1945.E2.80.931989 West Germany Cinema of Germany

1 1945–1989 west germany

1.1 1945–1960 reconstruction
1.2 1960–1970 cinema in crisis
1.3 1960–1980 new german cinema
1.4 1980–1989 popular productions

1945–1989 west germany
1945–1960 reconstruction

the occupation , reconstruction of germany 4 powers in period after end of world war ii brought major , long-lasting change economic conditions under industry in germany had operated. holdings of ufa confiscated allies and, part of process of decartelisation, licences produce films shared between range of smaller companies. in addition, occupation statute of 1949, granted partial independence newly created federal republic of germany, forbade imposition of import quotas protect german film production foreign competition, result of lobbying american industry represented mpaa.

amidst devastation of stunde null year of 1945 cinema attendance unsurprisingly down fraction of wartime heights, end of decade had reached levels exceeded pre-war period. first time in many years, german audiences had free access cinema around world , in period films of charlie chaplin remained popular, melodramas united states. nonetheless, share of film market german films in period , 1950s remained relatively large, taking 40 percent of total market. american films took around 30 percent of market despite having around twice many films in distribution german industry in same time frame.

many of german films of immediate post-war period can characterised belonging genre of trümmerfilm (literally rubble film ). these films show strong affinities work of italian neorealists, not least roberto rossellini s neorealist trilogy included germany year 0 (1948), , concerned day-to-day life in devastated germany , initial reaction events of nazi period (the full horror of first experienced many in documentary footage liberated concentration camps). such films include wolfgang staudte s die mörder sind unter uns (the murderers among us) (1946), first film made in post-war germany (produced in soviet sector), , wolfgang liebeneiner s liebe 47 (love 47) (1949), adaptation of wolfgang borchert s play draußen vor der tür.

despite advent of regular television service in federal republic in 1952, cinema attendances continued grow through of 1950s, reaching peak of 817.5 million visits in 1956. majority of films of period set out no more entertain audience , had few pretensions artistry or active engagement social issues. defining genre of period arguably heimatfilm ( homeland film ), in morally simplistic tales of love , family played out in rural setting, in mountains of bavaria, austria or switzerland. in day heimatfilms of little interest more scholarly film critics, in recent years have been subject of study in relation culture of west germany in years of wirtschaftswunder. other film genres typical of period adaptations of operettas, hospital melodramas, comedies , musicals. many films remakes of earlier ufa productions.

rearmament , founding of bundeswehr in 1955 brought wave of war films tended depict ordinary german soldiers of world war ii brave , apolitical. israeli historian omer bartov wrote german films of 1950s showed average german soldier heroic victim: noble, tough, brave, honourable, , patriotic while fighting hard in senseless war regime did not care for. 08/15 film trilogy of 1954–55 concerns sensitive young german soldier rather play piano fight, , fights on eastern front without understanding why; however, no mention made of genocidal aspects of germany s war in east. last of 08/15 films ends germany occupied gang of american soldiers portrayed bubble-gum chewing, slack-jawed morons , uncultured louts, totally inferior in every respect heroic german soldiers shown in 08/15 films. exception jewish american officer, shown both hyper-intelligent , unscrupulous, bartov noted seems imply real tragedy of world war ii nazis did not chance exterminate of jews, have returned germany s defeat once more exploit german people.

in doctor of stalingrad (1958) dealing german pows in soviet union, germans portrayed more civilized, humane , intelligent soviets, shown part mongol savages brutalized german pows. 1 of german pows seduces beautiful , tough red army captain alexandra kasalniskaya (eva bartok) prefers him sadistic camp commandant, bartov comments meant show in defeat, german men more sexually virile , potent russian counterparts. in hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben? (dogs, want live forever?) of 1959, deals battle of stalingrad, focus on celebrating heroism of german soldier in battle, shown valiantly holding out against overwhelming odds no mention @ of soldiers fighting for, namely national socialist ideology or holocaust. period saw number of films depicted military resistance hitler. in des teufels general (the devil s general) of 1954, luftwaffe general named harras loosely modeled after ernst udet, appears @ first cynical fool, turns out anti-nazi secretly sabotaging german war effort designing faulty planes. bartov commented in film, german officer corps shown group of fundamentally noble , civilized men happened serving evil regime made of small gang of gangsterish misfits totally unrepresentative of german society, served exculpate both officer corps , extension germany society. bartov wrote no german film of 1950s showed deep commitment felt many german soldiers national socialism, utter ruthless way german army fought war , mindless nihilist brutality of later wehrmacht. bartov wrote german film-makers liked show heroic last stand of 6th army @ stalingrad, none has far showed 6th army s massive co-operation einsatzgruppen in murdering soviet jews in 1941.

even though there countless film adaptations of edgar wallace novels worldwide, crime films produced german company rialto film between 1959 , 1972 best-known of those, extent form own subgenre known krimis (abbreviation german term kriminalfilm (or kriminalroman ). other edgar wallace adaptations in similar style made germans artur brauner , kurt ulrich, , british producer harry alan towers.

the international significance of west german film industry of 1950s no longer measure of france, italy, or japan. german films distributed internationally perceived provincial. international co-productions of kind becoming common in france , italy tended rejected german producers (schneider 1990:43). few german films , film-makers did achieve international recognition @ time, among them bernhard wicki s oscar-nominated die brücke (the bridge) (1959), , actresses hildegard knef , romy schneider.

1960–1970 cinema in crisis

klaus kinski

in late 1950s, growth in cinema attendance of preceding decade first stagnated , went freefall throughout 1960s. 1969 west german cinema attendance @ 172.2 million visits per year less quarter of 1956 post-war peak. consequence of this, numerous german production , distribution companies went out of business in 1950s , 1960s , cinemas across federal republic closed doors; number of screens in west germany halved between beginning , end of decade.

initially, crisis perceived problem of overproduction. consequently, german film industry cut on production. 123 german movies produced in 1955, 65 in 1965. however, many german film companies followed 1960s trends of international co-productions italy , spain in such genres spaghetti westerns , eurospy films films shot in nations or in yugoslavia featured german actors in casts.

the roots of problem lay deeper in changing economic , social circumstances. average incomes in federal republic rose sharply , opened alternative leisure activities compete cinema-going. @ time too, television developing mass medium compete cinema. in 1953 there 1,000,000 sets in west germany; 1962 there 7 million (connor 1990:49) (hoffman 1990:69).

the majority of films produced in federal republic in 1960s genre works: westerns, series of movies adapted karl may s popular genre novels starred pierre brice apache winnetou , lex barker white blood brother old shatterhand; thrillers , crime films, notably series of edgar wallace movies rialto film in klaus kinski, heinz drache, karin dor , joachim fuchsberger among regular players. traditional krimi films expanded series based on german pulp fiction heroes such jerry cotton played george nader , kommissar x played tony kendall , brad harris. west germany made several horror films including ones starring christopher lee. 2 genres combined in return of doctor mabuse in series of several films of 1960s.

at end of 1960s softcore sex films, both relatively serious aufklärungsfilme (sex education films) of oswalt kolle , such exploitation films schulmädchen-report (schoolgirl report) (1970) , successors produced 1970s. such movies commercially successful , enjoyed international distribution, won little acclaim critics.

1960–1980 new german cinema

in 1960s more 3 quarters of regular cinema audience lost consequence of rising popularity of tv sets @ home. reaction artistic , economic stagnation of german cinema, group of young film-makers issued oberhausen manifesto on february 28, 1962. call arms, included alexander kluge, edgar reitz, peter schamoni , franz-josef spieker among signatories, provocatively declared der alte film ist tot. wir glauben den neuen ( old cinema dead. believe in new cinema ). other up-and-coming filmmakers allied oberhausen group, among them rainer werner fassbinder, volker schlöndorff, werner herzog, jean-marie straub, wim wenders, werner schroeter , hans-jürgen syberberg in rejection of existing german film industry , determination build new cinema founded on artistic , social measures rather commercial success. of these directors organized in, or partially co-operated with, film production , distribution company filmverlag der autoren established in 1971, throughout 1970s brought forth number of critically acclaimed films.

despite foundation of kuratorium junger deutscher film (young german film committee) in 1965, set under auspices of federal ministry of interior support new german films financially, directors of new german cinema consequently dependent on money television. young filmmakers had opportunity test mettle in such programmes stand-alone drama , documentary series das kleine fernsehspiel (the little tv play) or television films of crime series tatort. however, broadcasters sought tv premieres films had supported financially, theatrical showings occurring later. consequence, such films tended unsuccessful @ box office.

this situation changed after 1974 when film-fernseh-abkommen (film , television accord) agreed between federal republic s main broadcasters, ard , zdf, , german federal film board (a government body created in 1968 support film-making in germany). accord, has been repeatedly extended present day, provides television companies make available annual sum support production of films suitable both theatrical distribution , television presentation. (the amount of money provided public broadcasters has varied between 4.5 , 12.94 million euros per year. under terms of accord, films produced using these funds can screened on television 24 months after theatrical release. may appear on video or dvd no sooner 6 months after cinema release. nevertheless, new german cinema found difficult attract large domestic or international audience.

the socially critical films of new german cinema strove delineate had gone before , works of auteur film-makers such kluge , fassbinder examples of this, although fassbinder in use of stars german cinema history sought reconciliation between new cinema , old. in addition, distinction drawn between avantgarde young german cinema of 1960s , more accessible new german cinema of 1970s. influences new generation of film-makers looked italian neorealism, french nouvelle vague , british new wave combined eclectically references well-established genres of hollywood cinema. new german cinema dealt contemporary german social problems in direct way; nazi past, plight of gastarbeiter ( guest workers ), , modern social developments, subjects prominent in new german cinema films.

films such kluge s abschied von gestern (1966), herzog s aguirre, wrath of god (1972), fassbinder s fear eats soul (1974) , marriage of maria braun (1979), , wenders paris, texas (1984) found critical approval. work of these auteurs first recognised abroad rather in germany itself. work of post-war germany s leading novelists heinrich böll , günter grass provided source material adaptations lost honour of katharina blum (1975) (by schlöndorff , margarethe von trotta) , tin drum (1979) (by schlöndorff alone) respectively, latter becoming first german film win academy award best foreign language film. new german cinema allowed female directors come fore , development of feminist cinema encompassed works of directors such margarethe von trotta, helma sanders-brahms, helke sander , cristina perincioli.

german production companies have been quite commonly involved in expensive french , italian productions spaghetti westerns french comic book adaptations.

1980–1989 popular productions

bernd eichinger star @ boulevard of stars in berlin.

having achieved of goals, among them establishment of state funding film industry , renewed international recognition german films, new german cinema had begun show signs of fatigue 1980s, though many of proponents continued enjoy individual success.

among commercial successes german films of 1980s otto film series beginning in 1985 starring comedian otto waalkes, wolfgang petersen s adaptation of neverending story (1984), , internationally successful das boot (1981), still holds record academy award nominations german film (six). other notable film-makers came prominence in 1980s include producer bernd eichinger , directors doris dörrie, uli edel, , loriot.

away mainstream, splatter film director jörg buttgereit came prominence in 1980s. development of arthouse cinemas (programmkinos) 1970s onwards provided venue works of less mainstream film-makers.

from mid-1980s spread of videocassette recorders , arrival of private tv channels such rtl television provided new competition theatrical film distribution. cinema attendance, having rallied in late 1970s after all-time low of 115.1 million visits in 1976, dropped sharply again mid-1980s end @ 101.6 million visits in 1989. however, availability of catalogue of films on video allowed different relationship between viewer , individual film, while private tv channels brought new money film industry , provided launch pad new talent later move film.