Ernst Lubitsch, the German filmmaker who left Berlin for Hollywood in the 1920s, is best remembered today for the famous ''Lubitsch touch'' in such masterpieces as Ninotchka , which featured Greta Garbo's first-ever screen smile, and Heaven Can Wait . Kristin Thompson's study analyzes Lubitsch's earlier silent films of 1918 to 1927 in order to trace the mutual influences between the classical Hollywood film style as it had evolved in the 1910s and the German film industry of the same period, which had emerged from World War I second in strength only to Hollywood. During World War I, American firms supplied theaters around the world as French and Italian films had become scarce. Ironically, the war strengthened German filmmaking due to a ban on imports that lasted until 1921. During that period of isolation, Lubitsch became the finest proponent of German filmmaking and once Hollywood films appeared in Germany again Lubitsch was quick to absorb their stylistic traits as well. He soon became the unique master of both styles as the golden ages of the American and German cinema were beginning. This innovative study utilizes Lubitsch's silent films as a means to compare two great national cinemas at a vital formative period in cinema history.
E-Book Content
FILM CULTURE IN TRANSITION
Herr Lubitsch Goes to Hollywood
German and r e t f a m l i F n a c i r Ame World War I
Kristin Thompson Amsterdam University Press
Herr Lubitsch Goes to Hollywood
Herr Lubitsch Goes to Hollywood German and American Film after World War I Kristin Thompson
Amsterdam University Press
Cover photograph: Ernst Lubitsch at work on his first Hollywood film, Rosita (courtesy the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam Lay-out: japes, Amsterdam
isbn 90 5356 709 7 (hardcover) isbn 90 5356 708 9 (paperback) nur 674
© Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2005 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.
For Paolo
Contents
Acknowledgements
9
Introduction Lubitsch: The Filmmakers’ Filmmaker
11
Lubitsch’s Place in Two National Cinemas
12
The Standard Story: Germany Escapes Hollywood’s Influence
14
Chapter One: Lubitsch’s Career Studying the Conditions of Influence
17
Lubitsch and the German Film Industry
19
Lubitsch’s Reputation in the 1920s
29
Areas of Stylistic Influence
31
Chapter Two: Making the Light Come from the Story: Lighting Different Lighting Equipment
35
Different Conceptions of Lighting
38
Lubitsch and the German Norm
42
Germany’s Discovery of Three-point Lighting
47
Lubitsch Masters Three-point Lighting in Hollywood
50
Three-point Lighting and Expressionism
52
Chapter Three: Subduing the Cluttered Background: Set Design Classical Norms of Set Design
53
Lubitsch and German Set Design
57
Herr Lubitsch Goes to Hollywood
63
Lubitsch’s Work with His Hollywood Art Directors
68
Chapter Four: Guiding the Viewer’s Attention: Editing Lubitsch the Editor
71
Editing in Postwar German Films
74
8
Kristin Thompson
Lubitsch’s Hollywood Films
84
Chapter Five: Peeking at the Players: Acting The Survival of Pa