When Europe Made Hollywood: From Sunrise to High Noon
Still from Casablanca, part of Cinema Rediscovered

When Europe Made Hollywood: From Sunrise to High Noon

Cinema Rediscovered 2022

Season

Please note : this season finished in July 2022

An exploration of how European filmmakers shaped American popular film.

A Hollywood movie is the quintessential form of American cinema: entertainment with a side order of escapism where good triumphs over evil. However, like the country itself, this style of film was forged through various external influences.

Explore some of the European influences which shaped Hollywood, from directors such as F.W. Murnau (German) and Michael Curtiz (Hungarian) and actresses Marlene Dietrich (German) and Greta Garbo (Swedish) who were courted by the American studios because of their success in 1920s Europe, through to those forced into exile to escape the rise of fascism in the 1930s like directors Billy Wilder (Austrian) and Fritz Lang (German).

All made an indelible mark in this most American of popular forms and created some of Hollywood’s most distinctive and enduring films which reflected a more complex world than the popular myth of Hollywood would have us believe. The strand ends with the 4K restoration of High Noon on its 70th anniversary.

Presented by Watershed Cinema Curator, Mark Cosgrove in collaboration with archive activists Invisible Women and Park Circus as part of Cinema Rediscovered on Tour, a Watershed project with support from BFI awarding funds from The National Lottery and MUBI.


Previous screenings in this season

UK Premiere: High Noon

classified U When Europe Made Hollywood
UK Premiere: High Noon
Please note: This was screened in July 2022
Film

Gary Cooper won an Oscar® for his role as Marshal Will Kane, forced to stand alone when an outlaw he put away returns from prison.

The Killers

classified PG When Europe Made Hollywood
The Killers
Please note: This was screened in July 2022
Film

Adapted from a Hemingway short story, The Killers is essential post-war existential cinema where our doomed hero awaits his inevitable violent death.

Casablanca

classified 12A When Europe Made Hollywood
Casablanca
Please note: This was screened in July 2022
Film

A timeless love story wrapped inside a gripping wartime thriller that focuses on the rekindled love experienced by American expat Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and the beautiful, married Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman).

Double Indemnity

classified PG When Europe Made Hollywood
Double Indemnity
Please note: This was screened in July 2022
Film

Billy Wilder's sizzling, simmering tale of seduction and murder where our wise cracking hero, insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) is seduced way out of his depth by the bracelet charms, and more, of Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck).

Fury

classified PG When Europe Made Hollywood
Fury
Please note: This was screened in July 2022
Film

Fritz Lang's first American film is a searing indictment of mob justice and lynching - and still a striking cautionary tale.

Queen Christina

classified U When Europe Made Hollywood
Queen Christina
Please note: This was screened in July 2022
Film

One of the era’s most sophisticated examinations of gender and identity with Garbo perfect as the bisexual Swedish monarch who was raised from birth as a boy.

Shanghai Express

classified PG PS When Europe Made Hollywood
Shanghai Express
Please note: This was screened in July 2022
Film

Marlene Dietrich is at her wicked best as Shanghai Lily, a courtesan whose reputation brings a hint of scandal to a train ride through war-torn China.

Sunrise: A Song of two Humans

classified U When Europe Made Hollywood
Sunrise: A Song of two Humans
Please note: This was screened in July 2022
Film

Made in the twilight of the silent era Sunrise is a milestone of Film Expressionism and one of the few films to instantly achieve legendary status.

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