German National Cinema (National Cinemas) - Hardcover

""German National Cinema provides colleagues and students with a stimulating and comprehensive historical summary of German cinema from Skladanowsky to Tykwer. The author's arguments are cogent, persuasive, and incorporate numerous current theoretical approaches without the use of technical jargon. It will serve as a valuable resource tool for colleagues teaching German cinema and should be in every college library." -Franz A. Birgel, Muhlenberg College "Hake (German studies, Univ. of Pittsburgh) offers an impressively comprehensive account that bristles with intriguing questions and opens new perspectives on many of the seven phases she persuasively identifies in German film history. She provides a more balanced presentation of the 1950s than has heretofore been available in English and also does a good job sketching East German cinema and the new initiatives since national reunification in 1991." -S. Liebman, "CHOICE ..."an excellent introduction to the history of German cinema." -Jaimey Fisher, Tulane University "German Studies Review, 2003

Sabine Hake presents the second edition of her comprehensive account of German cinema from its origins to the present. From The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to Run Lola Run, Hake examines a range of films in relation to the social, political, economic and technological events surrounding them.

The second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to include: an expansion of the final chapter on Post-unification cinema; references to recent film releases (through 2006) such as Downfall, Goodbye Lenin, and The Edukators; Analysis of German-Turkish cinema, gay and lesbian cinema, new documentary styles (Berlin School), and the question of postnational or transnational cinema.

Covering a wide range of genres, Hake assesses the work of directors and stars alike, exploring the competing definitions of German cinema as art cinema, quality entertainment, political propaganda and rival of Hollywood.