F.W. Murnau (1888-1931): Selected Filmography:

YEAR	FILM
1919	THE BLUE BOY
1921	THE HAUNTED CASTLE
1922	NOSFERATU
1923	THE EXPULSION
	THE GRAND DUKE’S FINANCES
1924	THE LAST LAUGH
1925	TARTUFFE
1926	FAUST
1927	SUNRISE
1928	FOUR DEVILS
1930	CITY GIRL
1931	TABU

Academy Awards:

1927-28: 1^st Academy Awards: SUNRISE:

• awarded: Best Artistic Quality of Production (only time this award given)
• awarded: Best Actress: Janet Gaynor: for 7^TH HEAVEN, STREET ANGEL & SUNRISE
• awarded: Best Cinematography: Charles Rosher & Karl Struss
• nominated: Best Art Direction: Rochus Gliese

1928-29: FOUR DEVILS:

• nominated: Best Cinematography: Ernest Palmer

1930-31: TABU:

• awarded: Best Cinematography: Floyd Crosby

Representative German Expressionist Silent Films:

YEAR	FILM	DIRECTOR
1919	THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI	Robert Weine
1920	DER GOLEM	Paul Wegener
1921	DR. MABUSE DER SPIELER	Fritz Lang
1922	NOSFERATU	F.W. Murnau
1923	WARNING SHADOWS	Arthur Robison
1924	DIE NIBELUNGEN: SIEGFRIED	Fritz Lang
	THE LAST LAUGH	F.W. Munau
1926	FAUST	F.W. Munau
	METROPOLIS	Fritz Lang

German Expressionist Film: from The Cinema Book by Pam Cook:

• "German expressionism": term: borrowed from painting & theater:
  • German expressionist movement: produced films from (approx.) 1919 to 1930
• hallmarks of German expressionist film:

  • extreme stylization of mise-en-scène: primary means of expression:

• visual style: conveys themes: stylized to express inner states of characters:
  • chiaroscuro lighting: high contrast between light & shadow
  • surrealistic settings: extremely stylized: shapes distorted
  • frequently: moving camera
• "gothic" appearance of films: accompanied by similar content & acting style:
  • subject matter / content:
    • horror, dark fantasy, the gothic, illness, death, insanity
  • acting style: characters part of set:
    • jerky gestures express inner torment / heavy makeup
• overall effect:
  • creation of "… a self-contained fantasy world quite separate from everyday reality, a world imbued with angst and paranoia in the face of that which cannot be rationally explained. This ‘other world’ often functions as a criticism of bourgeois society, though not always."

Influence of German Expressionism on Hollywood Films:

• horror films of 1930s: e.g., FRANKENSTEIN:
  • emphasis on mise-en-scène as primary means of expression: lighting, sets, etc.
  • subject matter & acting style: similar to German expressionist films
• film noir: 1941 (MALTESE FALCON) through 1958 (TOUCH OF EVIL):
  • dark stories about a dark world: impending disaster: fatalism:
  • roots in German expressionism: lighting important in noir: dark streets
• melodrama: externalization of emotion into cinematic mise-en-scène:
  • hallmark of full-blown Hollywood melodrama of 1940s & 1950s:
    • 1941: CITIZEN KANE: Orson Welles:
      • expressionistic devices: lighting / low camera angles
    • 1956: WRITTEN ON THE WIND: Douglas Sirk: German émigré:
      • mise-en-scène: colors / camera angles / lighting
  • characters trapped: in situations & by mise-en-scène

bgs: 03-04