When there is a critical appraisal of German cinema, it inevitably focuses on the Weimar period, with its Expressionism and Cabinets of Caligari and Metropolises, then the Nazi period films of Leni Riefenstahl and others, and finally the New German Cinema films of Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders, and others and all their socially aware artsy films that often could barely draw an audience and were subsidized by the TV industry. Lost in this narrative is the German popular cinema of the 60's - the last truly popular movies made for mass entertainment before everyone stayed home watching television. The Wikipedia article on German Cinema just calls this era "cinema in crisis". What nonsense.
This was a cinema hardly in crisis. It was a boom time of genre films that appealed to large audiences, not only in Germany but throughout Europe. It was the era of European coproductions, and stars that rose through these popular works were soon coveted by movie producers across the continent as a way to earn some money through the German market. It's why Klaus Kinski appears in so many Italian westerns, Gert Frobe became Goldfinger, Joachim Fuchsberger and Heinz Drache appeared in Fu Manchu. The Edgar Wallace series of Krimi led to the Italian Giallo. The Karl May series of Westerns led to A Fistful of Dollars and the Spaghetti Westerns. This period of film is almost entirely neglected by critics, which means that this is where all the good stuff is. Of course, it couldn't last. As more and more people bought televisions, movies turned to the one thing they couldn't still see at home - nudity. But even that was short lived, as the rise of hardcore cinema chipped away at that market from the other side, leading to the collapse of German popular cinema and the rise of cinema as a niche interest, pretty much where it has lived ever since.
Posts
