Post for Cabbage: Early cinema

March 28, 2007 at 11:13 am | Posted in Film | 8 Comments
Tags: cinema, Döblin, early cinema, Filmhistory, history, Naturalism

An excerpt from an essay by Alfred Döblin about the cinema – early cinema, as the text was written in 1909. Bibliographic details: Alfred Döblin: Das Theater der kleinen Leute. In: Das Theater. Volume 1, No. 8 (Decemver 1909), pp. 191-192. Cited from: Prolog vor dem Film: Nachdenken über ein neues Madium, 1909-1914. Edited and commented by Jörg Schweinitz. Leipzig: Reclam, 1992, pp. 153-155, here: p. 155.

Deutlich erhellt: der Kientopp ist ein vorzügliches Mittel gegen den Alkoholismus, schärfste Konkurrenz der Sechserdestillen; man achte, ob die Lebercirrhose und die Geburten epileptischer Kinder nicht in den nächsten zehn Jahren zurückgehen. Man nehme dem Volk und der Jugend nicht die Schundliteratur noch den Kientopp, sie brauchen die sehr blutige Kost ohne die breite Mehlpampe der volkstümlichen Literatur und die wässrigen Aufgüsse der Moral. Der Höhergebildete aber verläßt das Lokal, vor allem froh, dass das Kinema – schweigt.

An attempt at a translation:

Clearly illuminated: the cinema is an excellent remedy for alcoholism, the keenest competition of small distilleries; one should pay attention whether cirrhosis of the liver and the birth of epileptic children aren’t going to decrease over the next ten years. One should bereave the people and the youth of neither pulp fiction nor cinema, they need the very bloody fare without the common stodge of folklore literature and the dilute infusions of morality. The person of higher education, however, leaves the locale, above all glad that the cinema is – silent.

Kientopp is an early expression for small cinemas and came out of fashion with the introduction of bigger movie theatres that tried to imitate bourgeois theatre. Smoking and drinking was allowed, it was cheap and – to the horror of the self-proclaimed educators of society – men and women sat down together in the same darkened room.

A Sechserdestille isn’t exactly an illegal pub (I don’t think), but a small place where people went to get cheap and heavy booze.

You might know Alfred Döblin through his novel Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929). He wasn’t a naturalist, but is deemed the German equivalent of James Joyce. Nevertheless, and considering this piece above was written in 1909, it might be useful for your project. Schweinitz’s collection of early writings about film is a treasure trove really, but I don’t think translated into English. Maybe something similar exists, or the doyen of early cinema, Thomas Elsaesser has published something.

Maybe Jetsam has suggestions for improving my translation.