From Caligari to Hitler

With this point taken into account, this book does offer an imcomparable survey of early German film, its symbolism, and also, the early careers of such actors as Peter Lorre and Marlene Dietrich.

This book is a very entertaining study of these films, and a must for any student of modern Germany, or early film. It does perhaps reflect generally on the modern German society, and WWII in particular.

A brilliant look at early German Film
Here it is: probably the most insightful, psychologically brilliant and well researched study of the great early German films (1910-1940) ever written. The author's thesis is this: popular films are popular because they are the dreams shared by a people at any given time. If we study films as if they were keys to the subconscious of the audience, we gain tremendous insight into the culture and mass psychology of the time. The author builds a very convincing case for his thesis that the whole build up to Hitler can be found in the fims that preceded him. I am convinced. This book is also an excellent history of German film as the author is a very good film scholar. Now, if only we had someone around who could interpret the current films of the USA so that we could find out what the future holds in store for us! I loved this book. It was stimulating and I had seen most of the films that he writes about. One advantage todays readers have is that many of these films are no! w out on video.