Movielogr
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood (2009)
Directed by Karen Thomas
Most recently watched by sleestakk
Overview
Eight hundred German filmmakers (cast and crew) fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The film uses voice-overs, archival footage, and film clips to examine Berlin’s vital filmmaking in the 1920s; then it follows a producer, directors, composers, editors, writers, and actors to Hollywood: some succeeded and many found no work. Among those profiled are Erich Pommer, Joseph May, Ernst Lubitsch, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, and Peter Lorre. Once in Hollywood, these exiles helped each other, housed new arrivals, and raised money so others could escape. Some worked on anti-Nazi films, like Casablanca. The themes and lighting of German Expressionism gave rise in Hollywood to film noir.
Length 117 minutes
Actors
Fritz Lang | Peter Lorre | Marlene Dietrich | Elsa Lanchester | Billy Wilder | Fred Zinnemann | Rudi Fehr | Sigourney Weaver | Peter Viertel | Hedy Lamarr | Lupita Tovar