One Sunday with Wilder, Ulmer, Zinnemann, Schüfftan and the Siodmak Brothers

Germany, 1929 – a period of relative calm and prosperity in the Weimar Republic. That brief period between the wars, when the market had not yet crashed, and the Nazis had captured less than 3% of the votes in the last election. Five young filmmakers, unknowns at the time, but who would go on to have illustrious careers in Hollywood, collaborate on an experimental feature – part documentary, part narrative, and starring a cast of five Berliners playing themselves. Dubbed "A film without actors", People On Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag) is a surprisingly modern work that is a major document in the history of German avant-garde cinema. The film originated from a reportage by Kurt Siodmak (screenwriter, The Wolf Man, I Walked With a Zombie) that became a screenplay by none other than the great Billy Wilder. It was shot by Eugen Schüfftan (cinematographer The Hustler, Eyes Without a Face) and Fred Zinnemann (High Noon), and directed by Robert Siodmak (The Killers) and Edgar G. Ulmer (Detour). With that much talent behind the camera, it's no wonder that the end result of this fortunate bit of happenstance is nothing short of fascinating. The film begins on Saturday, with a lengthy introductory sequence that brilliantly captures the hustle and bustle of Berlin and its working class. It's the concerto equivalent to Walter Ruttmann's majestic Berlin: Die Symphonie der Großstadt from two years prior. Like the city's inhabitants and its numerous forms of transport, so too is Schüfftan's camera always on the move (it looks hand-held – was that even possible back then?), pausing only long enough to introduce us to our five non-actors, cast as themselves: Erwin (a taxi driver), his girlfriend Annie (a somniculous model), Brigitte (a successful record store clerk), Wolfgang (a wine salesman), and Christl (a film extra.) Erwin and Annie's relationship is strained, and the two spend their Saturday night fighting (destroying each other's collection of celebrity snapshots in the process), triggered by a disagreement over how Annie should wear the brim of her hat. Come Sunday morning, Erwin leaves the sleeping Annie to meet Wolfgang for a trip to Nikolassee, a nearby lake resort that seemingly half of Berlin flocks to each Sunday. There they meet Brigitte and Christl and embark on a carefree day rife with flirtation, jealousy and erotic abandonment. Perhaps owing to its use of non-actors, People on Sunday has a remarkably modern feel to it, and the cast never employ the exaggerated gestures or acting style one tends to find in silent cinema. If anything, the film has more in common with the French New Wave than it does the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) that was dominating German cinema at the time (Lang, Pabst, Jutzi.) The boyish playfulness of Erwin and Wolfgang combined with their romantic machinations (and partner swapping) is right out of Masculin Féminin or Bande à Part. Much of the narrative portion of the film is shot in close-up (Dreyer-esque at times), and Schüfftan's framing of the good-looking cast is nothing short of stunning, and fitting for the awkward intimacy of the foursome. This is in sharp contrast to the vérité style montages of Berlin that are interspersed throughout the film which aim to capture the breadth of the city. An unforgettable sequence of random faces from the POV of a portrait photographer makes use of the freeze-frame, which some credit as being pioneered by Schüfftan (though I believe Vertov may heave beaten him to it.) Though they obviously didn't know it at the time, the filmmakers involved with People on Sunday would go on to shape and transform the definition of American cinema, and hints of their future selves can be gleaned in the work. Sexual betrayal and distrust became a staple in many of Ulmer's films, and the romantic cynicism is pure Wilder. (Such as when Wolfgang and Brigitte flee into the woods to make love, and the camera slowly pans away from them, up into and through the trees, and then finally down into a pile of burnt trash.) Much more than a mere curiosity, People on Sunday is at once a final look at a great city that in a year's time would be forever changed, and a rare first glimpse into the minds of six artists who would leave a lasting imprint in the history of cinema. People on Sunday is available on a Region 2 DVD from the British Film Institute.