Sirens & Sinners: A Visual History of Weimar Film 1918-1933

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Between the first and second World Wars, Germany under the Weimar Republic became the scene for one of the most creative periods in film history. Through the silent era to the early years of sound, the visual flair and technical innovation of its filmmakers set an international standard for the powerful possibilities of cinema as an art form, with movies such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Nosferatu, Metropolis, Pandoras Box and M building a legacy that not only shaped the world of film but had a lasting impact on all the visual arts. Here is a lavish showcase of more than 70 films, selected to give a wideranging overview of Weimar cinema at its finest. Every genre is represented, from escapist comedies and musicals to gritty depictions of contemporary city life, from historical dramas to fantastical visions of the future, with daring themes such as sexuality and social issues tackled by iconic stars such as Marlene Dietrich and Louise Brooks. A wealth of beautiful film stills capture the bold visions of great directors like Fritz Lang and Ernst Lubitsch, while the text sets the historical scene and gives an intriguing insight into what these films meant to the society that created them.

Reviews

'Of the 443 illustrations in the book, 335 in are rendered in a striking duotone, which lends the images a silvery finish and a rare sharpness the overall effect is like looking through time travel at a dream book drawn from an era as fraught with uncertainty as our own' - Sight and Sound
'The still photographs are like snapshots from a collective unconscious' - Wall Street Journal
'A masterpiece a superb book, filled with informative detail but more importantly showing a gallery of the film stars who delighted their audiences in the pre-Nazi days a perfect guide to the Weimar film oeuvre' - Western Mail

Author Bio

Hans Helmut Prinzler is a former director of the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin, and has written widely on German cinema.