Let's talk about West German cinema, 1946-65

[OldAle1]

Or rather, let's have you, the better-informed readers of this post, tell me what you know, what you feel about this era. Why these dates? 1946 should be obvious (and yes, I know that technically the Federal Republic of Germany didn't come into existence until 1949 - but the country was split in fact if not name after it's defeat in WWII), but why 1965? First it's an even 20 years, which is always nice, and second, 1966 really seems to mark the beginning of the New German Cinema in earnest, with the first features of Alexander Kluge and Volker Schlöndorff both coming in 1966 along with Fassbinder's first shorts, followed in the next few years by the first features of Herzog, Fassbinder, Wenders and other important names. The time of the old guard, those who were adults in and started their careers in the war years or earlier, was rapidly coming to a close, and the cinema rapidly changing.

And it seems to be a lost era for a lot of viewers, myself included. This train of thought was prompted by seeing Helmut Käutner's Schwarzer kies / Black Gravel (1961) the other night, and then listening to about half of the extremely informative commentary track by Olaf Möller. I think at some point I will go back and listen to his whole track carefully, because he does start getting into the condition of the German cinema in this period, as well as commenting particularly on the film at hand. I had known Käutner's name before but it turns out this was actually the first film of his I've seen - I have several others on deck but probably won't get to them soon. And I know the name Wolfgang Staudte, who was according to Möller the second really major director in this period; I have seen his 1946 Die Mörder sind unter uns / Murderers Among Us, clearly an important film for it's very early exploration of Germany's atrocities during the just-ended war, but that's it - I know he has a few others that are considered significant.

Other than that, I've seen a fair bit of mostly low-rent genre stuff; half a dozen of the Winnetou westerns, and all of the late Mabuse films. And of course the three films Fritz Lang made on his return to the country from 1959-61, including the third of his Mabuse films which kickstarted the low-budget (and fairly mediocre) revival. Seems like West Germany's genre production has a lot in common with Italy's during this period - attempts to put out lots of cheap stuff in a short period, all of it dubbed and frequently starring international casts, with Americans in particular if they could be gotten (Lex Barker in the Winnetou films being the obvious standout) so they could play internationally. Westerns (toward the end of this period) and crime films were the two big draws I guess - there are also the enormous number of Edgar Wallace films, none of which I've seen yet. There are certainly other "art" films or more "serious" works sprinkled through this period - Ferdinand Khittl's Die Parallelstrasse / The Parallel Street (1962) has at least become something of a forum favorite and cult item if not a film of general cinephilic fame and fortune. But it still has under 200 checks; the Käutner film that got me started on this idea has only 18 and is on no official lists, and none of the director's other films has hit 300 checks though a few are on 1-4 lists. Contrast that with the more famous films from other European nations at the time and you'll see that West Germany lags awfully far behind.

So does it deserve to? Is West German cinema in it's first two decades really a second-rate, second-tier thing? Are there too few diamonds worth hunting for in the rough? Was the country simply too devastated, both ecomonically and morally, to recover properly in a relatively short time? This last seems unlikely - look at the cinematic rebounds of Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union in the same period. What am I - and apparently many other viewers, at least outside of Germany (and perhaps within - our German contingent will have to help with that) missing?


NOTE - I made this specifically about West Germany because I think in the East the resources of the Soviet Union and other countries in the Warsaw pact made for a different economic climate, as far as film production goes - it seems like many more coproductions that are less wholly "German", to me - and because the films are overall even more obscure. And different. But if somebody wants to discuss the East too, feel free.

[blocho]

I seem to remember that St. Gloede did a deep dive into postwar German cinema a few years ago and wrote his reactions in a dedicated thread.

I don't have much to add myself. I've only seen two or three West German movies from this era.

[OldAle1]

I seem to remember that St. Gloede did a deep dive into postwar German cinema a few years ago and wrote his reactions in a dedicated thread.

I don't have much to add myself. I've only seen two or three West German movies from this era.

You are right. THIS is the thread, from three years ago. He's much more restrictive in his time frame covered, and Gloede isn't really interested much in genre cinema, so it's a bit different than my purpose, but still should be read by anybody interested in the topic I think.

I realize that I didn't mention what I thought of Schwarzer kies. Well, I did end up putting it on my 1961 list and I actually watched it specifically because I thought it might be a worthy pick; I got the BD ("blind buy") a while ago after hearing Eddie Muller enthuse about it on one of his videos and it didn't disappoint, though on one viewing I'm not sure I'd call it a masterpiece. It takes a while to get going and it's rather long for something we'd call noir (115 minutes) and I feel like on a second viewing, with more context, some of the stuff that seemed pointless or overdone in the first half of the film might come into sharper focus. But overall it's a very effective and very downbeat (in the end - one thing I do love about it is that it goes from feeling rather light and almost comedic to extremely pessimistic, gradually, over just a day of time elapsed) story about a truck driver (Helmut Wildt) tryinig to rekindle a romance with an old flame (Ingmar Zeisberg) who is now married to a US officer at a military base that is in the process of being built - but already dominating the poor town it abuts. Robert, the driver, is engaged in some shady business outside of his normal job (this is where the title comes in) - as are most of his acquaintances at the bar/inn he stays in, one of the central locations in the film - and seems at times pretty amoral and unpleasant, but as the film plays out we see that he really does seem to care for Inge, the officer's wife, and that both are locked in a kind of existential trap, not knowing where to go either physically - both talk of leaving Germany - or emotionally. I really love how it all plays out, and how a couple of seemingly minor sequences near the beginning end up having major consequences later on in the film - every careless action seems to bear terrible results, and every German character seems destined to keep making bad decisions, while the Americans seem aloof and condescending - at best. A very bitter film in the end but with an understanding of where that bitterness came from - none of this is ultimately surprising.

It's a bit late for me to promote it for 500<400 (it will be on my list) but certainly anybody interested in this period, or in the byways of noir, should look into it.

[Knaldskalle]

I think a fair amount of the German "krimis" are worth exploring (the "Edgar Wallace" movies you mentioned). Some of them are cringey, but some have genuine comical moments. They're generally low budget and some of the plots are kinda silly, but I still like them. Later krimis started bleeding into the Italian gialli, with which they shared some DNA (murder, most obviously, but also things like amateur detectives).

Other than krimis, German cinema of that era made a lot of heimatfilme, sappy pablum intended to take people minds away from the short life span of the Thousand-Year Empire. The few I've seen were not really worth watching.

Anything with the actor Heinz Rühmann is worth watching. He did some amazing stuff during that time, The Good Soldier Schweik, It Happened in Broad Daylight, The Captain from Köpenick. He would often be comedic, but did serious drama just as well. He's one of those prolific actors who could do just about anything.

Oh, and the Sissi movies, of course, a series of costume films with Romy Schneider as the reluctant Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary. Worth watching for Romy Schneider.

Eh, that was a bit scattered, but those are my immediate thoughts of that era of German cinema, not that I'm an expert, but I did grow up with access to German television.

[matthewscott8]

I ended up in a similar place to you, the amazing Die Parallelstraße, which I claim the fame of popularizing (Gloede had to go back through all the archives to verify this hehe), and a Käutner film get me to most of my understanding of the period. I add in Fritz Lang's Indian Epic. The Käutner film Monpti might appeal to you if you've not seen it, it has some of that colour and darkness we spoke about that musicals often have, even if it is not in fact a musical.

Die Parallelstraße / The Parallel Street (1962 - Ferdinand Khittl)
Monpti (1957 - Helmut Käutner)
Der Tiger von Eschnapur / The Tiger of Eschnapur & Das indische Grabmal / The Indian Tomb (1959 - Fritz Lang)

Tiefland was released post-War, but is inarguably "of" the war period, and I wouldn't want to be pedantic and treat it as a post-war film just because of when it was released.

[matthewscott8]

I seem to remember that St. Gloede did a deep dive into postwar German cinema a few years ago and wrote his reactions in a dedicated thread.

I don't have much to add myself. I've only seen two or three West German movies from this era.

You are right. THIS is the thread, from three years ago. He's much more restrictive in his time frame covered, and Gloede isn't really interested much in genre cinema, so it's a bit different than my purpose, but still should be read by anybody interested in the topic I think.

Also Chris' is not restricted to West Germany, the Cold Heart for example is a DEFA film.

[Ivan0716]

I came across this list a few years ago and it immediately piqued my interest: https://letterboxd.com/chiaroscuro_/list/brd-noir/

Availability was an issue (most of them had ~30 views on letterboxd), but I did like the 7 that I did manage to hunt down, Many Passed By and Nights on the Road stood out especially. Maybe a good time to see any of them popped up online since then.

[St. Gloede]

Thank you for the shout outs for my post-war thread, that was a very rich period for German cinema in my opinion and great to see a broader discussion of the continued legacy and film industry in West Germany.

I will start by saying that I think that there was a fundamental issue across West and East Germany, that did not follow WW2, but proceeded it and if anything was in decent recovery in the postwar years.

If we look at the Weimar era, Germany was on fire (in the good sense). It has a genuine case of being the key cinematic country in the 10s and 20s, and its early talkie output up until 1933 was also amongst the best in the world.

However, with the rise of Nazism, a large portion of the older guard as well as upcoming talent decided to leave. Murnau had already left long before, Lang hurried out in '33, and a collection of others followed, many of which ended up working in Hollywood and forging international names for themselves.

This left Nazi Germany in an artistic crisis, without many master directors to lean on, a situation that continued into the post-war era, where the main directors were either those who had come to prominence in Nazi Germany, or brand new names, the exception being a few exiled directors, such as Lang and Siodmak, returning with memorable efforts.

When we talk about early West German cinema, the main name that gets brought up is Käutner, and excluding the overtly pro-nazi Harlan and Riefenstahl, he is also the key name associated with quality Nazi era cinema. Pabst, of course, stayed on, but as a shadow of his own self in the post-Weimar eras. Another player, who was at his best pre-Nazism but stayed throughout and after was the Austrian, Willi Forst, who did make some relevant West German films, most notably, The Sinner.

What I will say is that for one reason or another, all the new talent that bursted out after WW2 was not nourished in West Germany. Which is a shame, as the creativity that came out of the pain showcased so many strong talents. It is however also possible that many great films just have not been released for non-German audiences yet and have been forgotten, overshadowed by Weimar and New German Cinema.

You are very much right that they went in a similar direction as Italy and Spain, co-producing a lot of films together and of course becoming notorious for their low budget crime films, which I believe we're shown in dubbed versions across Europe. The industry was not doing poorly, but they did not have the standout directors the other countries mentioned had.

While Helmut Käutner was a great director, and honestly, made most of the best West German films from this era, he will never hold a position remotely similar to the Italian masters of the same decades. Still, he seems to have enjoyed great creative freedom, just look at his visually and structurally playful mystery Epilog (1951) for instance, or the fact that he managed to make a harrowing tale of the Nazi era and the aftermath through the eyes of a talking car, just incredible.

The big hope for East Germany, Wolfgang Staudte, who had started making films in Nazi Germany, and cemented himself in the postwar period with films like The Murderers Are Among Us, Rotation and The Kaiser's Lackey (banned for 6 years in West Germany), ended up jumping ship, and I have seen some of his West German films. Sadly, they are not that impressive, though perfectly solid.

In my view there was an immediate postwar boom, which I talk a bit more about in the thread above, followed by a relative lull in more powerful, high concept or creative cinema until the 60s.

The only West German film I have as a favourite from the 1950s is Die Brücke / The Bridge (1959, Bernhard Wicki), and outside of Käutner and Lang the only other film id cite as genuinely great would be Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam / The Devil Strikes at Night (1957, Robert Siodmak). The mid-50s seem almost desolate. There's some cool low-budget craziness like Nicht mehr fliehen (1955), but in general the good or memorable 50s films are from the very beginning or end of the decade. There could be a treasure trove of unreleased and underexplored films here though.

In the 60s things started to change, with The Parallel Street being the obvious early masterpiece, but we started to get some of that freewheelin' creative new wave feeling before it properly arrived, including from more sleazy or commercial films like Moral 63 or Die Tote von Beverly Hills. While I don't love him and even earlier example is Will Tremper, and then soon, the rest was history.

East Germany has an even more underrated output over the 50s period IMO, but while West Germany was relying on Käutner, they were relying on Konrad Wolf, though they also had Wolfgang Staudte as a standout at the beginning of the decade, as well as Gerhard Klein and Frank Beyer coming in with a lot of spirit and promise.

With more films becoming available I think it is very possible we'll discover a lot of hidden gems from this period as well, but this will take time.

For reference, these are the Käutner films I consider to be great from the 1950s:

Epilog: Das Geheimnis der Orplid / Epilogue (1950, Helmut Kautner)
Himmel ohne Sterne / Sky Without Stars (1955, Helmut Käutner)
Des Teufels General / The Devil's General (1955, Helmut Käutner)

[OldAle1]

Thanks for all the replies guys - I think Gloede really gets at what happened, and why this period was so fallow, in particular compared to the postwar outputs of other major countries that had suffered terribly during the war, notably France, Italy and Japan. I thought of it myself after posting this thread and it seems obvious now - the number of great talents from the country that left, either during the Nazi period or earlier, simply couldn't be easily replaced. There are probably also reasons why the West German government in particular didn't necessarily support filmmaking the way some other national cinemas were supported - the bad smell of propaganda left an aroma that took a long time to dissipate, and there were other areas in society that maybe needed help more.

Anyway, good food for thought and a few more films added to my to-see list for sure.

[St. Gloede]

If of interest, this is my top 9 films from East Germany made from 1952-1965, all great, though none stood out as well as The Bridge or The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse. Chronological order:

Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck / The Story of Little Mook (1953, Wolfgang Staudte) - Wonderful fairytale in color
Lissy (1957, Konrad Wolf)
Sterne (1959, Konrad Wolf) - Probably the best
Der Fall Gleiwitz / The Gleiwitz Case (1961, Gerhard Klein)
Karbid und Sauerampfer / Carbide and Sorrel (1963, Frank Beyer)
Nackt unter Wölfen / Naked Among Wolves (1963, Frank Beyer)
Karla (1965, Herrmann Zschoche)
Berlin um die Ecke / Berlin Around the Corner (1965, Gerhard Klein)
Solange Leben in mir ist / As Long as There is Life in Me (1965, Günter Reisch)

4 more very good films from the period:

Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser / Berlin-Schönhauser Corner (1957, Gerhard Klein)
Das singende, klingende Bäumchen / The Singing Ringing Tree (1957, Francesco Stefani)
Der geteilte Himmel / The Divided Heaven (1964, Konrad Wolf)
Das Kaninchen bin ich / The Rabbit is Me (1965, Kurt Maetzig)

[Knaldskalle]

I thought Spur der Steine (1966) was pretty damn good.

[St. Gloede]

I thought Spur der Steine (1966) was pretty damn good.

Excellent film indeed, and very well-respected as a classic from what I understand. I'd rank it above the two older Beyers I listed above.

For the 60s I'd also recommend Wolf's I Was Nineteen (1968), a very strong WW2 film as well as Jürgen Böttcher's Jahrgang 45, which was made in the 60s but not released until 1990.