Kester Bernadette. Film Front Weimar. Representations of the First World War in German Films from the Weimar Period (1919-1933)

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2003. — 332 p. — ISBN 90-5356-598-1, ISBN 90-5356-597-3.This first book-length study shows how Germany tried to reconcile the horrendous experiences of the First World War through the films made in 1919-1933. Drawing on the analysis of twenty-five such films, and covering a wide range of documentaries as well as feature films on the reasons for the outbreak of the war, life at the front,war at sea and the home front, the author sketches out the historical and cultural context, including reviews and censors' reports, in which these films were made and viewed.Preface and Acknowledgements.
Introduction.
The aftermath of the First World War.
The War Experience.
Research into war films: film historians.
Siegfried Kracauer.
Cultural historians: Eksteins, Winter and Mosse.
Carrying out the research.
Press sources.‘Lehrreich und amüsant’ – Historical films in the period 1896 — 1933.
German film industry during the First World War.
Bufa and Ufa.
Screening the war.
Film in the Weimar Republic.
Censorship.
The military in film.
From relative stability to crisis.
‘Die Legende von der Unschuld’ — Films about the run-up to the war, especially 1914. Die letzten Tage vor dem Weltbrand.
The Weimar Republic and the Kriegsschulddebatte.1914. Die letzten Tage vor dem Weltbrand.
‘Zensur – der böse Engel’.
Emil Ludwig and the Kriegsschuldfrage.
Der Doppelmord von Sarajewo.
Brandstifter Europas.
Critical reception of 1914.
Political context.
‘Das Dokumentarische gewinnt die Oberhand’ — Archival footage and constructions in war films.
Der Weltkrieg, an official outlook on the war.
The beginning of the war.
The battles of Liège, Tannenberg and the Marne River.
The battle of Ypres, the myth of Langemarck.
The battles at Verdun and the Somme.
Fort Douaumont at Verdun.
The battle at the Somme.
Somme and Douaumont, monuments for the unknown soldier.
Tannenberg.
Tannenberg without Von Hindenburg.
History and tragedy.
‘Wenn wir Helden wären, wären wir schon längst daheim’ — Realism and anti-war tendencies in four films.
Literary context: war literature.
Namenlose Helden.
Westfront 1918.
The war scene.
Cinematography.
Die andere Seite.
Niemandsland.
National identities.
The reviews.
Comradeship, heroism and nationality.
‘Auf dem Meere, da ist der Mann noch etwas wert’ — Films about the German navy during the First World War.
The surface ships.
Unsere Emden and Kreuzer Emden.
Criticism, mythologisation and intertextuality.
Scapa Flow and the navy rebellion.
The U-boat films.
Die versunkene Flotte and U9 Weddigen.
Critical reviews.
Drei Tage auf Leben und Tod.
Morgenrot.
The press.
‘Neid, Leid, Tränen – das ist der Krieg’ — Gender and war films.
Das deutsche Mutterherz and Deutsche Frauen — Deutsche Treue.
Motherhood and fatherland.
Suffering and love in other war films.
Companionship and betrayal: Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden.
Husbands coming back home: Feldgrau and Heimkeh.
Epilogue.
The various narrative.
Myths.
Critical assessment.
Complex representations.
Notes.
Credits Weimar War Films.
Archives and Libraries.

Index of subject.