Third Reich Cinema and Film Theory

© 2016 IAMHIST & Taylor & Francis. In the Third Reich, theoretical discourse was rarely presented out of genuine epistemological interest. It was rather linked to national objectives in the service of National Socialism. The same can be said about the realm of film: theoretical engagement with cinema (at the time often referred to as film 'dramaturgy') was situated at the crossroads of art, technology, ideology and economy. This article investigates how it was especially the duality between profit and propaganda that informed film theory and criticism during the Nazi years in Germany. In so doing, it goes beyond the role of Goebbels and his Propaganda Ministry by drawing attention to a new generation of authors who fundamentally shaped discourses on film. Our investigation in particular concentrates on the writings by Hans Traub, Gunter Groll, Bruno Rehlinger, Fritz Hippler, Peter von Werder, Leonhard Fürst, Wolfgang Liebeneiner, Frank Maraun and Hans Weidemann. It was not only through monographs or articles in high-profile trade journals that they played a significant role, but also by way of their ability to occupy key positions within the German film industry. They were able to firmly position themselves between theory and practice by maintaining professional networks that warrant closer scrutiny. Our article demonstrates that their call for an 'applied theory' - that is a theoretical apparatus that could be developed into codes of practice able to help reducing the risk of film projects to fail - was inherently problematic. Theorising as an intellectual process was ultimately limited within the confines of a totalitarian state. The article shows to what extent film theory in Nazi Germany semantically reconfigured existing theoretical ideas that can be traced back to Weimar Germany and to theorists of Jewish origin such as Béla Balázs in line with the ideological and commercial imperatives of those in power.