Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood

In the early years of German cinema, such groundbreaking classics emerged as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Metropolis (1927), and M (1931), establishing the German film industry as one of the most innovative and thriving creative forces in the world at that time. However, when Adolph Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany in 1933, one of his first orders of business was to ban Jews from working within the German film industry. As the Nazis rose to power and took control of the German film industry, over 800 German film professionals including writers, actors, directors and composers fled their homeland between 1933-39 and headed to Hollywood to begin their lives and careers anew. Narrated by actress Sigourney Weaver, Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood is an enlightening documentary that traces the path of these German exiles who sought to bring their substantial talents to the burgeoning American film industry. Some, such as directors Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder, composer Franz Waxman and actors Hedy Lamarr and Peter Lorre, found great success in Hollywood. Others, however, did not fare as well and had difficulty achieving the same level of fame they had once known in Germany. The bond of their shared homeland was strong, however, as the exiles formed a tight community within Hollywood as a support system for each other and extended help to new arrivals struggling to find their footing in unfamiliar territory. Drawing from a rich selection of film clips, archival interviews and rare home movies, Cinema's Exiles highlights the remarkable impact that this great influx of talent into Hollywood during the 1930s had on the American film industry. Films from Billy Wilder (Sunset Blvd. [1950], Some Like it Hot [1959]), Henry Koster (Harvey [1950]), Fritz Lang (Fury [1936], The Big Heat [1953]), Robert Siodmak (The Killers [1946]) and Fred Zinnemann (High Noon [1952], From Here to Eternity [1953]), just to name a few, became enduring Hollywood classics. The influence of the German émigrés' collective creative talents would be felt within Hollywood's film industry for multiple decades. A must see for all film buffs, Cinema's Exiles offers a fascinating in-depth look at this important period in film history. Additionally, it adds a new layer of meaning to the films that emerged from this incredibly talented group who brought their unique and sometimes harrowing experiences to a new country and funneled all of it into their cinematic craft. By Andrea Passafiume