The German American Heritage Center and Museum and The Last Picture House are screening German Expressionism films throughout September at the Davenport theater.
German American Heritage Center and Museum Executive Director Brian Allen says supporter, artist, and former Western Illinois University Professor Bruce Walters approached him about viewing his collection of German cinema.
The Last Picture House Assistant General Manager Carlie Allison worked with Allen at the Figge Art Museum and kept in touch.
"And it was like perfect timing for Carlie and I talking together and saying, well, now we got the films. So let's do it. Let's see what we can do," Allen said in an in-person interview with WVIK.
Allison says this period of German cinema set the stage for how American filmmakers would approach the medium.
"So kind of starting at the beginning, where all of this really started for German cinema and kind of how it's so seminal to a lot of the other kind of cinema that you'll see throughout film history," Allison said in an in-person interview with WVIK. " I mean, Hitchcock, all these people, they got it from these guys that we're going to show. You'll see it all right there."
The series will kick off on August 28th at the German American Heritage Center and Museum with an appreciation and primer for the series by Walters called The Cinema of Weimar Germany. Tickets are $5 for non-members and free for members at the 6 p.m. event.
"And Bruce is going to share some of the importance of this era, as Carlie was talking about, the expressionist era on not only filmmaking at the time and early film, but also contemporary film and people who continue to be inspired by this genre," Allen said. "So he's going to talk about that and really get people excited to come out to see the film series."
The series of films was made in Germany during economic strife between World War 1 and World War 2. Social and political upheaval influenced the films, including Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Metropolis, The Blue Angel, and M, which starred a young Orson Wells.
"I think these films, they came about in such a fraught period of time. And we've seen that throughout history, especially that during those contentious times, art really expands and really gets to the soul of what people are trying to say and kind of a roundabout way. And I think that's, you know, very useful for our times now," Allison said.
According to Allison, the German Expressionism films shown during the series were released between 1920 and 1931 and she watched every one when she was a student at Augustana College.
Her favorite film of the bunch is M, and she says filmmakers stole a lot from director Fritz Lang's 1931 murder thriller.
Allen is looking forward to seeing the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
"I can tell you that that Bruce Walters has really pumped me up to see the the cabinet of Dr. Caligari because of all of the the backgrounds and the amount of visual work that went into the film as well. So that's the one I'm most excited to see," Allen said.
The series is bundled at $60 to watch all five, and each film can be viewed individually at $15. Tickets can be found on the German American Heritage Center and Museum's website and purchased at The Last Picture House before screening.
Allison says the Bettendorf brewing business Twin Span Brewing is selling a selection of German beer at The Last Picture House throughout September, concluding after the October 2nd showing of M. One dollar of every purchase will go to the German American Heritage Center and Museum.
"Yeah, this goes through our Oktoberfest season. So we have our first Oktoberfest Quad Cities in Davenport on September 21. That's in K-Square across from the Adler, which is a free event," Allen said. "And we're going to have Twin Span's Oktoberfest pouring at that event. And then we're going to have the second Oktoberfest Quad Cities in Rock Island on October 12 at the Hauberg Estate. And that goes from 12 to 9. That one's ticketed in the evening, but it's free for the first four hours."
The German Expressionism films are shown every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at The Last Picture House.
Sept. 4th Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Sept. 11th Nosferatu (1922)
Sept. 18th Metropolis (1927)
Sept. 25th The Blue Angel (1930)
Oct. 2nd M (1931)
