Director: Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer
Year: 1930
Run-time: 1 hr 13 min
Source: Criterion Channel
Wikipedia
Notable for: Having all the hallmarks of a modern independent movie, including non-actors playing versions of themselves, and largely improvised scenes. The film brought together five filmmakers at the beginning of their careers - most of them would later emigrate to America and pioneer the film noir genre.
The film is also the perfect snapshot of Weimar Germany at its peak, showing five aimless young people with no idea of the tragedy that their country would endure before too long. The film's naturalistic style would become hugely influential in America, and is another instance of the free exchange of ideas between America and Germany at the time. Along with Pandora's Box and its epitome of the American "flapper", this film would embody American glorification of the working class. (In many ways it parallels Mother Krause's Journey to Happiness, without that film's proletarian message.
Verdict: The performances are outstanding - I blithely assumed that the intertitles proclaiming the stars as non-actors were exaggerations. In what is a very simple film, there are so many wonderful details to unpack, like the male characters' grandstanding or the females' rivalry. There's nothing here that wouldn't be done in a more sophisticated way later on, but as a piece of cultural history it's fascinating. This is one that I wished I owned in some fashion.
Perfect Pairing: It would make a good prologue to the Joe Swanberg series Easy. I'm not the first to suggest People on Sunday as the first "mumblecore" feature, but in its dealing with simple and even mundane romantic themes, it has even more in common than basic style.
Year: 1930
Run-time: 1 hr 13 min
Source: Criterion Channel
Wikipedia
Notable for: Having all the hallmarks of a modern independent movie, including non-actors playing versions of themselves, and largely improvised scenes. The film brought together five filmmakers at the beginning of their careers - most of them would later emigrate to America and pioneer the film noir genre.
The film is also the perfect snapshot of Weimar Germany at its peak, showing five aimless young people with no idea of the tragedy that their country would endure before too long. The film's naturalistic style would become hugely influential in America, and is another instance of the free exchange of ideas between America and Germany at the time. Along with Pandora's Box and its epitome of the American "flapper", this film would embody American glorification of the working class. (In many ways it parallels Mother Krause's Journey to Happiness, without that film's proletarian message.
Verdict: The performances are outstanding - I blithely assumed that the intertitles proclaiming the stars as non-actors were exaggerations. In what is a very simple film, there are so many wonderful details to unpack, like the male characters' grandstanding or the females' rivalry. There's nothing here that wouldn't be done in a more sophisticated way later on, but as a piece of cultural history it's fascinating. This is one that I wished I owned in some fashion.
Perfect Pairing: It would make a good prologue to the Joe Swanberg series Easy. I'm not the first to suggest People on Sunday as the first "mumblecore" feature, but in its dealing with simple and even mundane romantic themes, it has even more in common than basic style.
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