(1926)
Dir - Teinosuke Kinugasa
Overall: GOOD
The experimental film A Page of Madness, (Kurutta Ichipeiji), is a unique, fascinating relic of post World War I Japanese cinema. A work by the avant-garde literary group Shinkankakuha/School of New Perceptions, (which included novelist, co-screenwriter, and future Nobel Price winner Yasunari Kawabata), the story is nebulous to follow without the convenience of intertitles. Still, director Teinosuke Kinugasa makes the primary focus a sort of visual, naturalistic representation of mental turmoil while still maintaining a narrative through-line. In this regard, it is more closely related to Sergei Eisenstein's montage tactics and utilizes a barrage of advanced techniques from the era. The story can also be seen as an Asian cousin to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari since it takes place in an insane asylum and regularly morphs into hallucinations as well as flashbacks. Though certainly surreal, this is a far less fantastical movie than Caligari as it contains more grounded performances as well as grimy, lived-in sets that German Expressionism rarely allowed. The striking cinematography still relies heavily on shadows though and it gradually develops a ghostly atmosphere even if it is not explicitly in the supernatural realm.
(1927)
Dir - Fritz Lang
Overall: GREAT
Along with D.W. Griffith's Intolerance, the most visually extravagant and extraordinary of all silent films is likely Fritz Lang's seminal science fiction masterpiece Metropolis, one of several benchmarks of German Expressionism. Very much a reaction to the country's post World War I Weimar period as well as industrial modernization, Lang and screenwriter Thea von Harbou lay out simplistic, heavy-handed themes in their dystopian tale of the perversely wealthy living off of and above the toiling suffrage of the poor labor force, with religious allegory, nods to Marry Shelley's Frankenstein, and H.G. Wells' utopian aspirations also thrown in. Mostly though, the film is a triumph from a production standpoint. Utilizing a substantial budget, (more than three and a half times the amount initial granted), Lang spent seventeen months and well over three-hundred shooting days to painstakingly achieve the movie's grandiose aesthetic. The use of miniatures, mobile camera movement, the Schüfftan process of utilizing mirrors for optical trickery, and countless extras as well as the Art Deco set design create a massive, complex landscape that is endlessly exciting. This is somewhat opposed to most cinematic works from the silent era that suffer from moderate to slow pacing, since there is so much impressive detail and quick cutting to keep things cruising at such a rate that multiple views are required to fully take it all in. Various cuts of the movie exist and musical soundtracks have been recorded for it over the near century since its first released, but chose any and a rewarding experience will truly be had.
(1928)
Dir - Henrik Galeen
Overall: MEH
Though some of the personnel here had already done important work in German Expressionism, (including director Henrik Galeen, filmmaker/actor Paul Wegener, and starlet Brigitte Helm), Alraune is a primarily unengaging drama with only the vaguest of fantasy/sci-fi narrative connections. The third such adaptation of Hanns Heinz Ewer's novel of the same name, it is probably still the most well-known and likely so due to Helm's sultry title role which was overtly sexual in nature for the time. Helm exhibits a striking, mad, lustful aura that is scene steeling for the many moments where she is front and center. It is the story itself and Galeen's largely flat presentation of it that is lackluster. There is no atmosphere or captivating camerawork typical of the Expressionist time period and the obsessive, paternal relationship between Wegener's Prof. Jakob ten Brinken and Helm's wild, "born from a mandrake root" seductress plays out in a bog-standard manner with no gripping revelations or set pieces of any kind. Perhaps more exciting for its era, it has very little if anything to entice modern audience members; even those who have a particular penchant for silent cinema.
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