Film and the First World War

The years between 1914 and 1918 form a crucial period in world history as well as in film history. For some time, it was believed that a serious debate about the First World War had been made redundant by the events that followed later. Today, however, it is clear that the Great War has become the focus of critical attention once again.What is new in this discussion is the emphasis on culture as an important factor: cultural historians have taken the lead in rewriting the traditional view of the First World War and its impact on the twentieth century. At about the same time, film historians were preparing a radical revision of the early history of moving pictures. In the present volume, the two strands of scholarly research will meet for the first time. The result is a book like a battleground of new, heretic, and stimulating views on film and culture in days that shook the world. Historians of different backgrounds and nationalities open up new fields of inquiry, asking unexpected questions, disclosing unusual sources and developing sophisticated methods of research.Film and the First World War is a demonstration of multi-disciplinarity. This topic has many sides to it, ranging from changes in film style to the reactions of audiences, from the function of film start to the definition of genres, from national cinema to international stereotypes, from historical representations to state interference. These and other aspects of a film culture in transition are analysed in more than twenty contributions.