Giants, sultans, and other strangers: Fritz Kortner in British cinema, 1934-37
Giants, sultans, and other strangers: Fritz Kortner in British cinema, 1934-37
This article charts the brief British film career (1934–7) of renowned German-Jewish actor and director Fritz Kortner (1892–1970). Although this period has often been neglected and regarded as insignificant in previous accounts of Kortner's life, this article argues that there is much to discover in his cinematic activity during this time, in terms of variety of performance approaches and techniques, of sometimes openly racially inflected and sometimes more coded characterisations, as well of explicit attempts by Kortner to make a political intervention. The article also compares the reception of Kortner by different audiences and constituencies, including the British press, Kortner's fellow émigrés across Europe, particularly in his original homeland of Austria, and as far afield as Palestine.
british cinema of the 1930s, exile actors, film performance, fritz kortner, jewish film-makers
683-708
Bergfelder, Tim
fb4e3b67-06fd-4b9f-9a94-bc73a1c7c16d
October 2013
Bergfelder, Tim
fb4e3b67-06fd-4b9f-9a94-bc73a1c7c16d
Bergfelder, Tim
(2013)
Giants, sultans, and other strangers: Fritz Kortner in British cinema, 1934-37.
Journal of British Cinema and Television, 10 (4), .
(doi:10.3366/jbctv.2013.0170).
Abstract
This article charts the brief British film career (1934–7) of renowned German-Jewish actor and director Fritz Kortner (1892–1970). Although this period has often been neglected and regarded as insignificant in previous accounts of Kortner's life, this article argues that there is much to discover in his cinematic activity during this time, in terms of variety of performance approaches and techniques, of sometimes openly racially inflected and sometimes more coded characterisations, as well of explicit attempts by Kortner to make a political intervention. The article also compares the reception of Kortner by different audiences and constituencies, including the British press, Kortner's fellow émigrés across Europe, particularly in his original homeland of Austria, and as far afield as Palestine.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: October 2013
Keywords:
british cinema of the 1930s, exile actors, film performance, fritz kortner, jewish film-makers
Organisations:
Film
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 341593
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/341593
ISSN: 1743-4521
PURE UUID: 96669bad-3e76-4094-a06c-0a0573b4fe90
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 30 Jul 2012 10:32
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:51
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
