Between Two Worlds: The Jewish Presence in German and Austrian Film, 1910-1933 by S. S. Prawer

Abstract

II90 Reviews hensive bibliography and an extensive index, is as user-friendly in itsorganization as it is sophisticated in its scholarly narrative. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO DAGMAR C. G. LORENZ Between Two Worlds: The JewishPresence inGerman andAustrian Film, 1910-I933. By S. S. PRAWER. (German Cinema in an International Context) New York and Oxford: Berghahn. 2005. Xii+228 pp. /25. ISBN 978-I-84545-074-8. The release of Dani Levy's ground-breaking filmAlles auf Zucker! in 2004 served as a welcome reminder of the once rich tradition of German-Jewish film comedy. However, as Siegbert Prawer's detailed study of the Jewish presence inGerman and Austrian filmprior to I33 underlines, the important contribution made by Jewish film-makers,writers, and performers to the development of the early cinema was by no means confined to the genre of comedy. Divided into nine chapters plus an epi logue, Prawer's study begins by addressing the issues of production and distribution, and thepioneering role of the Jewish entrepreneurs Paul Davidson and Erich Pom mer in transforming the early filmproduction companies into something resembling amodern industry. In the case of Pommer inparticular-a figurewho 'never denied or abjured his Jewishness' but 'thought of himself as a German patriot, whose inter national activities were devoted tomaking German films not only more profitable, butmore respected, inother countries' (p. 14)-we are invited to reflecton the com plexities of the relationship between Jewishness and German national identity in the run-up to theFirstWorld War. In thechapters that follow,Prawer tackles a range of films-some well known, some less so-and proceeds more or less chronologically inorder to demonstrate how the on-screen characters embody Jewish experiences in a variety of situations at specific historical periods. Accordingly, in thechapter on dramas andmelodramas of the silent period we are treated to a subtle analysis of Paul Wegener's Der Golem- wie er in die Welt kam (1917), a filmwhich Prawer aptly terms the 'prequel' to the director's other 'Golem-films'. Here the author goes to some lengths to argue against what he refers to as 'thenewly fashionable reading of this filmas anti-Semitic' (p. 40). Indeed his own approach to the filmshould be seen in the context of his observation that 'it is a mistake to interpret everything said or shown before 1933 in the light ofNazi racism and genocide' (p. viii). In the next chapter on comedies of the silent period, themain focus is,almost inevitably, on thework of Ernst Lubitsch. Having guided the reader through a detailed analysis of Schuhpalast Pinkus (I 9 I6),Der Blusenkonig ( 9 I7), andMeyer aus Berlin (I 9 I8), Prawer suggests that thebrash self-assertiveness ofLubitsch's figures should be seen as 'a compensation phenomenon, making up for the fears of rejection and persecution thatare never far from a Jewish consciousness' (p. 52). After a fascinating discussion of the early 'Sittenfilme', a genre inwhich Jew ish film-makers played a key role, Prawer turns his attention to the changes brought about, on the one hand, by the advent of sound, and on the other, by the rapidly shiftingpolitical landscape. The finalchapter-'A New FilmMusical'-is devoted to another area of early cinema inwhich Jewishmusicians and performers such as Paul Dessau and Friedrich Hollaender made a unique and lasting contribution. Prawer's rich study is a pleasure to read, and theauthor's sheer enthusiasm for the filmsof thisperiod comes across clearly throughout. No doubt therewill be some for whom this typeof approach to filmanalysis is simply 'too literary'; and there aremo ments when phrases such as 'efficiently directed and excellently photographed' (p. I9) have a tendency toobscure rather than bring out the author's obvious sensitivity to the subtleties of cinematic form.However, thenear-total absence of filmicjargon is in MLR, I02.4, 2007 I I9I keeping with thebook's stated aim of appealing toan audience whose interestsextend beyond the cinema. In addition there is a very fullbibliography which, togetherwith an index of Jewish artists and administrators working in theGerman and Austrian film industry up to 1933, filmhistorians will find indispensable. UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK SEAN ALLAN Benjamin-Handbuch: Leben- Werk- Wirkung. Ed. by BURKHARDLINDNER. Stutt gart:Metzler. 2oo6...