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 World War I 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 and it is no accident that this renewed interest coincided with the collapse of the Berlin Wall. This book emphasises culture as an important factor: cultural historians have taken the lead in rewriting the traditional view of World War I and its impact on the 20th-century. At about the same time, film historians were preparing a radical revision of the early history of moving pictures. This volume brings together the two strands of scholarly research. Historians of different backgrounds and nationalities open up new fields of inquiry, asking unexpected questions, disclosing unusual sources and developing sophisticated methods of research.
The topic has many sides to it, ranging from changes in film style to the reactions of audiences, from the function of film stars to the definition of genres, from national cinema to international stereotypes, from historical representations to state interference. The Great War marked a critical period in the history of cinema that has come under scrutiny only recently. Patterns of film distribution were disrupted and governments began to regard the new medium as part of the war effort, playing an active role in film making. While the trenches were bombed, film attendence boomed and new cinemas mushroomed. Charlie Chaplin attracted huge crowds in Europe, but the images of war did not. These and other aspects of a film culture in transition are analysed in more than 20 contributions.