A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/110873 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications City of Darkness, City of The Representation of Paris in the 1930s French Films of the German Emigrés Alastair Phillips ALA., B.A. A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film Studies University of Warwick, Department of Film and Television Studies September 1999 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE—THE CITY IN CONTEXT I: INTRODUCTION 16 II: THE FRANCO-GERMAN RELATIONSHIP IN CONTEXT AN HISTORICAL AMBIVALENCE 19 MODERNITY AND THE CITY 25 III: NATIONAL BOUNDARIES AND EARLY EUROPEAN SOUND CINEMA THE COMING OF SOUND 35 PARIS AS STAGING GROUND FOR THE EARLY SOUND WARS 40 BERLIN AS PRESTIGE MODEL AND PLACE OF WORK FOR FRENCH INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS 45 IV: PATTERNS OF EXILE AND EMIGRATION IN THE PRE-NAZI ERA THE RUSSIANS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO PARIS AND BERLIN 50 TRADE AND ECONOMIC EMIGRATION FROM BERLIN TO PARIS BEFORE 1933 53 CASE STUDY I: ANATOLE LITVAK 56 CASE STUDY II: KURT COURANT 61 V: PARIS, THE GERMAN ÉMIGRÉS AFTER 1933 AND THE QUESTION OF JEWISHNESS THE RISE OF THE NAZIS AND THE POLITICS OF DEPARTURE 68 THE PLACE OF THE JEWS IN THE CITY OF PARIS 71 RECEPTION—THE ÉMIGRÉS ARRIVAL IN PARIS 76 RECEPTION—THE FRENCH FILM INDUSTRY 80 CASE STUDY III: ERICH POMMER 85 CASE STUDY IV: ROBERT SIODMAK 90 VI: CONCLUSION 101 CHAPTER TWO—CITY OF LIGHT I: INTRODUCTION 106 II: PARIS AS SPECTACLE 109 III: PARIS AND THE SPECTACLE OF ENTERTAINMENT 121 IV: PARISIAN JOURNEYS ACROSS TIME AND SPACE 135 V: CONCLUSION 157 CHAPTER THREE—CITY OF DARKNESS I: INTRODUCTION 161 II: THE CAMERA GOES DOWN THE STREETS "THE HIDDEN SPIRIT UNDER THE FAMILIAR FACADE"— UNCOVERING PARIS AS THE CITY OF DARKNESS 166 FRAMING THE URBAN DECOR—THE ÉMIGRÉS AND POETIC REALISM 180 III: SPACES OF CRIME AND PLEASURE IN THE CITY OF DARKNESS 196 IV: PARISIAN JOURNEYS BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE 214 PRESENT V: CONCLUSION 225 CHAPTER FOUR—DIVIDED CITY I: INTRODUCTION 229 II: THE DIVIDED CITY IN CONTEXT 234 III: DIVIDED CHARACTERS, DIVIDED CITY 242 IV: JOURNEYS ACROSS THE DIVIDED CITY 254 V: CONCLUSION 263 CONCLUSION 265 BIBLIOGRAPHY 271 FILMOGRAPHY 302 APPENDICES APPENDIX ONE 307 TOBIS IN PARIS FILMOGRAPHY 1929-1939 APPENDIX TWO 308 OSSO FILMOGRAPHY 1930-1939 APPENDIX THREE 309 ANATOLE LITVAK FILMOGRAPHY 1930-1936 APPENDIX FOUR 310 CURT COURANT FILMOGRAPHY 1929-1939 APPENDIX FIVE 312 ERICH POMMER FILMOGRAPHY 1930-1934 APPENDIX SIX 313 ROBERT SIODMAK FILMOGRAPHY 1931-1939 APPENDIX SEVEN 314 NERO FILMS FILMOGRAPHY 1930-1939 APPENDIX EIGHT 315 LA CRISE EST FINIE APPENDIX NINE 317 LA VIE PARISIENNE APPENDIX TEN 318 MAUVAISE GRAINE APPENDIX ELEVEN 319 COEUR DE LILAS APPENDIX TWELVE 321 DANS LES RUES APPENDIX THIRTEEN 323 CARREFOUR APPENDIX FOURTEEN 325 PIÈGES APPENDIX FIFTEEN 327 LILIOM LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ONE GEORG GROSZ "EARLY MORNING AT 5" (1921) 22 TWO THE BERLIN STREET AS FILM 27 "BERLINER STRABENSZENE” (1921) BY NIKLAUS BRAUN THREE EUGEN SCHÜFFTAN ADVERTISES KODAK EASTMAN 65 PANCHROMATIC FILM (CINÉMATOGRAPHIE FRANÇAISE 28TH MAY 1932) FOUR PARIS AS POSTCARD. A SOUVENIR FROM THE 1900 111 EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE FIVE LA CRISE EST FINIE-PRESS ADVERTISEMENT, 116- SONGSHEET AND CARTOON 117 SIX PARIS AS VILLAGE-LAZARRE MEERSON'S SET 127 DESIGN FOR QUARTORZE JUILLET SEVEN LAVISH SET DESIGN FOR LA VIE PARISIENNE 137 EIGHT IMAGES OF THE STREET PROJECTED IN THE PARISIAN 162 N IG H T-DANS LES RUES AT THE MOULIN ROUGE CINEMA NINE POSTER FOR DANS LES RUES 168 TEN BRASSAÏ-PICTURING THE CITY AT NIGHT 173 ELEVEN COEUR DE LILAS-SONGSHEET AND POSTER 185 TWELVE PRESS ADVERTISEMENT FOR LILIOM 231 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The genesis of this project lies long ago in an extensive season at the National Film Theatre in London which was based on the work of German filmmakers abroad. It was the curator of this season, John Gillet, who encouraged me to watch many of these films, some of which are included in this thesis. John’s enthusiasms opened my mind to many other aspects of film history and I would like to firstly acknowledge his formative influence. I have had the extraordinary fortune to have had as my supervisor and mentor Ginette Vincendeau. Ginette's early work, published towards the end of my time as an undergraduate student, excited me greatly as a model for the kind of writing 1 hoped one day to produce on film. She has continued to inspire me with the clarity, depth and range of her expression and thinking. As a supervisor she has been exemplary, and I can not express fully what her commitment to this project has meant to me both intellectually and personally. Her enthusiasm and sense of engaged pleasure has been constant, and her degree of critical involvement has helped me to always shaipen and improve my observations and ideas. Her typically sensitive but precisely located guidance has been of great support. I also owe Ginette the feeling of being involved in a wider project of learning and development. Professionally, she has been a tremendous source of encouragement and help as I have entered the field of academic activity and work. On a personal level, Ginette has proved a true friend. 1 want to thank her for all the gifts, ideas, assistance and hospitality over the years—especially my treasured poster for Coeurdc lilas! This project has taken me, naturally, to the streets of Paris a number of times. I would especially like to thank Peter Graham for his generosity in lending me his Hal in Paris when it has been needed. I feel this thesis would have been a different one without Peter. I am also grateful to Valerie Orpen for her frequent hospitality on my numerous visits to London. I have been so fortunate these past four years to have worked and studied in the Department of Film and Televsion Studies at the University of Warwick. The spirit of friendship and intellectual stimulation I have found there has meant a great deal. Each member of staff has, in different ways, provided support and assistance. I would particularly like to recall Richard Dyer's and Victor Perkins' formative MA classes and the constant and genuine voice of encouragement of Charlotte Brunsdon. Julianne Pidduck has been a great friend. My research has been carried out at a number of institutions both in Britain and France. I must thank especially Richard Perkins at Warwick but 1 have also made extensive use of the wonderful holdings at the British Film Institute, the Bodleian Library, the BIF1 library in Paris, and the Bibliothèque Nationale including the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal. I also want to thank Michel Marie at the Université de Paris III for milking available his department's extensive video collection. I have benefitted enormously from the three year studentship provided by the British Academy and the Doctoral Fellowship awarded to me by the Humanities Research Centre at Warwick. My thanks to all who came to the Picturing Paris conference I organised with the H.R.C. Finally, my gratitude also goes to the many others in my life who have also provided me with a bedrock of support. This includes, in particular, my family who have always in a quietly proud way believed in me and my partner and journeying soul Mark Kurzemnieks. Mark and I have travelled together in many ways over the past ten years on our own voyages across space and time. Most recently, our (rip back to his family's Jewish past in Belarus to learn of Mark's father's own emigre history has left a profound mark on me. I cannot compare my work on Paris to Alex's story but his experiences have underlined to me how all history matters so much because the past really does live on in the present. Oxford, September 1999 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own work and that it has not been submitted for a degree at another university. ABSTRACT Paris is one of the key sites of meaning regarding France's cinematic output. This thesis surveys the contribution German émigré filmmakers made to the French cinema of the 1930s through a series of case studies of their depiction of the nation's capital city. It argues that this contribution was both typical and singular. The émigrés engaged directly with traditions of Parisian representation, but they also played a distinctive role in the important debate over the direction early French sound filmmaking should take. The body of the thesis contains detailed textual analysis of many émigré productions which have hitherto been ignored within film history. It contextualises this analysis with comparative discussion of films made by indigenous professionals and an examination of past and present intertextual aspects of Parisian culture. The thesis moves beyond aesthetic concerns to also consider the political, industrial and social significance of the work of the émigré Filmmakers. The reception of their films is located within a history of the Franco-German relationship as a whole. By drawing widely upon supporting documentation in critical and trade journals of the time, the thesis provides a new history' of a crucial transitional point in the development of European film culture.