Chapter 04: German Cinema of the Weimar Period, 1919-1929
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following countries had the LEAST developed film industry prior to World War I?
a. Italy
b. Great Britain
c. the United States
d. France
e. Germany
f. All of the above had highly developed industries.
2. Prior to World War I, the German cinema
a. produced many pornographic films.
b. had an extremely highly developed cinema culture.
c. produced lavish superspectacles.
d. were quite advanced in terms of narrative integration.
e. had no inventors working on cinema technology.
f. all of the above
3. The German version of film d’art was called
a. The Strassenfilme. d. The Autorenfilm.
b. The Kammerspielfilm. e. The Aufklärungsfilm.
c. The Universumfilm. f. none of the above
4. The Autorenfilm
a. introduced true cinematic innovation to the German cinema.
b. drew talent from the worlds of German theater and literature.
c. failed to raise the social stature of the German cinema.
d. did not emerge until after World War I.
e. was unlike any other movement in world cinema.
f. none of the above
5. The Student of Prague
a. was directed by Fritz Lang.
b. was based on several versions of the Faust legend.
c. was the most famous Autorenfilm.
d. was still fundamentally stage bound and theatrical in its presentational style.
e. had very evocative sets but unexceptional photography.
f. none of the above
6. The film that introduced the themes of horror and the supernatural that went on to characterize the
early German cinema was
a. Faust. d. Nosferatu.
b. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. e. The Golem.
c. The Student of Prague. f. none of the above
7. The first step toward improving the quantity and quality of the German cinema was
a. the importation of Swedish and Danish directors and technicians to the German industry.
b. the adaptation of classic literature and stage plays.
c. the founding of UFA.
d. the work of G. W. Pabst.
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
8. The UFA studios
a. were small and underequipped.
b. were run by the German government until the rise of the Nazis.
c. were constructed at great expense but then never fully utilized.
d. increased production space and capacity dramatically.
e. both c and d
f. none of the above
9. UFA
a. had no studio facilities of its own but used those of existing German studios.
b. was financed entirely by the German government, which closely administered the organization.
c. was established by government decree but remained largely privately held.
d. was only interested in the production of entertainment films and not propaganda.
e. included exhibitors, leaving movie theaters free to book any films they chose.
f. c, d, and e only
10. The company that was formed in 1917 through a forced merger of the major German production
companies, distributors, exhibitors, and the Prussian War Ministry’s film propaganda unit was
a. Autorenfilm. d. Parufamet.
b. Bufa (Bild und Film Amt). e. Terra-film AG.
c. Decla-Bioskop. f. none of the above
11. Before the end of the war, UFA did all of the following EXCEPT
a. increase German production facilities by tenfold.
b. bring the German film industry up to a level competitive with the rest of the world.
c. sell all the shares in the company owned by the government to private investors.
d. assemble a highly skilled team of producers, directors, writers, and technicians.
e. establish the feature film as the dominant cinematic product of the German industry.
f. All of the above occurred before the war.
12. After the war, UFA
a. monopolized the German film industry.
b. became the only studio to compete with Hollywood for the international market.
c. produced more than 60 percent of the films made in Germany during the 1920s.
d. immediately turned to horror as its first significant genre.
e. functioned primarily as a producer, leaving distribution to a host of smaller companies.
f. all of the above
13. The post-war cultural shift in Germany led to
a. an enthusiastic embrace of Germany’s past.
b. an increase in military censorship.
c. the banning of pornographic films.
d. the rise of Expressionism in the arts.
e. a rejection of experimental and avant-garde art.
f. all of the above
14. The Kostümfilme were
a. lavish dramas made to compete with the Italian spectacles.
b. a type of street film that preceded a movement toward greater realism.
c. pornography.
d. films of fantasy and terror that contained expressionistic devices.
e. intimate theater films with few locations.
f. none of the above
15. UFA’s first peacetime productions were
a. Autorenfilm. d. romantic comedies.
b. Kammerspielfilm. e. Kostümfilme.
c. Expressionist horror films. f. none of the above
16. Expressionism
a. was popular in cinema before World War I.
b. was never popular with the general public.
c. was never adopted by the cinema.
d. became prominent in the arts after World War I.
e. was rejected by Germany’s young artists after the war as an antiquated means of communicating
with the masses.
f. none of the above
17. The master of the German Kostümfilme was
a. Joe May. d. Robert Wiene.
b. Max Reinhardt. e. Ernst Lubitsch.
c. F. W. Murnau. f. none of the above
18. Passion and Deception
a. were early masterpieces directed by Fritz Lang.
b. were box-office failures that spelled the end of the Kostümfilme.
c. were not accurate in terms of period detail but were still very popular.
d. were characterized by dynamic crowd scenes, innovative camera angles, and brilliant artificial
lighting.
e. were the beginnings of a new realism in the German cinema that would last into the 1930s.
f. none of the above
19. Lubitsch’s work in Germany
a. was primarily in the genres of horror and action-adventure.
b. made use of fairly conventional camera work and editing.
c. produced among the most popular films in world cinema.
d. was shot entirely in natural sunlight.
e. was not appreciated by the German audience even if it was popular internationally.
f. all of the above
20. The German Kostümfilme
a. declined in popularity in 1924.
b. was less concerned with the accurate reproduction of period detail than with the construction of a
dramatic mise-en-scène.
c. were popular only in Germany since the rest of the world did not have the historical background
necessary to understand them.
d. remained incredibly popular throughout the 1920s, becoming the most important German genre of
the decade.
e. were cinematically regressive with static camera work and old-fashioned tableau editing.
f. none of the above
21. The writing team who conceived of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was
a. Janowitz and Lang. d. Mayer and Cesare.
b. Janowitz and Pommer. e. Cesare and Pommer.
c. Wiene and Mayer. f. none of the above
22. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
a. was cowritten by producer Erich Pommer.
b. features a somnambulist who can predict the future.
c. was produced by UFA.
d. was originally supposed to be directed by Murnau.
e. was based on a famous novel and stage play.
f. all of the above
23. The first director assigned to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was
a. Robert Weine. d. Fritz Lang.
b. Ernst Lubitsch. e. G. W. Pabst.
c. F. W. Murnau. f. none of the above
24. The visual world of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
a. utilizes extensive artificial lighting effects.
b. contains many geometrically balanced spaces.
c. represents the narrator’s tortured psyche.
d. might be described as studio constructed naturalism.
e. is far more the product of camera manipulation than mise-en-scène.
f. all of the above
25. The decision to use artificial backdrops in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was primarily inspired by
a. the artistic vision of the director.
b. the fact that electric power rationing made it cheaper to paint shadows on the set than cast them
using lights.
c. the screenplay, which specifically calls for painted backdrops.
d. the fact that the art directors could construct extremely realistic artificial backdrops.
e. the needs of the camera, which required artificial sets.
f. none of the above
26. The first true German Expressionist film was
a. Nosferatu. d. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
b. The Student of Prague. e. Homunculus.
c. Passion. f. none of the above
27. Cinematic Expressionism
a. was more difficult to achieve than in any other art form.
b. deals with morbid psychological states and troubled dreams.
c. created mood with lighting and set design.
d. represented a psychological reality as a tangible visual image.
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
28. The influence of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on the German cinema that followed can be seen in
a. its dynamic editing and camera movements.
b. its realistic location settings.
c. its objective visual depiction of the internal, subjective world.
d. its emphasis on thematic clarity.
e. its narrative complexity.
f. all of the above
29. The direct influence of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on other national cinemas was
a. immediate and profound.
b. delayed, but particularly significant in terms of set design.
c. negligible.
d. only important in terms of subject matter but not style.
e. nonexistent since the film was never shown outside Germany.
f. none of the above
30. Which of the following was NOT a reason for the German emphasis on studio production?
a. In the studio, directors could exercise greater control over the filmmaking process.
b. UFA had the largest and best-equipped studios in Europe.
c. There was an extremely high level of German studio craftsmanship.
d. It was far less expensive to shoot in the studio than on location.
e. The “studio constructivist” style was popular with directors and audiences.
f. All of the above are true.
31. The director of Der müde Tod was
a. F. W. Murnau. d. A. Dupont.
b. Fritz Lang. e. W. Pabst.
c. Robert Wiene. f. none of the above
32. Which of the following is NOT true of Der müde Tod?
a. It was cowritten by Lang’s wife, Thea von Harbou.
b. It was produced by UFA.
c. It reflected the postwar German obsession with doom.
d. It has a happy ending.
e. It falls within the stylistic boundaries of Expressionism.
f. All of the above are true.
33. Lang’s initial artistic training that would have a profound influence on his work as a director was in
the field of
a. music. d. photography.
b. painting. e. architecture.
c. poetry. f. none of the above
34. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
a. is the last silent film directed by Fritz Lang.
b. is about a master criminal not unlike Dr. Caligari.
c. departs from the style of Expressionism.
d. was based on Teutonic mythology.
e. reveals little of the architectural stylization Lang was known for.
f. none of the above
35. Which of the following Fritz Lang films were adapted from Teutonic mythology?
a. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler d. Kriemhild’s Revenge
b. Siegfried e. both b and d
c. Metropolis f. none of the above
36. Metropolis was reportedly inspired by which city’s skyline?
a. Berlin d. Moscow
b. Paris e. Chicago
c. New York f. none of the above
37. The first film to use the Schüfftan process was
a. Der müde Tod. d. Variety.
b. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. e. Metropolis.
c. The Last Laugh. f. none of the above
38. The Schüfftan process
a. was a rear-screen projection process.
b. was an editing technique.
c. involves miniatures reflected onto a magnifying mirrored surface.
d. combined animation with live action.
e. involved matte photography.
f. all of the above
39. Metropolis
a. is set in a worker’s utopia of the future.
b. is based on Teutonic mythology.
c. features very few special effects.
d. features futuristic architecture and technology.
e. was Lang’s first major silent film that established him in the German industry.
f. all of the above
40. Lang’s films reveal that Expressionism was
a. an art film movement predicated on special effects.
b. never dependent on manipulations of decor or lighting.
c. limited in terms of the subject matter it could express.
d. never very popular with audiences even if critics embraced it.
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
41. In the early part of F. W. Murnau’s career,
a. he was originally trained as an architect.
b. he started off directing Kostümfilme.
c. he began his career in cinema as a cameraman.
d. he worked almost exclusively in the Expressionist style.
e. he was an assistant to Fritz Lang.
f. none of the above
42. Which of the following is the best known of Murnau’s early films?
a. The Student of Prague
b. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
c. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
d. Nosferatu
e. Passion
f. All of the above are early Murnau films.
43. Nosferatu
a. is a credited, acknowledged adaptation of Dracula.
b. is artificially stylized as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
c. was shot entirely on sound stages.
d. was shot on location in central Europe.
e. was written by Mayer and Janowitz.
f. both b and e
44. Nosferatu
a. was independently produced with limited resources.
b. is considered one of the greatest films produced by UFA.
c. was photographed by Murnau himself who also served as art director.
d. is still renown for its brilliant narrative construction.
e. is primarily graphic in its use of Expressionist technique.
f. none of the above
45. Which of the following is the LEAST important technique for the production of Nosferatu’s
Expressionist style?
a. camera angle
b. lighting
c. production design
d. low-contrast photography
e. editing
f. All of the above were equally important for Murnau.
46. Which of the following cinematic techniques is NOT used in Nosferatu?
a. low-angle photography to make the vampire menacing
b. composition in depth to integrate character and landscape
c. the use of projected shadows to make the vampire more mysterious
d. bizarre, forced perspective sets to create a horrific atmosphere
e. All of the above are used in the film.
f. None of the above are used in the film.
47. The photography of Nosferatu
a. was done by Karl Freund, the only time he ever worked with Murnau.
b. minimizes the use of shadows through high key lighting.
c. used a shallow focal plane to isolate the characters from their environments.
d. used a low-contrast lighting with a wide range of grays rather than stark black-and-white.
e. was done by Murnau himself.
f. all of the above
48. The Kammerspielfilm
a. superseded Expressionism as the dominant genre in German cinema.
b. was just as stylized as Expressionism.
c. was begun by Nosferatu.
d. de-emphasized the importance of the screenplay.
e. rejected the morbid psychology of Expressionism.
f. all of the above
49. The screenwriter whose work provided the basis for Kammerspielfilm was
a. Lupu Pick. d. Fritz Arno Wagner.
b. Erich Pommer. e. Hans Janowitz.
c. Carl Mayer. f. none of the above
50. The best translation of the term Kammerspielfilm would be
a. street realism. d. romantic dialogue films.
b. fantasy or terror films. e. instinct or intimate theater films.
c. adventure or action films. f. none of the above
51. The Kammerspielfilm
a. features large casts with many extras.
b. features the extensive use of intertitles.
c. deals with the romantic problems of the upper class.
d. was stylistically unrelated to Expressionism.
e. generally sacrificed character development for spectacle.
f. none of the above
52. The person responsible for the original conception of the “unchained camera” in The Last Laugh was
a. director F. W. Murnau. d. producer Erich Pommer.
b. cinematographer Karl Freund. e. director Fritz Lang.
c. screenwriter Carl Mayer. f. none of the above
53. Karl Freund
a. was a cinematographer known for his camera mobility.
b. was a screenwriter known for his contributions to the development of Kammerspielfilm.
c. was a cinematographer known for his static compositions that featured a single plane of action.
d. invented the camera dolly.
e. became one of the most important directors of German Expressionism.
f. none of the above
54. The single most important cinematic technique in terms of the influence of The Last Laugh on
subsequent films was
a. set design. d. camera movement.
b. lighting. e. sound design.
c. editing. f. none of the above
55. The Last Laugh
a. has an unhappy ending.
b. is a perfectly constructed narrative but contains few technical innovations.
c. features primarily pans and tilts but few moves forward or backward.
d. has an incongruous conclusion.
e. was particularly difficult to shoot with only a hand-cranked camera.
f. none of the above
56. The film in which the camera descends in an elevator before moving through the lobby of a hotel and
into revolving doors is
a. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. d. Metropolis.
b. The Last Laugh. e. Pandora’s Box.
c. Nosferatu. f. none of the above
57. Which of the following was NOT a device used to move the camera in The Last Laugh?
a. a bicycle
b. a boom crane
c. overhead cables
d. a fire truck ladder
e. Karl Freund’s chest
f. All of the above were used to move the camera in The Last Laugh.
58. The subjective camera
a. cannot be accomplished without a dolly.
b. is unrelated to the use of any editing technique.
c. is less about what a character feels than what he sees.
d. physically becomes the eyes of a player in the film.
e. is only used sporadically in The Last Laugh.
f. all of the above
59. The Last Laugh creates a sense of subjective representation through
a. unrealistic set design. d. surrealistic lighting effects.
b. lap-dissolved montage. e. both b and c
c. erratic camera movements. f. all of the above
60. Which of the following best describes the narrational mode or voice employed by Murnau in The Last
Laugh?
a. first-person internal d. third person
b. first-person external e. all of the above except c
c. second person f. all of the above
61. Variety
a. made no significant impression on Hollywood filmmakers.
b. is the story of a hotel porter who loses his job and his dignity.
c. was directed by F. W. Murnau, his last German film before immigrating to the United States.
d. features even more dramatic camera movements than The Last Laugh.
e. was shot in a more conservative style than most German features of the time.
f. none of the above
62. Which of the following is an effect of the Dawes Plan on German cinema?
a. It stabilized the industry.
b. It slowed the import of American films.
c. It encouraged the growth of independent production companies.
d. It increased Hollywood investment in German theaters.
e. It made more capital available to the German film industry.
f. none of the above
63. By late 1925, UFA
a. had grown so large that it absorbed nearly all its competitors, creating a German film monopoly.
b. was on the brink of collapse due in part to extravagant production budgets.
c. was making so much money that it invested in the Hollywood studios Paramount and MGM.
d. had become the dominant studio across Europe to the degree that other countries imposed quotas
on imports.
e. had stabilized and was producing a continuous stream of popular films.
f. none of the above
64. The Parufamet Agreement
a. worked entirely to the advantage of German producers.
b. removed American influence from the German film market.
c. encouraged German talent to immigrate to Hollywood.
d. served to pull the studio out of debt and into profit.
e. gave UFA collaborative rights to Hollywood facilities, talent, and finance.
f. all of the above
65. The Hollywood studio and genre that owes the most to the influence of the German expatriate
filmmakers is
a. the Warner Brothers gangster film. d. the Universal horror film.
b. the Paramount screwball comedy. e. the 20th Century-Fox western.
c. the MGM musical. f. none of the above
66. The post–Parufamet genre that reflected a new realism in the German cinema was
a. the Autorenfilm. d. the Strassenfilme.
b. the Kostümfilme. e. the Expressionist horror film.
c. the Kammerspielfilm. f. none of the above
67. The street film
a. was part of the new subjectivity in German culture.
b. was characterized by cynicism, resignation, and disillusionment.
c. was a genre invented by G. W. Pabst.
d. was as visually stylized as the Kammerspielfilm.
e. rediscovered the psychological morbidity of Expressionism.
f. all of the above
68. The Joyless Street
a. achieved a cinematic dynamism through camera movement rather than editing.
b. depicts daughters of the lower classes enticing rich men to take cynical advantage of them.
c. was heavily censored in Germany but played all over the world in its original version.
d. was an attempt through narrative, mise-en-scène, and editing to represent “life as it is.”
e. was both sentimental and symbolic with many emotional metaphors structured into the film.
f. all of the above
69. Which of the following is NOT a fundamental technique of Pabst’s continuity editing system?
a. shot-reverse-shot
b. cutting on action
c. motivated point-of-view
d. matching eye-line
e. Only b and c are elements of Pabst’s system.
f. All of the above are components of Pabst’s continuity editing system.
70. The purpose of continuity editing is
a. to make every edit as meaningful as possible.
b. to render the edit essentially invisible.
c. to make the audience aware of the purpose of the cut.
d. to create metaphorical connections between people and objects.
e. to disorient the viewer by creating an impossible space.
f. none of the above
71. The director most responsible for codifying the continuity editing system is
a. D. W. Griffith. d. E. A. Dupont.
b. F. W. Murnau. e. G. W. Pabst.
c. C. B. DeMille. f. none of the above
72. G. W. Pabst
a. made his final two silent films with the American actress Louise Brooks.
b. abandoned the continuity editing system toward the end of the silent era.
c. never achieved commercial success.
d. abandoned any concerns of social realism by 1927.
e. turned to comedy in his later silent films.
f. all of the above
73. Which of the following was the most powerful factor in hastening the demise of UFA?
a. the rise of the Nazi party
b. emphasis on studio production, which became creatively stifling
c. economic instability, which crushed the studio with debt
d. the multi-faceted negative influence of Hollywood
e. the studio’s inability to make popular films
f. All of the above were factors, with none particularly significant.
74. Berlin, Symphony of a Great City
a. was codirected by Siodmak, Zinnemann, Ulmer, and Wilder.
b. is an intimate story of a boy and a girl lost in the city.
c. was directed by G. W. Pabst.
d. was the first work of Nazi propaganda.
e. employed candid camera and rhythmic montage.
f. only c and d