Journal article
Moving picture puzzles: training urban perception in the Weimar "rebus films"
Screen (London), Vol.51(3), pp.197-218
09/01/2010
DOI: 10.1093/screen/hjq017
Abstract
Discusses the short-lived genre of the "Rebus-Film", a series of short animated crossword puzzles by German director Paul Leni, scriptwriter Hans Brennert and cinematographer Guido Seeber, which ran in German theatres as a prelude to the main feature in Weimar Germany, 1925-27. Argues that the rebus films should be seen as an important part of the history of puzzles, and of thinking about the activity of puzzle-solving with regard to changing forms of subjectivity, in the modern period. Riding the wave of "crossword mania" that swept the USA and Europe in the 1920s, the films harnessed the properties of time and movement inherent to the filmic medium in order to transform the print puzzle into a forum for testing new modes of distracted perception and divided attention particularly appropriate to the urban environment. (Quotes from original text)
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Moving picture puzzles: training urban perception in the Weimar "rebus films"
- Creators
- Michael Cowan
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Screen (London), Vol.51(3), pp.197-218
- DOI
- 10.1093/screen/hjq017
- ISSN
- 0036-9543
- eISSN
- 1460-2474
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2010
- Academic Unit
- Cinematic Arts
- Record Identifier
- 9984430339502771
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