Filmliste Deutschland 1919-29 incl. FREE STREAMS 

After the First World War, German films experienced a boom. The devaluation of the mark made it possible for German films to be offered unrivaled cheaply abroad; conversely, foreign producers were given an incentive to export to Germany. The period was characterized by the coexistence of large corporations and small distributors. The strongest distributor was UFA, founded in 1917. In 1922, 74 feature-length films were produced in Germany; a number that was otherwise matched only by Hollywood. In the following years, the value of the Deutschmark normalized and the film companies suffered, especially UFA. The Hugenburg Group eventually took a stake in UFA and led it straight into National Socialism. It was confirmed that times of crisis offer more opportunities for artistic development than times of consolidation. Until about 1923, favorable production conditions and the open-mindedness of producers like Erich Pommer allowed artistic experimentation without great risk. After the stabilization of the Mark, more and more representative films that were worth watching prevailed. The artistically ambitious works were produced by small distributors in the second half of the 1920s. During the heyday, it was common to look to Germany to understand the true use of the cinematic medium (Paul Rotha). Even early films show a tendency to depict "inner-soul" predecessors, such as Der Golem. The actor Paul Wegener, a member of the Reinhard Ensemble like Lubitsch or Murnau, transferred fairy-tale motifs of Romanticism to the screen (Der Student von Prag, 1913). In many films, identity splitting became a theme that was treated almost obsessively. The "classic" period, however, began with the appearance of an author: Carl Mayer. He wrote the screenplays for Das Cabinett des Doktor Caligari (1920), Genuine (1920), Hintertreppe (1921) as well as the drafts for Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Der letzte Mann (1924), Tartuffe (1925) or Sunrise (1927). Mayer's expressionist screenplays were already written as precise directorial drafts. He thought in terms of film language and had never written anything but screenplays. Most of the achievements of the camera were due to Mayer. After seeing Battleship Potiemkin, Mayer saw the future in Russian montage techniques, so the idea of Berlin Symphony of a Big City also went back to him. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari was to become a model never achieved. Wegener's Waxworks Cabinet (1924) and Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler are the best-known attempts, but the expressionist forms degenerated into ornamentation, and the naturalistic actors stamped the décor into scenery. The German film's fascination with the superman, however, continued even after Caligari. The most successful films of the time created nightmares of tyranny and terror. None of the films, however, focused on social and political realities; the horror always remained internal. Mayer himself finally initiated the departure from the Caligari style. Films like Hintertreppe, Scherben, Sylvester or Der letzte Mann have the character of chamber plays and are petit-bourgeois dramas. No hope points beyond the narrowly drawn boundaries of place, time and plot. The successor to the Kammerspiele were the "street films" such as Karl Grune's Die Strasse (1923). The street with its neon sign became a negative utopia. The stylistic code of Expressionism allowed even less talented directors to make films. Auteurs in the full sense of the word were only Fritz Lang, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and Ernst Lubitsch. Murnau's The Last Man is considered the consummation of German film classicism, and his Nosferatu was far more influential than Caligari. Fritz Lang took film beyond its models in painting and literature. Tired Death differs from Caligari in that architectural rather than graphic structures dominate. Dr. Mabuse, the gambler also still belongs in the Caligari environment; in Metropolis, after all, the world congealed into ornamentation. Lang was fascinated by chaos, to which he saw no alternative but dictatorship. Murnau, Lang, and most of the directors of the 1920s devoted themselves to the commercialism of "big-budget" films as the decade progressed. Ernst Lubitsch occupied a special position at Babelsberg. He created films with extras, comedy films, and fantastic films. His mockery always hit the rulers, the tyrant as petty bourgeois cuckold. After he left Germany in 1922, Lubitsch found no imitators, and even in Hollywood he remained unique. Georg Wilhelm Pabst became representative for the second half of the 20s. His departure from Expressionism began with Die freudlose Gasse (1925), although his last silent films, such as Die Büchse der Pandora (1929), still featured dark alleys and sloping house walls. On the threshold of talkies, Pabst specialized in mountain films such as The White Hell of Piz Palü (1929). The "Neue Sachlichkeit" expressed itself primarily in "cross-section films" without emotional partisanship. Ruttmann's Berlin, Symphony of a Big City (1927) is the prototype. A thematic counterpart was People on Sunday, a "professional amateur film" by Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmark, Fred Zinnemann and Edgar Ulmer. The few attempts at social criticism were found in films such as Mother Krausen's Ride to Happiness or Kuhle Wampe, but gradually any sense of artistic responsibility dwindled, especially in the productions of UFA...