I can look at expressionist paintings all day though. Best art style evar
I guess that's another thing with silent films. They also have a lot more to do with pure photography than movies today. Since cameras couldn't move much back then, you were basically stuck with one view per shot, which meant more care had to be put into the composition of shots, similar to photography. The positions of actors and lighting is arguably even more important, but it also makes it easier to do the expressionist shadowplay-y stuff.
What films featuring German expressionism would you recommend, TVC? I've only seen a few during film classes - the stuff every film student watches in college, I guess.
Fritz Lang's silent movies. He's a good source because of the variety. Expressionist visuals seem to get shoehorned into being noiry, but Lang showed they had range. Mabuse, Metropolis, Woman in the Moon, M. . .all glorious and all in different genres. If you want something that's long (like 5 hours long) and something of a mixed bag, check out Lang's filmed version of Die Nibelungen. You can't argue with visuals like this:
Due to its nature, Die Nibelungen isn't quite what I'd hold up as an example of expressionism. Lang doesn't have a lot of sharp angles to work with. It does have it's expressionist moments, though, and expressionism or not, it is a glorious looking film.
Murnau's got some good ones, too. Nosferatu, of course. Oh, and The Last Laugh. Well, that is not really textbook expressionism, either, but it's a really fucking awesome Murnau silent movie. I want to check out Murnau's Phantom.
Oh and Caligari, too, of course.
