Special Effects and German Silent Film

This book examines special effects as the embodiment of a "techno-romantic" paradigm that seeks to harness technology - the epitome of modern materialism - as a means for accessing a spiritual realm. Employed to visualize ideas and emotions in a medium-specific way, special effects thus paved the way for film art.

Katharina Loew is Associate Professor of German and Cinema Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Acknowledgements, Introduction: Special effects and the techno-romantic paradigm, Chapter 1. Imagining technological art: Early German film theory, Chapter 2. Modern magicians: Guido Seeber and Eugen Schüfftan, Chapter 3. The uncanny mirror: Der Student von Prag (1913), Chapter 4. Visualizing the occult: Nosferatu (1922), Chapter 5. The technological sublime: Metropolis (1927), Chapter 6. German technique and Hollywood, Conclusion: Techno-romantic cinema from the silent to the digital era, Bibliography, Index