Popular Cinema of the Third Reich

Too often dismissed as escapist entertainment or vilified as mass manipulation, popular cinema in the Third Reich was in fact sustained by well-established generic conventions, cultural traditions, aesthetic sensibilities, social practices, and a highly developed star system - not unlike its Hollywood counterpart in the 1930s. This study contributes to the ongoing reassessment of Third Reich cinema by examining it as a social, cultural, economic and political practise that often conflicted with, contradicted, and compromised the intentions of the Propaganda Ministry. Nevertheless, by providing the illusion of a public sphere presumably free of politics, popular cinema helped to sustain the Nazi regime, especially during the war years.