Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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point, ignoring the larger body of production that did not fit his thesis, The Haunted
Screen remains one of the most thorough investigations of German film from 1913 to
the 1930s published to date. One influential idea formulated by Eisner was her
suggestion that the most notable characteristic of German Expressionist film was the
creation of Stimmung (mood or atmosphere). The stylistic features of Expressionist
film, such as chiaroscuro lighting, the use of shadows and mirrors, and the distorted
mise-en-scène, all worked together to create Stimmung, which in most Expressionist
films consisted of an atmosphere of unease. I see this as a useful concept in the
discussion of later Expressionist works, because rather than focussing purely on stylistic
characteristics, it defines Expressionism more broadly as stemming from a world-view
in which humans are at odds with nature, and in which the indefinable and the unknown
are always ready to break through and upset the precarious balance of the known world.
At the British Film Institute library in London, I was able to access some articles written
in French including a series of articles published in Cinéma by Paul Leutrat. 21 These
seemed to me to be the most thorough investigation of Expressionist film that I had read
since they included not only an in-depth discussion of the history and development of
German Expressionist film, from its antecedents in the early part of the twentieth
century to the Kammerspiel films of the late 1920s and 30s, but also of aspects which I
had not seen discussed anywhere else, such as eroticism in Expressionist film. The final
article dealt with the influence of German Expressionism on the horror film genre and
discussed more recent directors who could be considered contemporary Expressionists
such as Andrzej Wajda, or directors whose films could be regarded as being strongly
influenced by Expressionism, such as Carl Theodor Dreyer, Ingmar Bergman and Orson
Welles. Another article in the British Film Institute library that provided insights into
the influence of Expressionism on contemporary filmmakers was by Richard Combs in
the Monthly Film Bulletin. 22 “From Caligari to Who?” by Barry Salt is a damning
criticism of Kraucauer’s thesis in From Caligari to Hitler and an assertion that there are
really only six German Expressionist films (a purist view which is disputed by many
other film historians). 23 Salt does, however, draw useful distinctions between
Expressionist film and films that he categorises as having expressivist features. The
21
Paul Leutrat, "Actualité De L'expressionnisme," Cinéma.69 (1962). Cinéma 70 (1962). Cinéma 71
(1962).
22
Richard Combs, "Aspects of Expressionism (3) It Lives Again," Monthly Film Bulletin 46.547 (1979).
23
Barry Salt, "From Caligari to Who?," Sight and Sound 48.2 (1979).