These pages gather films that can be paired with selected chapters and texts from the book. The material is intended to help bring the readings to life. Users looking for better-quality copies of the films below can consult the following lists of German films on DVD:
- Anton Kaes, Michael Cowan, Nicolas Baer, “Weimar Cinema on DVD”
- Katharina Loew, “DVD Editions of Weimar Cinema”
- “German Films of the Silent Era on Home Video”
1885 - 1918
1895
Wintergartenprogramm
Max Skladanowsky (4 min.)
See chapter 18, “Technology and the Future of the Past”
Arndt, “Sports on Film,” text no 11
Serner, “Cinema and Visual Pleasure,” text no. 15
Skladanowsky, “Prehistory of the Bioskop,” text no. 263
Kracauer, “On the Border of Yesterday,” text no. 278
1902
A Trip to the Moon
George Méliès
See chapter 2, the World in Motion
chapter 3, The Time Machine
1903
Akt-Skulpturen / Nude Sculptures
Messters Projektion GmbH (4 mins)
See Osborn, The Nude Body on Film, text no. 53
Kurt Tucholsky, Erotic Films, text no. 71
Spier, The Sexual Danger of the Cinema, text no. 96
1907-1912
Lithographic Loops (animation films for children)
1908
Rauschlied from Künstlerblut (Alexander Girardi)
Messter Tonbild (3 min.)
See Hood, “Illusion in the Cinematographic Theater,” text no. 62
Anonymous, “How Singing Pictures (Sound Pictures) Are Made” (1908), text no. 247
Kracauer, “On the Border of Yesterday,” text no. 278
1910
Afgrunden
Urban Gad, starring Asta Nielsen (37 min.)
See chapter 4, The Magic of the Body
Balazs, Productive and Reproductive Film Art, text no. 227
1912
Bandits en automobile / Bandits in Cars
Victorin Jasset (29 min.)
See Kienzl, Theater and Cinematograph, text no. 9
Forch, Thrills in the Film Drama and Elsewhere, text no. 12
Hasenclever, The Kintopp as Educator: An Apology, text no. 14
Turszinski, Film Dramas and Film Mimes, text no. 47
Pfemfert, Cinema as Educator, text. no. 92
Hellwig, Trash Films, text no. 93
Gaupp, The Dangers of the Cinema, 94
Mierendorff, If I Only Had the Cinema!, 193
1912
Mathematische Trickfilms
Ludwig Münch (1 min.)
See Bäumer, Cinematography and Epistemology, text no. 33
Birnbaum, The Cultural Mission of the Cinematograph, text. no. 235
Dreyer, The Trick Film, text no. 244
Diebold, The Future of Mickey Mouse, text no. 277
1912
In Nacht und Eis / In Night and Ice
Mime Misu (30 min.)
part 1
part 2
part 3
See Forch, Thrills in the Film Drama and Elsewhere, text no. 12
Serner, Cinema and Visual Pleasure, text no. 15
Chapter 7
1912
Max Juggles for Love
Max Linder (7 min. with English subtitles; Linder influenced Chaplin)
See chapter 6, An Art for the Times
Undated
Slapstick comedies of the 1910s from the Huntley Film Archive
See Turszinski, Film Dramas and Film Mimes, text no. 47
Musil, Impressions of a Naïf, text no. 145
Jünger, The Worker, text no. 188
Mierendorff, If I Only Had the Cinema!, text no. 193
1913
Der Andere/The Other
Max Mack (49 min., German only)
See chapter 6, “An Art for the Times”
Rauscher, “The Cinema Ballad,” text no 80
Anonymous, “The Student of Prague,” text 82
Mierendorff, “If I Only Had the Cinema,” text no. 193
Kracauer, “On the Border of Yesterday,” text no. 278
1913
Kaiser Wilhelm at the Wedding of Princess Victoria Luise
Documentary in Color (2 min.)
Spring Parade for the German Kaiser in Potsdam 1910
See chapter 8, War Images
chapter 18, The Future of the Past
Klebinder, The German Kaiser in Film, text no. 108
1913
Der Student von Prag / The Student from Prague
Stellan Rye and Paul Wegener (81 min.. with English titles)
See chapter 6, “An Art for the Times”
1914
Messter Woche Newsreels
1916
The Rink
Charlie Chaplin (24 min.)
See chapter 12, Chiffres of Modernity
Kracauer, Chaplin in Old Films, text no. 183
1917
Unser Hindenburg / Our Hindenburg
Bild- und Filmamt (BuFA, 6 min.)
See chapter 8, Image Wars