When Europe Made Hollywood: From Sunrise to High Noon
Cinema Rediscovered 2022
Please note : this season finished in July 2022
An exploration of how European filmmakers shaped American popular film.
A Hollywood movie is the quintessential form of American cinema: entertainment with a side order of escapism where good triumphs over evil. However, like the country itself, this style of film was forged through various external influences.
Explore some of the European influences which shaped Hollywood, from directors such as F.W. Murnau (German) and Michael Curtiz (Hungarian) and actresses Marlene Dietrich (German) and Greta Garbo (Swedish) who were courted by the American studios because of their success in 1920s Europe, through to those forced into exile to escape the rise of fascism in the 1930s like directors Billy Wilder (Austrian) and Fritz Lang (German).
All made an indelible mark in this most American of popular forms and created some of Hollywood’s most distinctive and enduring films which reflected a more complex world than the popular myth of Hollywood would have us believe. The strand ends with the 4K restoration of High Noon on its 70th anniversary.
Presented by Watershed Cinema Curator, Mark Cosgrove in collaboration with archive activists Invisible Women and Park Circus as part of Cinema Rediscovered on Tour, a Watershed project with support from BFI awarding funds from The National Lottery and MUBI.