William Thiele is remembered today as the father of the sound film operetta with seminal classics such as Drei von der Tankstelle (1930). While often considered among the most accomplished directors of Late Weimar cinema, as an Austrian Jew he was vilified during the onset of the Nazi regime in 1933 and fled to the United States where he continued making films until the end of his career in 1960. Enchanted by Cinema closely examines the European musical film pioneers work and his cross-cultural perspective across forty years of filmography in Berlin and Hollywood to account for his popularity while discussing issues of ethnicity, exile, comedy, music, gender, and race.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Foreword
David Thiele and Linda Thiele
Introduction
Jan-Christopher Horak and Andréas-Benjamin Seyfert
Part I: Wilhelm Thieles Early Career
Chapter
1. Towards Thiele: A Director in the Making
Philipp Stiasny
Chapter
2. Across Studio Borders: From Hurra, ich lebe (1928) to The Ghost
Comes Home (1940)
Andréas-Benjamin Seyfert
Chapter
3. Modeling Female Agency: Wilhelm Thieles Adieu Macotte (1929)
Heike Klapdor
Part II: Thiele in Europes Sound Film Babel, 19291933
Chapter
4. From Liebeswalzer (1930) to Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1930):
Thiele and the Formation of the UFA Sound Film Operetta
Michael Wedel
Chapter
5. Why Settle So Low?: Fantasies of Female Self-Fulfillment in
Wilhelm Thieles Die Privatsekretärin (1931)
Christian Rogowski
Chapter
6. Greater Success Than Ever Before in Your New Workshop: Wilhelm
Thiele in Britain
Geoff Brown
Chapter
7. Fate Goes Like This, and Everythings Gone: Großfürstin
Alexandra (1933), Exile, and Renunciation
Anjeana K. Hans
Part III: Thiele in Hollywood, 19351946
Chapter
8. Embracing the Off-White: Race and Sex in William Thieles Jungle
Princess (1936)
Valerie Weinstein
Chapter
9. Times of Adjustment: Celebrated Innocence and Mass Production in
Beg, Borrow or Steal (1937), Bridal Suite (1939), and Bad Little Angel
(1940)
Imme Klages
Chapter
10. Me Thiele, You Tarzan
Marianna Torgovnick
Chapter
11. Im a Bit Gloomy This Evening. Forgotten Noir: The Madonnas
Secret (1946)
Christian Cargnelli
Part IV: American Television and Post-War Germany, 19491960
Chapter
12. Thiele at Apex
Jan-Christopher Horak
Chapter
13. The Misfits Make America: Wilhelm Thieles The Lone Ranger
Episodes
A. Dana Weber
Chapter
14. William Thieles Last Hurrah: Der letzte Fußgänger (1960) and
Sabine und die 100 Männer (1960)
Jan-Christopher Horak
Conclusion
Jan-Christopher Horak and Andréas-Benjamin Seyfert
Coda
Filmography
Hans-Michael Bock
Interview with W. and B. Thiele
Jan-Christopher Horak
In His Brothers Shadow: The Cinema of Eugen Thiele
Armin Loacker
Jan-Christopher Horak is former Director of UCLA Film & Television Archive. Previously he was Director at Munich Filmmuseum, and Curator, George Eastman Museum. He has had professorships in Rochester, Munich, Salzburg, UCLA, and Miami, and presently is teaching at Chapman. He has published more than three hundred articles and reviews in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Swedish, Japanese, and Hebrew publications.
