Abstract

The legacy of emigrés in the British film industry, from the silent film era until after the Second World War, has been largely neglected in the scholarly literature. Destination London is the first book to redress this imbalance. Focusing on areas such as exile, genre, technological transfer, professional training and education, cross-cultural exchange and representation, it begins by mapping the reasons for this neglect before examining the contributions made to British cinema by emigré directors, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers, set designers, and composers. It goes on to assess the cultural and economic contexts of transnational industry collaborations in the 1920s, artistic cosmopolitanism in the 1930s, and anti-Nazi propaganda in the 1940s.

Tim Bergfelder is Professor in Film at the University of Southampton. He is the author of International Adventures: Popular German Cinema and European Co-Productions in the 1960s (2005). His co-edited or co-authored volumes include The German Cinema Book (2002), The Titanic in Myth and Memory: Representations in Visual and Literary Culture (2004), and Film Architecture and the Transnational Imagination (2007).

“…addresses one of the historically most neglected topics in exile studies…[The] chapters…are of a very high quality, written in an accessible and engaging style… Hopefully, Destination London will inspire more examinations of German speaking émigré film makers in Britain.”  ·  Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

“…the volume not only makes a significant contribution to film history, it also further intervenes in broader contemporary debates on transnationalism in and beyond Germany. The scope of this intervention is drawn out admirably in Bergfelder’s introduction.”  ·  Monatshefte

“This anthology addresses a subject which has long needed careful documentation and is one which Bergfelder and Cargnelli… are probably uniquely equipped to deal with. This is a book which genuinely fills a gap (is there any other legitimate reason for a book’s existence?) and in doing so is eminently readable as well as scholarly…there is more work to be done in this field of enquiry but this anthology ensures that the project is well under way.”   ·  Journal of British Cinema and Television

"Rarely have essays in a collection been written so fluently and interesting as is the case here; successful translations from the German add to the overall positive impression. Bergfelder and Cargnelli succeeded in producing a most attractive volume."  ·  rezens.tfm

“All the essays of this volume are interesting to read and thoroughly researched. Altogether, they prompt new reflections on aspects of British cinema in the early years of frequent co-production and later during the flow of film personnel escaping the Nazi regime. Moreover, this study clearly outlines how importantly set designers, cameramen, scriptwriters and composers contribute to film production, but they are often ignored because of primary interest in directors and actors.”  ·  Edge

“Destination London is a welcome and successful contribution to German and British film studies as well as, more generally, to European cultural history… [It] demonstrates convincingly that the work growing out of this often compelled cosmopolitanism is to be taken seriously and at length, for it yielded frequently overlooked contributions to the British film industry and culture more generally.”  ·  European History Quarterly

Christian Cargnelli is a film historian based in Vienna and teaches film history at the University of Vienna. He holds a PhD in Film Studies from the University of Southampton and has published widely on film exile and exile film. His co-edited volumes include Aufbruch ins Ungewisse: terreichische Filmschaffende in der Emigration vor 1945 (1993), Schatten. Exil: Europäiche Emigranten im Film Noir (1997), and Carl Mayer, Scenar[t]ist (2003). He is the editor of Gustav Machaty - Ein Filmregisseur zwischen Prag und Hollywood (2005).