Too often dismissed as escapist entertainment or vilified as
mass manipulation, popular cinema in the Third Reich was in fact
sustained by well-established generic conventions, cultural
traditions, aesthetic sensibilities, social practices, and a highly
developed star system--not unlike its Hollywood counterpart in the
1930s. This pathfinding study contributes to the ongoing
reassessment of Third Reich cinema by examining it as a social,
cultural, economic, and political practice that often conflicted
with, contradicted, and compromised the intentions of the
Propaganda Ministry. Nevertheless, by providing the illusion of a
public sphere presumably free of politics, popular cinema helped to
sustain the Nazi regime, especially during the war years.
Rather than examining Third Reich cinema through overdetermined
categories such as propaganda, ideology, or fascist aesthetics,
Sabine Hake concentrates on the constituent elements shared by most
popular cinemas: famous stars, directors, and studios; movie
audiences and exhibition practices; popular genres and new trends
in set design; the reception of foreign films; the role of film
criticism; and the representation of women. She pays special
attention to the forced coordination of the industry in 1933, the
changing demands on cinema during the war years, and the various
ways of coming to terms with these filmic legacies after the war.
Throughout, Hake's findings underscore the continuities among
Weimar, Third Reich, and post-1945 West German cinema. They also
emphasize the codevelopment of German and other national cinemas,
especially the dominant Hollywood model.
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