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Expressionism in the Cinema
Edited by Olaf Brill and Gary D. Rhodes
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Book Presentation:
From classical to contemporary narratives, this book redefines the expressionist aesthetic
One of the most visually striking traditions in cinema, for too long Expressionism has been a neglected critical category of research in film history and aesthetics. The fifteen essays in this anthology remedies this by revisiting key German films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Nosferatu (1922), and also provides original critical research into more obscure titles like Nerven (1919) and The Phantom Carriage (1921), films that were produced in the silent and early sound era in countries ranging from France, Sweden and Hungary, to the United States and Mexico.
An innovative and wide-ranging collection, Expressionism in the Cinema re-canonizes the classical Expressionist aesthetic, extending the critical and historical discussion beyond pre-existing scholarship into comparative and interdisciplinary areas of film research that reach across national boundaries.
Contributors
• Steve Choe, University of Iowa
• Paul Cuff, University of Warwick
• Thomas Elsaesser, University of Amsterdam
• Robert Guffey, California State University-Long Beach
• Graeme Harper, Oakland University (Michigan)
• David J. Hogan, Independent Scholar
• Mirjam Kappes, Independent Scholar
• Bernard McCarron, Independent Scholar
• Daniel Rafaelic, Independent Scholar
• Robert Singer, CUNY Graduate Center
• Philip Sipiora, University of South Florida
• John Soister, Independent Scholar
About the authors:
Olaf Brill is a German-based freelance writer and editor for film institutes, museums and festivals, including the German Film Institute – DIF, Frankfurt, the Filmmuseum Berlin, and CineGraph, Hamburg.
Gary D. Rhodes is Professor of Media, Oklahoma Baptist University. He is the author of Emerald Illusions: The Irish in Early American Cinema (2012), The Perils of Moviegoing in America (2012), and The Birth of the American Horror Film (2018). He is a founding editor of Horror Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Rhodes is also the writer-director of the documentary films Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997) and Banned in Oklahoma (2004).
Press Reviews:
The essays in Brill and Rhodes’ Expressionism in the Cinema not only extend the scholarship on Expressionist films, though that, in itself, would be ample contribution. They also capture the essence—the imagery, the irony, the worldview—that animates these films, and create thoughtful connections to wider social and cultural processes.– Cynthia Miller, Emerson College
‘Whoever reduced Expressionism to German silent cinema so far, will be positively surprised by the multifariously told colourful mixture of international texts.’– 35 millimeter Retro-Filmmagazin
'Expressionism in the Cinema is itself a production of variegated efforts. It is diverse. It is polytechnic. It ranges from the purely Expressionistic production to the margins of Expressionistic influence. It combines fine critical insights with imaginative intellectual linkages. In this manner, the authors do in fact achieve an authoritative appraisal of Expressionist cinema, both within and without Germany.'– Andrew Thomas Croft, Forest Independent Primary Collegiate, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
This wide-ranging collection reworks the canon of Expressionistic cinema—which means it goes beyond the handful of German titles likely familiar to film buffs. The book’s fifteen essays revisit key German films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Nosferatu (1922), and The Hands of Orlac (1924), and also provide new consideration of more obscure titles like Nerven (1919), The Phantom Carriage (1921) and other films produced outside Germany—notably in France, Sweden, Hungary, Austria and elsewhere. For me, the real eye opener is Rhodes’ contribution to the book, "Drakula halála(1921): The Cinema’s First Dracula." Yes, you read that right. There was a "Dracula film" before F. W. Murnau’s classic Nosferatu (1922), and before Tod Browning’s familiar Dracula (1931)…In his fascinating essay, Rhodes argues that Drakula halála beat Nosferatu to the punch. Or should I say, it got the first bite.'– Thomas Gladysz, The Huffington Post
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
> From the same authors:
The Films of Budd Boetticher (2017)
Dir. Gary D. Rhodes and Robert Singer
Subject: Director > Budd Boetticher
No Traveler Returns (2012)
The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi
by Gary D. Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger
Subject: Actor > Bela Lugosi
Stanley Kubrick (2007)
Essays on His Films and Legacy
Dir. Gary D. Rhodes
Subject: Director > Stanley Kubrick
Docufictions (2005)
Essays on the Intersection of Documentary and Fictional Filmmaking
Dir. Gary D. Rhodes and John Parris Springer
Subject: Genre > Documentary
> On a related topic:
Conrad Veidt, Demon of the Silver Screen (2023)
His Life and Works in Context
Subject: Actor > Conrad Veidt
The Use and Abuse of Cinema (2015)
German Legacies from the Weimar Era to the Present
Subject: History of Cinema
The Haunted Screen (2008)
Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of Max Reinhardt
The Gorgon's Gaze (1991)
German Cinema, Expressionism, and the Image of Horror
by Paul Coates, William Rothman and Dudley Andrew
The Sound of Silence (2025)
Ryan Gosling, Expressionism and the Silent Hero in 21st-Century Film
by Nancy Epton
Subject: Actor > Ryan Gosling
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