The Golden Age of World Cinema

Here we see the movement away from romanticism. We see the final world of silence. Ernst Lubitsch, Abel Gance, and the German expressionists brought us the surreal. We are introduced to Charles Kleine, Early Hitchcock, Kinugasa, Fritz Lang and Metropolis, King Vidor, and more of F. W. Murnau. We see Walter Rittman's abstract animation. There is Rene Clare and Cavalcante. Luis Bunuel pushes the very limits of surrealism with Un Chien Andalou. Then there are the Russians: Eisenstein, with films like Potemkin and the great scene on the Odessa steps, tops the list with montage. There is the work of Dziga Vertov and Dovshenko with works such as Earth and Arsenal. Japan produces the great Ozu and "I Was Born, But..." and Mizoguchi who some consider the greatest of all. The point is that even without great advances in technology, the hard work of these great directors and cameramen takes us on journeys into our minds. I realize that some think that this series doesn't give American filmmakers enough credit, but the Europeans at this time were unfettered for the most part, or were willing to risk their lives for their art. This is a great episode.