FILM AND THE GERMAN LEFT IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLI

Since the end of World War II many film historians have analyzed the film production of the Weimar Republic in an attempt to learn from the past. They have promoted three general approaches to the study of Weimar film history: (1) The authors of popular Weimar film histories have concentrated almost exclusively on commercial cinema to determine what has led historians to describe the Weimar era as Germany's Golden Age of cinema or to learn more about the rise of National Socialism. (2) Most film historians of the GDR, whose perceived task it has been to appropriate critically from their cultural heritage what may be of use in building a socialist society, have rejected much of what the commercial film industry produced as conservative or reactionary. For them the film production of the German left in the Weimar Republic provides a model for film production. (3) Some younger film historians in the FRG have concentrated almost exclusively on the German left's film activity in the Weimar Republic to gain insights for the development of an ideologically progressive alternative to the dominant "culture industry.".;Many possibilities remain for continuing, expanding, and further differentiating the search for information about the relationship between cinema and social development in the Weimar Republic. "Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic" contributes to the process. By reviewing the development of the cinematic institution in Germany between 1918 and 1933, it attempts to pinpoint the forces that determined commercial cinema's quality, outline the relationship between commercial film production and reception, consider the influence of the relationship on social structures for generating ideological standpoints as well as on ideological content, and provide a context for the primary topic of investigation. The study concentrates on the efforts of various groups within the German left to compete ideologically with the commercial cinematic institution by interacting with it commercially and establishing non-commercial alternatives. While presenting information and positing viewpoints, the study will encourage further discussion about the relationship between cinema and social development in the Weimar Republic.