German Edinburgh: New event: Early German Sound Films

Early German Sound Films Ticket Deal

See any three Early German Sound Films for £12/£7.50 concession, or all nine for £27/£18 concession

Following the release of the first sound films in the USA in the late 1920s, German cinema was equally compelled to take this big step, away from its enormously successful silent films into the new chapter of cinematographic development. This film season, curated by the Goethe-Institut in association with Transit Film and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, features important examples from this period, the early 1930s to 1940s, when German cinema was marked by three, to some degree parallel, developments: the triumphal arrival of the sound movie, the growing monopolist domination of the German film industry by UFA, and the rule of the Nazi regime from 1933 onwards.

There will also be an exhibition of reproductions of German film posters in Filmhouse café bar, provided by the Goethe-Institut in association with Transit Film.

Season in association with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

Three Men and Lilian
Die Drei von der Tankstelle

Wed 27 Dec 5.30

Wilhelm Thiele | Germany 1930 | 1h39m | DVD | German with English subtitles | 12A
Cast: Lilian Harvey, Willy Fritsch, Oskar Karlweis, Heinz Rühmann, Fritz Kampers.

Three friends, Willy, Kurt and Hans, all fall in love with the same girl. This musical comedy is considered one of the finest example of the early German sound film, thanks to the innovative use of sound, the combination of music and images, and experiments with high-angle shots which later became famous in US musicals. Director Wilhelm Thiele, composer Heymann and actor Karlweis were forced to leave Germany in 1933. The film was banned by the Nazis in 1937.

Lola (Dietrich), star at the sleaziest nightclub in screen history, meets, seduces and ultimately destroys the upright bourgeois schoolteacher, Professor Rath. Together with M, this is one of the most famous early German sound films. The 'discovery' of Marlene Dietrich was the film's most direct outcome: although not her first film (it was her thirteenth!), it brought her together with Sternberg, who took her to Hollywood and presented her as a vamp in numerous films.

Lang's first sound film was based on the real-life manhunt for the Düsseldorf child-murderer (an extraordinary performance by Peter Lorre). A radical, analytical film that entertains many of Lang's fascinations: innovative use of sound; the detail of police procedure; and the parallels drawn between organised police behaviour and the underworld.

The amazing adventures of the 'Lying Baron' Münchhausen, staged in a high-spirited, ironic and opulent manner, a production that cost far more than the country could then afford. Erich Kästner was give permission to write the film's screenplay – under a pseudonym – and managed to smuggle in numerous covert taunts against the Nazi regime.

A rather un-German tale of the German Rhine about an unorthodox will, the heir of a champagne business and the merits of drinking alcohol, featuring the hugely popular Heinz Rühmann.

Jupiter descends to earth and attempts to seduce Alkmene, who is awaiting her husband's return from war. Schünzel produced this irreverent and very funny parody of classical antiquity two years before his exile to the US.

Luis Trenker – rugged, daring mountaineer, 'auteur de film' and cult figure – was director and lead actor of this story of immigrant Johann Aug Suter, who in 1839 colonised a vast area of California until he was ruined by the Gold Rush in 1848. Described as "The best German Western ever made," it is a fine example of the visual expressiveness of Trenker's films.

A young Swedish woman falls in love while on holiday in Puerto Rico. For Detlef Sierck this film presented a chance to leave Nazi Germany: he did not return to Germany from Tenerife where part of the film was shot, and emigrated to the USA where he made a name for himself as Douglas Sirk.

The story of the sinking of the luxury liner in 1912. Intended by the Nazis as a tool of anti-British propaganda, Titanic never achieved its purpose. Before it was completed, Selpin, the film's original director, was imprisoned for a remark he had made about the Wehrmacht. He was found hanged in his cell; whether it was murder or suicide will never be conclusively settled. After its completion by Werner Klingler, Titanic was certified as 'valuable for national policy', but then withdrawn: the censors were probably worried that viewers might have seen the sinking ship as a metaphor for the impending downfall of the Third Reich.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT THE FILMHOUSE BOX-OFFICE ON 0131-228-2688 OR CONSULT THE FILMHOUSE WEBSITE AT www.filmhousecinema.com

German Edinburgh

Thursday, November 30, 2006

New event: Early German Sound Films

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