Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood (2009) (TV)

Director:

Karen Thomas

Writer:

Karen Thomas (written by)

Release Date:

1 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Eight hundred German filmmakers (cast and crew) fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The film uses voice-overs...

Cast

Sigourney Weaver	...	Herself - Narrator
Scott Subiono	...	Hans Salter (voice)
Sewell Whitney	...	Reporter / Bertolt Brecht (voice)
Scott Beehner	...	Henry Koster (voice)
George Alvarez	...	Curt Siodmak (voice)
Josh Nathan	...	Frederick Hollander (voice)
Kristin Lindquist	...	Salka Viertel (voice)
Lynne Maclean	...	Boszi Sakall (voice)
Robert Maffia	...	Erich Pommer (voice)
Vaughn Armstrong	...	Ernst Lubitsch (voice)
Lesli Margherita	...	Kitty Koster (voice)
Raphael Sbarge	...	Translator (voice)
Kevin Fabian	...	Miklos Rozsa (voice)

Directed by
Karen Thomas

Writing credits
Karen Thomas		(written by)

Produced by
Sonoko Aoyagi Leopold	....	coordinating producer
Ragan Carpenter	....	assistant producer
Kristin Lovejoy	....	supervising producer
Sophia Maroon	....	co-producer
Margaret Smilow	....	executive producer
Karen Thomas	....	executive producer
Karen Thomas	....	producer
Junko Tsunashima	....	supervising producer

Original Music by
Peter Rodgers Melnick		(as Peter Melnick)

Cinematography by
Joan Churchill
Emil Fischhaber

Film Editing by
Anny Lowery Meza

Sound Department
Alan Barker	....	sound
Kenneth Gilbert	....	sound designer

Editorial Department
Adam Lingo	....	finishing editor

Other crew
John W. Waxman	....	creative consultant (as John Waxman)

Thanks
Lillian Benson	....	special thanks
Kaja Fehr	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Deutsche Kinemathek für Film und Fernsehen (in association with) (as The Museum of Film and Television, Berlin)
• Film Odyssey
• Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA)
• Thirteen / WNET
• Turner Entertainment

Distributors

• ABC2 (2009) (Australia) (TV)
• PBS International (2009) (non-USA) (all media)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (2009) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

90 min | USA:117 min (PBS Broadcast)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:PG

Company:

Deutsche Kinemathek für Film und Fernsehen

"Leaving wasn't my idea. It was Hitler's"

The story of the leading talents of the German film industry of the 1920s has been told before. How the writers, composers,directors, actors, producers and cinematographers, (many, if not most, of whom were Jewish) were forced to leave by the rise of Hitler and how their arrival in Hollywood introduced new styles and new ideas to the world's largest movie factories is a part of every American cinema history book.

This documentary is different. It covers the participants' individual stories in greater depth. While some exiles achieved fame (Marlene Dietrich, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Billy Wilder, Franz Waxman) others, such as Joe May and Erich Pommer were less adaptable and thus left their best efforts behind them.

"Cinema's Exiles" is a visual feast. The film clips are first rate and the home movies are remarkable. There are stills and excerpts and interviews that I had never seen before. The roll call of émigrés from the film "Casablanca" was especially revealing.