Extract

This study closes a gap in scholarship as it represents the first comprehensive overview of German popular cinema of the 1960s written in English. German popular cinema was in the past shunned by film scholars in favour of both so-called expressionist films and the period of New German Cinema of the 1970s and early 1980s. Both scholars and students will find this book very helpful; the author presents his in-depth knowledge of the background and material in a very accessible writing style. Non-German readers will profit from a sympathetic introduction into cultural traditions with which they might be less familiar, such as the iconic status of Karl May's adventure and Wild-West novels. To the film scholar, Bergfelder's comprehensive reconstruction of Arthur Brauner's role in post-war film production will be of great value. The book also contains a useful filmography covering some of the big genre cycles of the period, including Edgar Wallace, Jerry Cotton and Fu Manchu films.

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