1885 - 1918

These pages gather films that can be paired with selected chapters and texts from the book. The material is intended to help bring the readings to life. Users looking for better-quality copies of the films below can consult the following lists of German films on DVD:

1895 — Wintergartenprogramm

Max Skladanowsky (4 min.)

See chapter 18, “Technology and the Future of the Past”

Arndt, “Sports on Film,” text no 11

Serner, “Cinema and Visual Pleasure,” text no. 15

Skladanowsky, “Prehistory of the Bioskop,” text no. 263

Kracauer, “On the Border of Yesterday,” text no. 278

1902 — A Trip to the Moon

George Méliès

See chapter 2, the World in Motion

chapter 3, The Time Machine

1903 — Akt-Skulpturen / Nude Sculptures

Messters Projektion GmbH (4 mins)

See Osborn, The Nude Body on Film, text no. 53

Kurt Tucholsky, Erotic Films, text no. 71

Spier, The Sexual Danger of the Cinema, text no. 96

1907-1912

Lithographic Loops (animation films for children)

1908 — Rauschlied from Künstlerblut (Alexander Girardi)

Messter Tonbild (3 min.)

See Hood, “Illusion in the Cinematographic Theater,” text no. 62

Anonymous, “How Singing Pictures (Sound Pictures) Are Made” (1908), text no. 247

Kracauer, “On the Border of Yesterday,” text no. 278

1910 — Afgrunden

Urban Gad, starring Asta Nielsen (37 min.)

See chapter 4, The Magic of the Body

Balazs, Productive and Reproductive Film Art, text no. 227

1912 — Bandits en automobile / Bandits in Cars

Victorin Jasset (29 min.)

See Kienzl, Theater and Cinematograph, text no. 9

Forch, Thrills in the Film Drama and Elsewhere, text no. 12

Hasenclever, The Kintopp as Educator: An Apology, text no. 14

Turszinski, Film Dramas and Film Mimes, text no. 47

Pfemfert, Cinema as Educator, text. no. 92

Hellwig, Trash Films, text no. 93

Gaupp, The Dangers of the Cinema, 94

Mierendorff, If I Only Had the Cinema!, 193

1912 — Mathematische Trickfilms

Ludwig Münch (1 min.)

See Bäumer, Cinematography and Epistemology, text no. 33

Birnbaum, The Cultural Mission of the Cinematograph, text. no. 235

Dreyer, The Trick Film, text no. 244

Diebold, The Future of Mickey Mouse, text no. 277

1912 — In Nacht und Eis / In Night and Ice

Mime Misu (30 min.)

— part 1
— part 2
— part 3

See Forch, Thrills in the Film Drama and Elsewhere, text no. 12

Serner, Cinema and Visual Pleasure, text no. 15

Chapter 7

1912 — Max Juggles for Love

Max Linder (7 min. with English subtitles; Linder influenced Chaplin)

See chapter 6, An Art for the Times

Undated — Slapstick comedies of the 1910s from the Huntley Film Archive

See Turszinski, Film Dramas and Film Mimes, text no. 47

Musil, Impressions of a Naïf, text no. 145

Jünger, The Worker, text no. 188

Mierendorff, If I Only Had the Cinema!, text no. 193

1913 — Der Andere/The Other

Max Mack (49 min., German only)

See chapter 6, “An Art for the Times”

Rauscher, “The Cinema Ballad,” text no 80

Anonymous, “The Student of Prague,” text 82

Mierendorff, “If I Only Had the Cinema,” text no. 193

Kracauer, “On the Border of Yesterday,” text no. 278

1913 — Kaiser Wilhelm at the Wedding of Princess Victoria Luise

— Documentary in Color (2 min.)
— Spring Parade for the German Kaiser in Potsdam 1910

See chapter 8, War Images

chapter 18, The Future of the Past

Klebinder, The German Kaiser in Film, text no. 108

1913 — Der Student von Prag / The Student from Prague

Stellan Rye and Paul Wegener (81 min.. with English titles)

See chapter 6, “An Art for the Times”

1914 — Messter Woche Newsreels

1916 — The Rink

Charlie Chaplin (24 min.)

See chapter 12, Chiffres of Modernity

Kracauer, Chaplin in Old Films, text no. 183

1917 — Unser Hindenburg / Our Hindenburg

Bild- und Filmamt (BuFA, 6 min.)

See chapter 8, Image Wars