From Caligari to Hitler

The end of the First World War in 1918 marked the start of the Weimar Republic era in Germany. This documentary essay reveals how this exciting period saw revolutionary developments in the young medium of film. Germany’s cinema blossomed as never before, with brilliant filmmakers such as Fritz Lang, Robert Wiene, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and Walter Ruttmann making innovative films that would exert a huge influence on the history of the art form. (the title is drawn from an essay by film critic Siegfried Kracauer) places these developments directly in the context of a turbulent period in society, with the euphoric highs of the Roaring Twenties and the deep lows of the economic crises preceding the emergence of the Nazis. Using an overwhelming number of clips, the film carries the viewer from one high point to another of early German cinema, with scenes from films such as and , as well as stars including Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings, Louise Brooks and Leni Riefenstahl. The theoretical foundations are laid by the likes of film historian Thomas Elsaesser, while director Volker Schlöndorff points to these early filmmakers as the fathers with whom he could at last identify.