Announcing my German Tutorial Topic!

 I've been in contact with my Oxford German tutor and we've agreed on a tutorial which will cover German films from the Weimar Republic era (1919-1933).  A bit of an esoteric topic, I know, but it will tie in nicely with the two German courses I took this semester: 20th Century German Drama (SPOILER: most everyone dies) and German Art, Politics, and Propaganda.  The second class focused on the development of German aesthetics, the study of beauty and taste, from its roots in Greek philosophy through the 18th-20th centuries in Germany and how the Nazi party used art and film in the development of a fascist aesthetic. The early 20th century saw the development of film as a bold, new artistic medium and the Weimar Republic in its heyday was a laboratory for Expressionist film.  Think Metropolis (1927) [or here for IMDB page].  Mountain films (Bergfilm) were very popular too.  Leni Riefenstahl, famous as a director for her propaganda films such as Triumph of the Will (1934)[or here for IMDB page], made her name as an actress in several early mountain films.

Submitted for your viewing pleasure: 
Excerpt from "Von morgens bis mitternachts" (1922) based on the 1917 Georg Kaiser play of the same name. We read this play in my drama course this semester.

In pre-WWI Germany, a bored Kassierer (bank teller) steals 60,000 DM and flees to the big city (presumably Berlin) to live large before becoming disillusioned and committing suicide.  In this scene he visits a bicycle race stadium and places huge bets, sending the crowd into an ecstatic frenzy.  The crown prince arrives in his box and the audience falls into a reverent silence. The moment of ecstasy has passed and the Kassierer leaves in disgust.