Reddit reviews Theatre of Fear & Horror: Expanded Edition: The Grisly Spectacle of the Grand Guignol of Paris, 1897-1962
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This is a topic I've been wanting to get into! I just finished a book on the Grand Guignol (French Horror & Crime Theater, 1897-1962), and had been wanting to discuss the high point of the book for me; the crossover between theater and film.
For those who do not know, the Guignol was a long-running, world-renowned theater in Paris that specialized in horror, gore, and crime dramas that featured naturalistic plots. Madness, murder, sexual taboos, drug addition, torture, sadomasochism, and greed were the bread and butter of Guignol theater, with gore effects finetuned to try and make the audience faint or vomit. It was heavily featured in tourist pamphlets of the 1910's-1930's, and attracted all sorts of creatives and royalty to it's viewings in this era.
In the book, the author argues that much of the german expressionist acting that is found in german films of the time is actually based on the acting styles and themes found in the french Guignol theater.
The book references (but does not cite) that:
>"...[Caligari] was rejected by expressionist writers in a series of bitter manifestoes as an alien example of Expressionist style and philosophy. Hypnotic spells; the ultimate superiority of wicked, insane authority over bourgeois power; gratuitous violence; the frailty of love were the characteristic features of the Grand Guignol, not German Expressionism. Only the frame of a dreamer's nightmare over the core of the Caligari plot, tacked on late in the production, along with the decor and acting style exhibited theatrical Expressionism's attributes" (pg. 50).
The book then goes on to say that Hollywood films like The Cat and the Canary, The Phantom of the Opera and The Film Coffin are overtly Guignol, with the latter being taken from a Guignol plot. The author then claims that Tod Browning's subjects and many of the early horror film stars "...all personified the acting styles that Choisy and his troupe perfected in the twenties.", and that Mad Love and Lorre is a Guignol-inspired film.
But after that, Hollywood went with zombies, monsters, and vampires, all villians distinctly belonging to the 'other' rather than 'outlaw/insider/outsider society', with the threat expressing the Modern era's needs of conquering non-society with scientific means. And as we all know, Germany's Weimar era came to a close and changed drastically.
................
It is my opinion that there really is no pure German Expressionist film. None totally embody the experience-driven, personal story that is Expressionism. But they all overt in particular aspects, and that is the best we ever got in film. Perhaps there was just too many requirements (artistic, story, audience-attention, financial, etc.) for a truly expressionist film to ever make it to celluloid in long form. I think there is more expressionism in some avant garde films of the era in France and the US than what ever came out of Germany. But I think that's alright; like pmcinern mentions, expressionism is a small pool to draw influence from, so to try and work only in that medium the resources are very quick to dry up, if they can even translate at all.
comment content: This is a topic I've been wanting to get into! I just finished a book on the Grand Guignol (French Horror & Crime Theater, 1897-1962), and had been wanting to discuss the high point of the book for me; the crossover between theater and film.
For those who do not know, the Guignol was a long-running, world-renowned theater in Paris that specialized in horror, gore, and crime dramas that featured naturalistic plots. Madness, murder, sexual taboos, drug addition, torture, sadomasochism, and greed were the bread and butter of Guignol theater, with gore effects finetuned to try and make the audience faint or vomit. It was heavily featured in tourist pamphlets of the 1910's-1930's, and attracted all sorts of creatives and royalty to it's viewings in this era.
In the book, the author argues that much of the german expressionist acting that is found in german films of the time is actually based on the acting styles and themes found in the french Guignol theater.
The book references (but does not cite) that:
>"...[Caligari] was rejected by expressionist writers in a series of bitter manifestoes as an alien example of Expressionist style and philosophy. Hypnotic spells; the ultimate superiority of wicked, insane authority over bourgeois power; gratuitous violence; the frailty of love were the characteristic features of the Grand Guignol, not German Expressionism. Only the frame of a dreamer's nightmare over the core of the Caligari plot, tacked on late in the production, along with the decor and acting style exhibited theatrical Expressionism's attributes" (pg. 50).
The book then goes on to say that Hollywood films like The Cat and the Canary, The Phantom of the Opera and The Film Coffin are overtly Guignol, with the latter being taken from a Guignol plot. The author then claims that Tod Browning's subjects and many of the early horror film stars "...all personified the acting styles that Choisy and his troupe perfected in the twenties.", and that Mad Love and Lorre is a Guignol-inspired film.
But after that, Hollywood went with zombies, monsters, and vampires, all villians distinctly belonging to the 'other' rather than 'outlaw/insider/outsider society', with the threat expressing the Modern era's needs of conquering non-society with scientific means. And as we all know, Germany's Weimar era came to a close and changed drastically.
................
It is my opinion that there really is no pure German Expressionist film. None totally embody the experience-driven, personal story that is Expressionism. But they all overt in particular aspects, and that is the best we ever got in film. Perhaps there was just too many requirements (artistic, story, audience-attention, financial, etc.) for a truly expressionist film to ever make it to celluloid in long form. I think there is more expressionism in some avant garde films of the era in France and the US than what ever came out of Germany. But I think that's alright; like pmcinern mentions, expressionism is a small pool to draw influence from, so to try and work only in that medium the resources are very quick to dry up, if they can even translate at all.
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