Weimar Cinema and After: Germany's Historical Imaginary

Professor Thomas Elsaesser's text approaches the topic of Weimar cinema from a new and fresh angle. After checking the book out from the university library only to have it recalled every time after only a week, I decided to buy it. I'm so glad I did. Although I need to transcribe the notes from the public copy onto cards, it's a relief to own a seminal piece on Weimar cinema, the area in which I'm writing my doctoral dissertation. Elsaesser's approach is innovative and allows for interpretations that were limited by the previous two giants of the field: Eisner and Kracauer. Thank goodness for the coming of (both Kaes and) Elsaesser. Great text for anyone seriously researching Weimar cinema.

Oh, Thomas Elsaesser.Okay, so the first thing I noticed about how this is written: This guy loves insanely long sentences. He uses the rhetoric a lot, one of his introductory paragraphs consisting of maybe 30 'questions' that one might ask about Weimar Cinema. How annoying. Yes, we are wondering these things, that's why we got the book! However, if you get past all the rhetoric mumbo-jumbo and look at the facts, it is actually a fairly well researched and presented book about expressionist cinema.I do think that this book, unlike "Caligari to Hitler" and "The Haunted Screen" is better organized. But this is probably because he wrote this book after the prior and often references them in this book. I'm not so sure I want to say he 'regurgitates' all that information to pass off as his own, but like any research, you will find lots of repetition of facts. It doesn't qualify as a summary of both "Caligari" and "Haunted" as both of those books have their own specific thesis' and are both biased for the author. You'll find that in any book, but of the three I think that "Haunted" seems to be the most objective."Weimar Cinema and After" really seems to pick and choose really specific topics and films to discuss, so there doesn't seem to be as much of a range over the entire period as "Haunted" presents. What I do like, though, is that some of his choices are good ones and he does go incredibly in depth when he covers these topics. For example, covering UFA, the film production company in Germany. He spends a lot of time researching and talking about it, where its facts seems to be scattered all about history books otherwise. He talks about G.W. Pabst and goes in depth to talk about "Pandora's Box", which is a terrific film. The counter balance of all this is that he'll talk about something totally random that doesn't seem to be historically one of the significant films, movements, or directors within expressionism.Another bummer is that his long drawn out sentences are not accompanied by images. In the entire 450+ page book there are only 36 images to enjoy. I always feel that when talking about film, and especially when making references to specific visual elements, it must be accompanied by images. Must.So there you have it. If you're really keen about Weimar Cinema, then this would probably be a good addition to your collection but if you want a good starting point, I'd opt for "Haunted Screen" first. Probably the least biased of all I have read thus far.

If From Caligari to Hitler and The Haunted Screen represent the first two landmark works in the area that have had lasting influence, Elsaesser’s Weimar Cinema and After has become the third. Having taught and written about German Expressionism and its influences for many years, I would say that Elsaesser's work is indispensable. Anyone interested in this subject area must read Elsaesser, as assuredly as we "must become Caligari!"

This review is of the presentation of the print-on-demand 2008 reprint, not the book itself.The quality of the printing of the pictures is appalling, and raises the hackles on my back every time I look at them. Also, certain text pages are under-inked, and whilst not illegible, are unpleasant to read.A great disappointment - it'll be a while before I can bring myself to actually read it from cover to cover.