Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood

The early filmmaking years in European countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Italy leading up to World War I.

The title comes from a comment that Danish director Carl Dreyer made about Swedish director Victor Sjostrom, and the focus here is on the Svensk studio and the role played by adaptations of contemporary novels by the author Selma Lagerlof.

More free flowing movement of the camera is associated with the silent cinema in Germany.

British silent film was small and old fashioned ; many actors snubbed working in movies and few establishment society figures respected directing. Documentary, however, was a field where there was a distinctive contribution.

With sound, the problem of regional accents arose, and cooperation between national cinemas was thwarted by the rise of the Nazis in Germany.