‘Films that are applauded all over the world’: Questioning Chaplin's popularity in Weimar Germany
2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 8; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/17460654.2010.498167
ISSN1746-0662
Autores Tópico(s)Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism
ResumoAbstract Statements on Chaplin's popularity in Weimar Germany are usually based on textual sources, such as articles by intellectuals or promotional materials. This article questions Chaplin's popularity with audiences in Weimar Germany using contemporary film revenues and surveys on the popularity of films and stars. These primary sources demonstrate a group‐specific preference for Chaplin films. The social groups that formed Chaplin's core audience in Germany were urban workers and intellectuals, but not the audience at large. Keywords: ChaplinpopularityGermany Acknowledgements I would like to thank Peter Krämer and Annemone Ligensa for their stimulating comments on my article, as well as Annemone Ligensa for her translation. Notes 1. Reno Citation1923. All contemporary quotations from German texts have been translated. 2. See Garncarz Citation2004, 389–400. 3. Based on the Siegen research project's film supply database of 46,000 films shown on German screens between 1895 and 1920 (Garncarz and Ross Citation2006, 151–63). From 1921 onwards, I consulted Holba Citation1977, as well as the Jahrbuch der Filmindustrie (Berlin: Lichtbild‐Bühne, 1922–1933) and Deutscher Reichsanzeiger und Preußischer Staatsanzeiger (Berlin: Kessel, 1871–1945). 4. Program ‘Vier Chaplin‐Filme’, Ufa‐Palast am Zoo (author's archive); see also Saunders Citation1992, 70–1. 5. The program of the Berlin cinema Universum (Deutsches Filminstitut) shows that The Pilgrim was combined with The Idle Class (1921, German title Die feinen Leute). 6. Letter from the German censorship board, no. 7578, 7 January 1935, Deutsches Filminstitut. 7. Data on film supply can be found in Jason Citation1935, 109–10. Data on film demand can be found in Film‐Kurier 129, 2 June 1930. 8. My correction is based on the cinema's ads in the Kölner Stadt‐Anzeiger. 9. The original source is: National Archives, Record Group 151, Commercial Attaché Reports Relating to Germany. The missing months were added by Markus Spieker based on other sources (Jason Citation1935, 309–12) as well as cinema ads in Berliner Tageblatt and Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. 10. Neue Illustrierte Filmwoche (No. 23 n.d.); Deutsche Filmwoche (No. 19, 4 September 1925; No. 19, 5 May 1926; No. 11, 18 March 1927). Stars who received fewer than 100 votes were not included in the list. See also Garncarz Citation1999, 228. 11. Echo der Filme im Querschnitt. Film‐Echo 1972, vol. 72: 30.
Referência(s)