From the 1920s onwards, new ways of staging were being experimented with in Russia through an innovative use of montage. Director Franz Rossak was also influenced by this artistic excitement in making Mr. Pim’s Trip to Europe. The film was conceived as a propaganda film for the Social Democratic Party in Red Vienna. Reality and fiction, as well as old and new, meet here to create something totally innovative for the time and with very specific aims.
In 1928, the Vossische Zeitung first published All quiet on the Western Front in serial form. Erich Maria Remarque was still an almost unknown author. At last, one got a glimpse of the war as observed by someone who had experienced it first-hand by fighting on the front. War was seen here as an event that only served to enrich the mighty.
The films Die Schreckentage von Wien by Rudi Mayer and October by Sergei Eisenstein deal with two similar topics, but seem, at the same time, completely antithetical in their directorial approaches. While in Mayer’s film, in fact, the July Revolt basically shows us how a protest caused significant damage to the city, Eisenstein’s film focuses on the needs of the citizens.
In the course of just two years, we see how people began to become more aware of their identity and rights. What better medium, then, than cinema to finally give them a voice? In this sense, then, Austrian proletarian cinema played a central role.
With regard to the emergence of Austrian proletarian cinema, documentaries showing us not only strikes and protests, but also events such as funeral ceremonies proved to be excellent historical documents showing us the participation of the people in certain demonstrations, but also the consideration given to the various social classes.
What led to the birth of Austrian proletarian cinema were, in particular, three events, three fundamental dates that made the seventh art gradually take a certain direction.
In the years around World War I, the need to defend oneself from the ugliness of a dramatic present and to try to keep every slightest hope for the future was felt more strongly than ever. The seventh art did not remain indifferent and in these years took a totally new direction, becoming the voice of every human being, his weaknesses, his fears, his desperate desire for happiness.
During World War I, certain production companies were commissioned by the army and the monarchy to make the best use of cinema for propaganda purposes. The shooting of films, however, was not always simple and straightforward.
The propaganda films made during World War I were primarily intended to convey to the nation and the world the image of a strong, victorious Austria that would do anything for the wellbeing of its citizens. Yet there are certain documentaries that, almost unintentionally, conveyed a very different message to the audience.
In the documentaries made during World War I, it was the camera and editing that decided what was to be shown to the viewer, which images from the front could best convey the idea of war and impress the audience, while at the same time conveying the image of a victorious Austria.