German Expressionism in Film: 4 German Expressionist Films

German Expressionism was an avant-garde film movement in Germany during the early twentieth century. During World War I, the German government banned foreign films and created a need for German film production. Under the control of the Weimar Republic, the German Expressionist movement spread throughout the 1920s, centered in cities like Munich, Dresden, and Berlin. By the mid-1930s, Nazis deemed German Expressionism degenerate, forcing many German directors to flee the country and relocate to Hollywood, California.

German Expressionism was an early movement in the history of film with distinctive cinematic traits that still influence filmmakers today.

1. 1. Overlap with Expressionist painting: German Expressionist cinema was stylistically similar to the modern art movement of Expressionism in painting. In Dresden, four Expressionist artists—Fritz Bleyl, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Erich Heckel—founded a collective called Die Brücke (“The Bridge”). Painters Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc led a group of Expressionist artists in Munich called Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”). These Expressionist artists embraced bolder strokes, geometric shapes, and subjectivity.
2. 2. Surreal set design: Often dealing with low-budget productions, German Expressionist films used new filmmaking techniques to create a distinct mise-en-scène, or the arrangement and aesthetic of what appears on the screen. Set designers painted elaborate backdrops to create distorted rooms and warped skylines. German Expressionism’s style of set design influenced early horror movies in America during the 1930s, including Dracula (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
   
3. 3. Chiaroscuro lighting: German Expressionist filmmakers developed a unique type of chiaroscuro lighting, a high-contrast style with distinct light and shadow. Silent films like Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) and F. W. Murnau’s Faust (1926) used high-contrast lighting to emphasize themes of evil and moral decay. This style of lighting inspired later works of film noir, Alfred Hitchcock, and Tim Burton, whose gothic films like Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Batman Returns (1992) pay homage to German Expressionism.
4. 4. Dramatic camera angles: German Expressionist films often included a unique cinematography style that used asymmetrical camera angles. German cinematographers like Karl Freund developed this off-putting style to express the inner turmoil of characters on screen.
5. 5. Sinister subject matter: After the horrors of the First World War and the ensuing economic collapse, German Expressionism explored dark themes relevant to its anxious society. German Expressionist films focused on sinister subject matter like murder, insanity, chaos, and fear.

To learn more about German Expressionism, explore a few examples of films within the movement.

1. 1. Metropolis (1927): Directed by Austrian-born Fritz Lang, Metropolis is a science fiction film set in a futuristic city built over a cavernous underworld. Metropolis influenced the science fiction and noir genres for years to come, inspiring Hollywood movies like Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982).
2. 2. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920): In Robert Wiene’s iconic silent film, a hypnotist played by Werner Krauss controls a sleepwalker named Cesare played by Conrad Veidt. Considered one of the first horror films ever made, the film featured bizarre sets designed by art director Hermann Warm to increase the psychological effect of the film.
3. 3. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922): In F. W. Murnau’s loose adaptation of the Dracula story, Count Orlok (played by German actor Max Schreck) terrorizes visitors in his Transylvanian castle. During one memorable scene, Count Orlok’s shadow creeps up a staircase as he approaches a victim’s bedroom.
   
4. 4. The Student of Prague (1913): One of the earliest examples of German Expressionist cinema, The Student of Prague is a silent film that follows a young man who sells his mirror reflection to an evil sorcerer. Directed by Stellan Rye and starring Paul Wegener, The Student of Prague set the stage for other psychological horror films in the German Expressionist movement.

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