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THE GERMAN FILM
This remarkable film, almost unGerman in its realisation, stands out during the transition period, when the decorative art film was being succeeded by the naturalistic film. Expressionist themes and cubist settings, so marked in the first German period, had developed into motives of mysticism and Baroque design, to give place again to the naturalness of the street, the town, and the individual. The Student of Prague combined both of these two latter periods. It had open spaciousnes's and dark psychology, wild poetic beauty and a deeply dramatic theme. Beyond this, it had Conrad Veidt at his best; a performance that he has never equalled either before or since. It was, possibly, theatrical but it was, also, filmic in exposition. From the beginning of the students' drinking scene to the final death of Baldwin, this film was superbly handled. The conflict of inner realities; the sadness and joy of changing atmosphere; the storm emphasising the anguish of Baldwin-, the rendering of the depths of human sorrow and weakness; the imagination and purity of treatment; the intensely dramatic unfolding of the theme: all these entitled this film to rank as great. The interior design was admirable, lit with some of the most beautiful lighting I have observed. As a film that relied for its emotional effect on the nature of the material, the lighting and pictorial composition, it was unparelleled. Two other productions go to the credit of Galeen, Mandrake (A Daughter of Destiny) and After the Verdict, a British production; but little can be said in praise of them, although it is only fair to add that the English version of the former film was completely mutilated in order to meet the censor's requirements.
Paul Leni's Waxworks was a typical example of the early decorative film, revealing, as would be expected from an artist of this character, a strong sense of painted, rather theatrical, architecture. As is probably known, the film purported to tell three episodic incidents of three wax figures in a showman's tent, developed by the imagination of a poet, the figures being Ivan-the-Terrible, Haroun-al-Raschid, and Jack-the-Ripper . The parts were played by Conrad Veidt, Emil Jannings, and Werner Krauss, respectively; the only occasion on which these three celebrated actors have appeared together in the same film. Their individual performances were magnificently acted in the theatrical manner. Leni's decorations were simply conceived, but Waxworks, whilst certainly being a film of exceptional interest, was not by any means great from a filmic point of view.
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