1. “An original artist is unable to copy
“An original artist is unable to copy. So, he has to copy in order to be original.” – Jean Cocteau- Director

2. International Cinema Through WW 2 1930s - 1945
Sound motion pictures now dominated Europe and much of the world
World War II forced filmmakers to make painful choices
Thea Von Harbou
Fritz Lang
Show Boxing Cats and Experimental Sound film

3. France
Many of the French Filmmakers during the 1930’s – 1940s were considered to be very adventurous
Jean Renoir – Grand Illusion – anti-war film
Jean Cocteau – Orphic Trilogy
Blood of A Poet
Beauty and The Beast
Orpheus
Jean Cocteau

4. England
National cinema was hampered by trying to produce too many films to fill the quota because of the Protectionist Cinematographic Film Act of 1927
The other primary film business force during this time for England was J. Arthur Rank
Bought production facilities, production labs, theater chains, and distribution exchanges – Rank Organisation – Odd Man Out
Documentary films boomed for England – Night Mail
Rank

5. Post – World War I - Germany
After WW I, Germany was in economic ruin and experienced “National” stress
Adolf Hitler was chancellor of Germany in 1933, then elected leader (the Fürher) in 1934
The movement to sound was used by the Nazis (Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s Party) in a negative way
Adolf Hitler
Citizen Kane (1941)
Triumph of the Will (1934)

6. Germany
Propaganda films – films which try to promote OR disregard certain points of view, attitudes, beliefs toward a specific cause, politics, or position.
Joseph Goebbels created Reichsfilmkammer (Reich Film Chamber) in 1933; made himself the sole authority on what could and could NOT be shown on the screen.
Reich Cinema Law – No Jewish person could work in the film industry
Goebbels imported Hollywood “B” movies, but wanted to re-invigorate German cinema
Fritz Hippler’s The Eternal Jew –
Kurt Gerron’s Theresienstadt
Joseph Goebbels
Fritz Hippler

7. Leni Riefenstahl The foremost filmmaker for the Third Reich
The Triumph of The Will
1:33:00 mark
Olympia (released (1938))–
Documentary about the Olympics
00:38:30 mark
00:40:40 mark

8. Anti-Nazi Propaganda
Many filmmakers, commissioned by their governments, made anti-Nazi propaganda films including Walt Disney
The Lambeth Walk – Charles A. Ridley (UK)
Disney’s - Hitler’s Children
Frank Capra’s Why We Fight
Charlie Chaplin – The Great Dictator final speech (1940)
Walt Disney

9. Facist Italy
Benito Mussolini created The Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografice (ENIC) in 1934
Melodramatic films were very popular (soap operas)
Telefoni Bianchi films – Positive looks at family and Italian society – Guido Brignone example
Roberto Rossellini’s Roma, Citta Aperta (Open City) – ushered in the Golden age of Italian Neorealism
Benito Mussolini
Roberto Rosselini

10. Controversy – Rome, Open City
Rome, Open City tells the story of German occupied Rome and the Italian Resistance fighters trying to hide from the government
Rod E. Geiger, a U.S. Army private stationed in Rome, met Rossellini
Geiger had worked for an American distributor which helped to facilitate distribution and exhibition for foreign films
Federico Fellini recounts a different story – claims Geiger was a fraud

11. Japanese Films During WW II
Developed mostly war films
Yasujiro Ozu –
There was a Father
Japan invaded China –
The Chinese film industry became a tool of the Japanese propaganda films

12. The End of World War II
WW II ends on May 8, 1945 (Germany surrenders) – September 2, 1945 (Japan surrenders)

13. Back in America Post-War
Movies had changed because the country had changed
People questioned the “Dream Factory” of Hollywood
Hollywood developed the “Problem film” – tackling social issues like alcoholism, racism, and mental illness
Audiences saw the world AND the film industry in a new light