jjares reviewed on 12/28/2019 + 3552 more book reviews

Because I'd only vaguely heard of this Austrian-American filmmaker, I wanted to read his life. Most of his work was done in the silent movie era, but he had a unique way of looking at life and film. He created the film noir movement and was the first person to film science fiction. He is also one of the best-known proponents of Germany's school of Expressionism.

He was born in a family where his Jewish mother converted to Catholicism and raised Fritz as a Catholic. When Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Ministry of Propaganda, offered him a job, Fritz escaped Germany that night. Jewishness is conferred through one's mother. When Fritz told Goebbels that his mother's parents were Jewish, Goebbels wasn't concerned. But Fritz was. He left his wife and took the train to Paris. She became a committed propaganda writer and divorced him the next year.

Fritz did not make a great number of films but the ones he made were landmark statements or classics (in some way). He was nearly blind at the time of his death. I thought this book was a balanced look at his personal life, an evaluation of his works, and a summary of the effects he had on film.

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