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D’Stater Kinoen. Eine Kinogeschichteder Stadt LuxemburgKathleen Lotzea

a University of AntwerpPublished online: 23 Dec 2013.

To cite this article: Kathleen Lotze (2014) D’Stater Kinoen. Eine Kinogeschichte derStadt Luxemburg, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 34:1, 157-159, DOI:10.1080/01439685.2013.872473

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2013.872473

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currently not accessible to most of these readers. I strongly urge the book’s pub-lishers at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, Italy to option anEnglish language translation. Caminati’s research and insights fill a gap in the exist-ing literature on the work of Rossellini and the contours of 20th-century documen-tary film-making that link the early utopic modern projects of state-sponsorednarrative documentary to the contemporary genre of docufiction that spills outfrom theater, TV and computer screens into our daily lives.

REGINA M. LONGOThe Albanian Cinema Project, Oakland, USA

� 2014 Regina M. Longohttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2013.852753

D’Stater Kinoen. Eine Kinogeschichte der Stadt LuxemburgPAUL LESCHLuxemburg, Verlag Guy Binsfeld, 2013392 pp., illus., bibliography, 2 DVD, e59.00

D’Stater Kinoen. Eine Kinogeschichte der Stadt Luxemburg (D’Stater Kinoen. A CinemaHistory of the City of Luxemburg) is a film historical feast for the senses and literallyadds (a class of) touch to cinema-historical time travel. At the beginning and theend of the volume, newspaper ads for screenings of (meanwhile classic) motionpictures are printed on thinner paper than the rest of the book, resembling incolour, weight and touch what used to be the daily carriers of information on filmsand cinemas. The book is wonderfully crafted, slightly bigger than A4 format,about two inches thick, richly illustrated in beautiful colour and sepia prints, andtwo DVDs add to the overall experience.

The volume is divided into two main sections. The first and most extensivesection is about Luxemburg’s cinema history, the second section is devoted tomatters that relate to film business in Luxemburg general. The two sections arerounded off by a number of statistics, including Luxemburg’s top 100 box officehits of the last two decades, overviews of the number of cinemas, screens andcinema attendance, as well as the top 20 films made in Luxemburg.

The first section, modestly titled ‘The Cinemas,’ starts off with a briefintroduction of the beginnings of cinema history in the Grand Duchy of Luxem-burg. In many ways, this history resembles that of other places: the first filmscreening took place in 1896, film became popular first and foremost as fairgroundattraction, the first permanent cinema opened in the city in 1907 … Given thesmall size of the country, however, local investors were scarce and most entrepre-neurs active in Luxemburg came from abroad. Quite a few of them came fromGermany, amongst which was also the famous Marzen family. As it was notunusual for that time, they were not only involved in the business of filmexhibition but also in the production of local films, mostly about processions,receptions and visits of members of the noble and high society. These films becamea popular part of the film shows and hence a means for exhibitors to cater to localaudiences.

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A selection of such films made between 1902 and 1914 for local audiences inLuxemburg (and in the nearby German cities of Trier and Saarbrucken) is madeavailable on one of the two DVDs included in the book. The other DVDcomprises a two-hour mixture of audio-visual material related to the history ofcinema-going in Luxemburg, including a documentary with staged scenes, itemsfor (local) TV, interviews with eyewitnesses and local players and much more.The DVD complements the content of the second—and by far largest—section ofthe volume, partly by adding (moving) pictures and sound to the written text andpartly by zooming in to issues addressed in the course of the book.

Preceding the introductory part is a map, depicting the locations of all 13cinemas that (used to) exist in the city of Luxemburg, some of which operatedunder different names in different periods. (The city’s population doubled in thecourse of the 20th century and is currently about 100,000.) The map not onlygives an impression of the bygone ubiquity of cinemas located predominantly inthe city’s centre and the Station Quarter, it also allows for the reader to establisha mental map of Luxemburg’s cinema landscape throughout the twentieth century.During the 1960s, no less than nine cinemas were simultaneously in operation inthe city. As in many other places, the exhibition sector in Luxemburg wassubjected to an ongoing decline of cinema attendance since the 1950s and most ofthe cinemas had to close down during the decades to come.

The choice to untangle the individual stories of the cinemas and present eachof them in separate chapters yields the danger of having the reader live throughthe coming into being, the heydays and the downfalls of at least 10 of the 13cinemas. Fortunately, Paul Lesch and Yves Steichen generally succeed in uncover-ing new details and perspectives on what had already been addressed, sketchingmultilayered snapshots of the local cinema history of Luxemburg: the animositiesand amiabilities between different local players from within and outside the filmbusiness, the exhibitors’ struggles to survive as well as most of the cinemas’ sadendings. In addition, the stories of the cinemas are peppered with anecdotes andgeneral background information (presented in boxes) about film exhibitionand cinema-going, ranging from exhibition practices (explicators, double bills) andimportant figures to protest movements against cinema in general or individualfilms in particular.

However, many of the chapters abound in enumerations of screened film titlesand visits of royals and celebrities to Gala screenings or (re)openings of cinemas.While such listings might trigger in the interested reader lots of precious memoriesof cinema-going in Luxemburg in the past, they do not contribute to the chapters’analytical depth and actually stand in the way for distinct profiles of the cinemas toemerge. It is in this point that the two chapters by Steichen stand out positively.Due to Lesch’s involvement in the two last cinemas in Luxemburg to be opened—film house Utopia and multiplex Utopolis—it was decided that Steichen, ayoung historian who had done research on these cinemas before, was to write theirstories. Steichen fascinatingly describes the coming into to being of Utopia andUtopolis by embedding it in the bigger context of urban planning, local culturalpolicies and—last but not least—changes in the local exhibition market, therebyoffering the reader a look behind the scenes of these cinemas’ makings.

158 H I S T O R I C A L J O U R N A L O F F I L M , R A D I O A N D T E L E V I S I O N

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The second (much shorter) section of the volume contains short chaptersdealing with different aspects of film business in Luxemburg. They address thetroublesome issues of taxes, film marketing and advertising, regulation andcensorship as well as the topic of Luxemburg cinemas under German occupation(1940–1944). The section closes with what has eloquently been titled Kino Knigge(etiquette of cinema-going). As quite a funny finale of the book the Kino Kniggeoffers clippings from daily newspapers and the film journal Luxemburger Film-Kuriergiving the prospective cinema-goer detailed recommendations (including tencommandments) on how to behave in a cinema: from appeals to arrive on timeand not to disturb your neighbours with any kinds of noises (chatting and giggling,cracking noises of wrapping paper, laughing or crying out loud) and undesirablybehaviour (especially that of a romantic kind) to make room and not occupy armwrists (‘because they are your neighbour’s just as they are yours, especially if thisneighbour is a lady,’ p. 346).

D’Stater Kinoen takes the reader on a fascinating journey through Luxemburg’scinema history. It is informative and accessible for a broad spectrum of readers,from the interested reader and (former) cinema-goer to the urban, film or cinemahistorian. Different from many amateur accounts of local cinema history—whichstill tend to be in the majority—Lesch’s book provides ample referencing to usedand recommended sources, thereby offering multiple entry points for comparativeperspectives.

KATHLEEN LOTZEUniversity of Antwerp

© 2014 Kathleen Lotzehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2013.872473

Disney’s Most Notorious Film: race, convergence, and the hiddenhistories of Song of the SouthJASON SPERBAustin, TX, University of Texas Press, 2012xiii+ 278 pp., illus., bibliography, appendix, index, $55.00 (cloth)

The last time Disney publically released the 1946 hybrid live-action/animatedmusical film Song of the South in its entirety, in any format, was 1986. InJason Sperb’s comprehensive and provocative book, Disney’s Most Notorious Film:race, convergence, and the hidden histories of Song of the South, the racially problematicorigins, evolution and history of the controversial film is thoroughly examined.Sperb takes the point of view that the film was racist not just by today’s standards,but even by the prevailing viewpoint of the late 1940s by citing World War II as amajor change in the way Americans perceived and Hollywood portrayed African-Americans. This analysis runs counter to the view of the film’s supporters whobelieve the film was simply a product of its time, and should not be judged bytoday’s liberal standard. Sperb presents evidence from the era with periodical filmreviews, documented trepidation by Disney executives concerning the film’s

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