From Caligari to California: Eric Pommer's Life in the International Film Wars / Edition 1

by Ursula Hardt

Overview

Known as one of the great producers and promoters of the film industry, Eric Pommer had a life-long commitment to German film - despite his emigration in 1933 - and worked in France and Britian, as well as the United States.

As German producer, studio executive, and film politician in the pre-Hitler era Erich (later Eric) Pommer (1889-1966), a native of Germany, was an innovator and pioneer, a vital force in leading German cinema to international acclaim with successes such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, The Nibelungen and The Blue Angel. As Motion Picture Control Officer of the US Military Government he undertook , from 1946-49, the difficult task of rebuilding West Germany's film industry from the ashes of the Second World War. He succeeded brilliantly, but not without paying the hefty price of becoming embroiled in the turmoil of postwar German politics which made him many friends, but also many enemies. This book is the first detailed account in English of the remarkable career of Pommer who became a legend in his own lifetime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781571810250
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	12/01/1996
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1620L (what's this?)

About the Author

Ursula Hardt is an independent scholar and writer who lives in Middlebury, Vermont

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. International Beginnings

• The French Connection: Berlin and Vienna
• The Balkans

Chapter 2. Berlin: Pommer’s Decla

• Looking Beyond Germany
• German Film Art

Chapter 3. Ufa: Silent Film Production

• Berlin Merger: Decla-Bioscop, Union-Film, Ufa
• Pommer’s Rise to Power
• Pride Before the Fall
• Fall from Grace

Chapter 4. American Interlude

• Hollywood
• Bringing Hollywood to Berlin

Chapter 5. Ufa: Transition to Sound Film

• The New Ufa
• Erich Pommer Produktion

Chapter 6. Exile and Immigration

• Paris
• Hollywood
• London
• Hollywood Again

Chapter 7. Germany Revisited

• Postwar Germany
• Eric Pommer, U.S. Military Government Film Control Officer
• Eric Pommer, Independent Producer

Conclusion

Appendix I: Biography of John E. Pommer
Appendix II: American Films in Germany
Appendix III: Filmography

Bibliography
Index