I'm glad I got to see this, having read Kracauer's book about twelve years ago. It is a bit stuffy and pedantic, but still a marvelous look at a huge period in cinema, the Weimar. We are informed of the movement in Germany that took place after the First World War. Germany, decimated by the restrictions and punishments in Versailles, began to rebuild. The problem was that they were building their future on sand. Meaningless jobs and overpayment for work that really contributed little to the restoration had to have an end. Soon inflation reared its ugly head. Of course, the Jews were going to be blamed. Hitler took care of that. Kracauer's thesis is that the budding film industry predicted the coming of the National Socialist Party. He points particularly to the close knittedness of the youth that were about to be disenfranchised. He asks where they will be in thirty years. Also, many times of the films of the time presented us with megalomaniacs or those of evil intent. Women seemed to be diminished in the films. Also, there was a sort of mob order to the characters. Positives of the documentary are that it is nicely ordered to prove the point. There are numerous clips to support the thesis. I'm greedy, however, and would like to have seen a bit more. Nevertheless, the quality of the clips is quite good. It has led me to take a further look at some of the Fritz Lang and F. W. Murnau films that are seldom seen. I'm glad the TCM has seen fit to do more than show their catalogue of films. Let's hope for even more of these kinds of things.