Ladri Di Biciclette) (Vittorio de Sica, 1948) Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophu ̈ls, 1948) Passport to Pimlico (Henry Cornelius, 1949) The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) Orpheus (Orphe ́e) (Jean Cocteau, 1950) Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen, 1952) Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954) All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955) Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955) The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955) The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, 1958) The 400 Blows (Franc ̧ois Truffaut, 1959) Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960) La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz, 1960) L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960) Last Year in Marienbad (Alain Resnais, 1961) Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962) Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1965) The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965) Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966) The Chelsea Girls (Andy Warhol, 1966) Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969) Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969) The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1969) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) Aguirre, Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972) Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975) In the Realm of the Senses (Ai No Corrida) (Nagisa Oshima, 1976) Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
