The films of the 40s
The films of the 1940s are interesting from several perspectives. For on the one hand, the Second World War leaves behind a Europe that is literally in ruins. The Nazis try to keep the morale of the people alive with slogans of perseverance and Zarah Leander sings on the screen Davon geht die Welt nicht unter. On the other hand, the 1940s are interesting because in Germany and Hollywood film had already established itself as an independent art form and alternative to theatre and the often lavish revue shows. Film stars far outstripped the notoriety of regular theatre actors.
To the Zeitgeist
Cinemas now exist in almost every major city and the television set is already being tested in the 40s. In rural areas, projectionists still travel through community halls showing the new popular cinema films. At a time when films are not yet watched at home, such screenings are definitely social events that are attended. Children look forward to cartoons and westerns with "Fuzzi" and adults are enthusiastic about Heimatfilme or films with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergmann. The popularity of the audience favourites is similar to that of today's stars.
Furthermore, the films help the population get over the harsh reality of their destroyed Europe a little. The world begins to move a little closer together.
About the films
The 40s cinema of the Germans is supposed to distract a little from the devastating traces of the war years. Among the best German films is the much-cited Feuerzangenbowle with Heinz Rühmann. Hans Albers also enjoys great popularity with Große Freiheit Nummer 7.
In America, on the other hand, audience favourite Charlie Chaplin dares to make a biting satire on Hitler's Nazi Germany with his film The Great Dictator. In the course of this film, he wrote a speech for democracy that is still very moving today. This speech has hardly lost any of its relevance and is unique in the film world:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY9_rA2RSsE
Food for thought:
This speech could stand 1:1 as a manifesto of our time. As a society, one might ask where we are heading when texts that are over seventy years old hit us where it is topical. This is true not only for Chaplin's speech but also for many other texts from the world of literature.
In Hollywood, the 1940s certainly bring about quite different classics: Humphrey Bogart shines in Casablanca and Walt Disney celebrates great successes with Pinoccio and Fantasia. Cinema makes possible what was previously unthinkable on the stage. Trick technology and cinematography take the viewer into a whole new world...
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The Stars
Many of the stars and also films of the 40s are still familiar to the "older generation". You will hardly find anyone born in the 60s who cannot quote passages from Rühmann's Feuerzangenbowle. Just like Germany, of course, Hollywood has its stars that everyone still knows today. Gary Cooper and Betty Grable still enjoy world fame.
Along with the films, the careers of the actors were taken to virtually every corner of the world. This enthusiasm still clings to the film industry today and contributes significantly to its success. It is not uncommon for films to be watched only because this or that actor or actress is in them. This enthusiasm may not have been quite so pronounced in the 1940s - simply because there were far fewer films - but the audience certainly already had its favourites and idols.
A timeless character
The big hits of the 1940s are no longer shown in cinemas, although we know that films such as Feuerzangenbowle are shown on the big screen at various events. Now and then, though not regularly, films of the 40s fall into the holiday programme of some TV stations and it is likely to catch [nbsp]The Great Dictator[nbsp]or Feuerzangenbowle on a TV evening.
The fact that such films are shown on television again and again underlines their timeless character. Literature fans like to balk at taking the film industry as seriously as rows of shelves of old books. In the meantime, however, after its history of over a hundred years, film has a firm place in culture. Not only as "stupid entertainment", but also as an art medium to be taken seriously.
Many fans of these old films like to refer to the special "flair" of these works, which are still shot in black and white and thus offer a small glimpse into the dealings and structure of the "world" of our grandparents or great-grandparents. None of these 40s films can be regarded as a real document of the times. In their totality, however, they very much give a picture of the prevailing attitude to life at that time. At the same time, they visualise their time more precisely than many books of the time.
Do the 40s films have a future?
Thanks to our new digital technologies, it is unlikely that these old films will disappear completely. In fact, even restorers are engaged in the preservation and digital processing of old film reels. Even if we are denied a glimpse into the distant future, it would be interesting to know which of these films have carried themselves through the centuries.
In the mid-20th century, for example, archaeologists in Syria discovered the world's oldest song on a tablet written in cuneiform. The song was dated to 1400 BC, making it around 3400 years old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpxN2VXPMLc
It is not really "groovy" but vividly conveys the difference to modern hits. In the same way, films could one day document "our time" - even at the risk that children of the future will find the films of Heinz Rühmann and Gary Cooper insanely lame.
What will hopefully endure far into the future is Chaplin's speech from The Great Dictator and perhaps the humour of the teachers at higher educational institutions in Rühmann's Feuerzangenbowle. Not to mention the Immortal Love of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind....
In that respect, films will certainly reach beyond the reach of literary classics. Whereas in the 1940s people might have read more than watched films, even in some circumstances, today the tide has turned and time is not likely to turn back. So in the future, lavishly produced films will certainly have more reach than the new releases on the book market. This means that films from the 1940s will be more interesting for a wider audience - especially if they already have a kind of "cult status".
In this respect, "digitisation" is certainly to be welcomed. While there is also the possibility of obtaining books on digital formats, the trend is already emerging that films will receive far more attention in this development. At least it is easier to get an old film on the internet than the complete works of Franz Kafka or Günter Grass.
