Before I get too far into this article, I should point out that one’s opinion of what constitutes film noir is a highly subjective one. For some, the only films that qualify are those that contain the following elements: Black-and-White film Chiaroscuro lighting Made after World War II and before JFK became president An anti-hero …
Category: Rubble Film
Free Land
The second film from DEFA captures the struggles of farmers and the people fleeing the destruction of the cities who are trying to start collectives in East Germany’s rural areas. Free Land (Freies Land) was the second film made for DEFA. Like The Murderers Are Among Us before it, Free Land is a rubble film, …
1-2-3 Corona
There’s a tinge of irony in the fact that one of the movies that gave people in Germany a little joy amidst the rubble of World War II has a name that now reminds us of darker times. 1-2-3 Corona might be the most happy-go-lucky film that DEFA ever made. The story takes place in …
What Should I Watch?
New to East German films? Here are a few from DEFA with English subtitles that are well worth seeing. All of these films are currently available on the Kanopy streaming service. I’m often asked for recommendations on East German movies that people should watch. There’s no one answer to this. I once showed my personal …
The Bridge
The Bridge (Die Brücke) was a 1949 film made by DEFA about displaced persons at the end of WWII. It has little in common with Bernhard Wicki’s 1959 well-known film of the same name beyond its approximate time frame. In this film, a group of evacuees in a resettlement encampment encounter hostility from the people …
Street Acquaintances
Films about sexual hygiene and the dangers of promiscuity have a grand old tradition in cinema history, going back at least a century with D. W. Griffith’s 1914 film, The Escape (currently lost). Most of the feature films on the subject—at least in America—were made for the exploitation market. The subject afforded a neat way …
Razzia (Police Raid)
DEFA, East Germany’s state-owned film production company, was formed in 1946—three years before post-war Germany’s Soviet sector would become its own country. Immediately after the war, the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) was doing everything it could to hobble German film production in the Western sectors, largely at the behest of the Hollywood …
Somewhere in Berlin
The East German film studio, DEFA, was founded in May 1946. During the first few years in post-war Germany, it was literally the only game in town. While the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) in the west dragged its feet on film production (mostly at the behest of Hollywood), the east got the …
Sun Seekers
In 1947, the Soviets began their mining operations in the Schlema Valley in the southeastern region of Saxony. They called their mining company “Wismut,” the German word for bismuth, because they didn’t want the U.S. to know they were really mining uranium. After what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Russians wanted to make sure …
The Murderers Are Among Us
The Murderers Are Among Us (Die Mörder sind unter uns), still stands as one of the greatest films to come out of East Germany.
East German Cinema Blog 