Germany

Germany

Before World War I,
1) the cinema was largely an international affair.
2) Technical and artistic discoveries made in one country were quickly seen and assimilated
    elsewhere.

The war,
1) however, disrupted the flow of films across borders.
2) Some national industries benefited from this disruption.
3) A few countries were partially or wholly cut off from imports,
    yet the demand for films remained.
4) Hence domestic production rose in such countries,
     especially
     a)Sweden,
     b)Russia, and
     c) Germany.
5) Other countries, such as France, Denmark, and Italy, suffered a decline from prewar levels but
   managed to continue and improve on prewar traditions.

Tough time in Russia.
1)In many cases, stylistic influences could not circulate so freely across borders.
2)For example, the singular filmmaking practice that developed in Russia during the war had
   virtually no impact abroad and remained almost entirely unknown elsewhere for over seventy
    years.
3) Its films were not widely exported, and
4) imports dominated its domestic market.

Cinema - Immoral in Germany
1)The cinema also had a low reputation in Germany.
2)During the early 1910s, reformers and censors attacked film as immoral.

Brief Competition from other forms of entertainment Post 1912
1) Competition from films had caused theater attendance to decline.
2) In May 1912,
3) organizations of playwrights, directors, and actors went so far as to boycott this low form
    of entertainment.
4) By late 1912, however, the boycott was broken,
   as film producers competed to sign those same playwrights, directors, and actors to
   exclusive contracts.
5)Similarly, film firms sought to adapt prestigious literary works and to have established authors
   write original screenplays.

During 1913 - Autoreflim - "authors' film"
1) there arose the Autorenfilm, or “authors’ film.”
2)The term author did not mean then what auteur means today—the director of the film.
3) Rather, the Autorenfilm was publicized largely on the basis of a famous writer responsible
   for the script or the original literary work from which the film was adapted.
4)The director of the film was seldom mentioned. 

The Autorenfilm was, in effect,
1) Germany’s equivalent of the Film d’Art in France and other attempts at creating an artistic
    cinema.
2) Similarly, stage stars were hired and featured prominently in the publicity for such films.
3) A few leading theatrical directors, most notably Max Reinhardt, worked briefly in the
    cinema,

The most successful and famous Autorenfilm was The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye, 1913).
1) It was based on an original screenplay by the popular writer Hanns Heinz Ewers and
    marked the entry of theater star Paul Wegener into the cinema.
2)For decades, Wegener was to remain a major force in German filmmaking. 

The Student of Prague (1913)
Film Trailer

1) is a Faust-like story of a student who gives his mirror image to a demonic character in exchange     for wealth.

2)The image dogs the hero and finally provokes a fatal duel.
3)Aided by the great cameraman Guido Seeber, Rye and
4)Wegener used special effects to create scenes of the student and his double confronting each
   other.
5)The fantasy elements of this film would become a prominent trait of German cinema,
    culminating in the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s.

In following scene, exposure of separate portions of the same shot during filming allowed two characters, both played by Paul Wegener, to confront each other.

The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye, 1913)
Film Trailer

Blue film - intertitles - no movement of camera. 
special effect - the alternate actor vanishes. 
Intertitle :
1) Who are you?

Intertitle following disappearance:

I am not God nor demon, and you called me by my name. When you called me your brother.