Continental Strangers: German Exile Cinema, 1933-1951

Film and Culture Series

by Gerd Gemünden

Hundreds of German-speaking film professionals took refuge in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s, making a lasting contribution to American cinema. Hailing from Austria, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and the Ukraine, as well as Germany, and including Ernst Lubitsch, Fred Zinnemann, Billy Wilder, and Fritz Lang, these multicultural, multilingual writers and directors betrayed distinct cultural sensibilities in their art. Gerd Gemünden focuses on Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat (1934), William Dieterle's The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942), Bertolt Brecht and Fritz Lang's Hangmen Also Die (1943), Fred Zinnemann's Act of Violence (1948), and Peter Lorre's Der Verlorene (1951), engaging with issues of realism, auteurism, and genre while tracing the relationship between film and history, Hollywood politics and censorship, and exile and (re)migration.

Genres: Film

276 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2014

Reviews

[Michael Samerdyke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to give Gerd Gemunden credit. He brought a new approach to the topic of German emigre directors in Hollywood and had something interesting to say.

He approached the topic through close readings of 6 films that (apart from "To Be Or Not To Be") haven't been analyzed to death. Indeed, Gemunden is the first critic I've seen who approaches "The Black Cat" from an angle that looks at its politics and what is says about interwar Europe. His approach to "Hangmen Also Die" avoids the standard "What did Brecht write?" approach of all other writers on that film take. He made me want to see "Act of Violence" and give "Der Verlorene" another try (although his view of that film's flaw lines up with mine pretty closely.)

I'm glad I read this one.

[Anne Knowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and academic look at some of the films made by German/German-speaking exiles in Hollywood before and during WWII. Provides context and history but focuses on several category of films, including anti-Nazi and noirs, and specific films in those categories, including Fritz Lang's Hangman Also Die and Fred Zinnemann's Act of Violence. I found the final chapter, focused on Peter Lorre's sole directing effort, Der Verlorene, the most interesting. Also, a quick review at the very end of several filmmakers that returned or tried to return to Europe. If you're reading, Mr. Gemünden, I'd read another book on what happened to the exiles after the war.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reviewed this book for the current issue of Noir City, the quarterly "e-zine" of the Film Noir Foundation. Said publication is a feast for the eyes and packed with detailed, entertaining, and enlightening film history. Subscriptions can be had at noircity.com