Kammerspielfilm Explained

Kammerspielfilm is a type of German film that offers an intimate, cinematic portrait of lower middle class life.^{[1] [2]}

History

The name derives from a theater, the Kammerspiele, opened in 1906 by a major stage director Max Reinhardt to stage intimate dramas for small audiences. Few Kammerspiel films were made, but nearly all are classics.^[3] Kammerspielfilme (the plural form) formed a German film movement of the 1920s silent film period that was developed around the same time as the more commonly known Expressionist movement in cinema. The Kammerspielfilm was known as the "chamber drama" as a result of the influence from the theatrical form of the chamber play.^[4] It is characterised by its focus on character psychology and its lack of intricate set design. Also, unlike Expressionist films, Kammerspielfilme seldom used intertitles to narrate the story.

Prominent figures

• Lupu Pick
• F. W. Murnau
• Carl Mayer
• Georg Wilhelm Pabst
• Carl Theodor Dreyer^{[5] [6] [7]}

See also

• Shattered
• The Last Laugh
• German Expressionism
• German film history
• Alfred Hitchcock – influenced by Kammerspielfilm

Sources

• Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. 1997. Film Art: An Introduction. 5th, international ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. .
• Parkinson, David. 1995. History of Film. World of Art ser. London: Thames and Hudson. .

Notes and References

1. Parkinson (1995, 60).
2. https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-fw-murnau Where to begin with F.W. Murnau|BFI
3. Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson, ed. Film History. 3rd. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 95. Print.
4. https://books.google.com/books?id=rIDVqjD6SZIC&dq=KAMMERSPIELFILM&pg=PA16 The Wrong House: The Architecture of Alfred Hitchcock - Steven Jacobs - Google Books (pgs.16-17)
5. https://www.kosmorama.org/kosmorama/artikler/carl-dreyers-michael-digitalization-and-rediscovery-classic-kammerspiel-film Carl Dreyer's "Michael" - Digitalization and the Rediscovery of a classic Kammerspiel-film|Kosmorama
6. http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2016/11/06/murnau-before-nosferatu/ Observations on film art: Murnau before NOSFERATU
7. https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/sylvester/ SYLVESTER|Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival