Cinema’s Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood – Anchors TCM Celebration

I have been communicating for years with Producer/Director Karen Thomas regarding her 2009 PBS documentary Cinema Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood. I had been urging her to get the fabulous story released into general circulation. I received an email today from Karen with exciting news  First the film will anchor a celebration on Turner Classic Movies of American films featuring the foreign filmmakers featured in the documentary. (See schedule below)  Second the film is finally being released to the general public by Warner Brothers in April on a DVD available through Amazon.  Thomas deserves this recognition.  Her work is always top notch and this time her perseverance pays off.

“When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, men and women who had created landmarks of movie history fled their homeland in the ensuing months and years. Many of them went to Hollywood.  More than 800 film professionals escaped to Hollywood in the years between 1933 and 1939.

Narrated by Sigourney Weaver, Cinema Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood traces the experiences of the exiles who took refuge in Hollywood, and examines their impact on both the German and the American cinemas. They include actors Felix Bressart, Hedy Lamarr, Marlene Dietrich  and Peter Lorre; directors Fritz Lang, Henry Koster, Ernst Lubitch, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann; composers Frederick Hollander, Hans Salter and Franz Waxman; and cinematographer Rudy Mate.  By the 1950’s the émigré’s output reflected a degree of professional integration in Hollywood perhaps unimagined when they had all dreamt of California as a destination. Their films number among the classics of the American cinema.”   PBS-About the Film

This is a must see film for any cinephile.

You will need to set your DVR to capture these great films.

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES SCHEDULE

Monday, May 2 – 3rd
8:00 PM              Cinema’s Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood (2009)
10:15 PM              Casablanca (1942)
12:15 AM             Three Smart Girls (1937)
2:00 AM              Ninotchka (1939)
4:00 AM              Carnegie Hall (1947)

Tuesday, May 3 – 4th
8:00 PM              Music in the Air (1934)
9:45 PM              Fury (1936)
11:30 PM              Cinema’s Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood (2009)
1:45 AM              Mad Love (1935)
3:00 AM              All Through the Night (1941)
5:00 AM              The Sea Hawk (1940)

Wednesday, May 4 -Thurs 5th
8:00 PM              The Seventh Cross (1944)
10:00 PM              The Killers (1946)
12:00 AM             A Foreign Affair (1948)
2:00 AM              Foreign Correspondent (1940)
4:15 AM              Comrade X (1940)