People on Sunday
Directed by: Robert Siodmak & Edgar G. Ulmer
Written by: Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak & Curt Siodmak
Starring: Erwin Splettstößer, Brigitte Borchert, Wolfgang von Waltershausen

In the late 1920’s, a group of young filmmakers would marry documentary techniques with fiction to create People on Sunday, a silent film utilizing non-actors to tell a scripted story about a relaxing weekend in pre-Hitler Berlin. The project is considered a work of genious by many and jumpstarted the long and illustrious careers of those involved, including a young Billy Wilder. When tracing the lineage of the French New Wave and New Hollywood eras of filmmaking, you’re likely to end up coming across this seminal piece of German cinema.

The story is simple: four friends plan to meet for a day at the beach on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Wolfgang is a wine salesman who courts a young girl named Christl, a film extra. They plan to join Erwin, a stocky taxi driver, and his model girlfriend Annie for their weekend get-together. Plans change when Annie sleeps in after a vicious argument with Erwin the day before. As a result, Christl invites her friend Brigitte and they all head out for a chance to spend some time in the sun, getting away from the doldrums of their day jobs. Somewhere along the way Wolfgang manages to focus his attention on Brigitte, causing a rift between the two girls and adding some romantic conflict to their otherwise pleasant weekend. As uneventful as all of that sounds, People on Sunday manages to give us an interesting take on the complications surrounding human relationships, be it platonic or romantic. It also celebrates the importance of downtime as we watch characters — who are as much defined by their job titles as they are their names — getting away from the bustle of the city and by the end of the film, starting the cycle all over again come Monday morning. While the film may come across as cynical when it comes to relationships, it seems somewhat optimistic in its portrayal of the working class and the city in which they make their living. They will always have Sundays to look forward to.

The real story behind People on Sunday is the talent behind the camera; most notably, a 23 year old Billy Wilder who co-wrote the screenplay. Directors Robert Siodmak (The Spiral Staircase, The Killers) and Edgar G. Ulmer’s (Black Cat, The Man from Planet X) inventive mix of documentary and fictional narrative techniques was ahead of its time, employing non-actors to play heightened versions of themselves. I’m immediately reminded of Steven Sodebergh’s similar brand of experimentation with his low-budget films Bubble and The Girlfriend Experience. The scripted story is intercut with candid, documentary footage of late 1920’s Berlin, working both as a backdrop and a time capsule. All of these elements are brought together to create a unique film experience that for me, wasn’t so much entertaining as it was interesting. It’s even better when placing yourself in the mind of a 1930’s audience member seeing such radical filmmaking techniques for the first time. The freeform plotting and casual sensibilities of the characters and their actions seems like an early hint at what was to come with the French New Wave. Cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan (inventor of the Schüfftan Process) makes interesting use of close ups, which in my limited experience with silent cinema, seems to be a bit of an anomaly for this era of filmmaking. Clearly the work of Sergei Eisenstein was a direct influence on the filmmakers and the cinematic tools they use to construct People on Sunday.

Like many high definition releases of silent films, the Criterion release of People on Sunday is culled from a recent restoration of the film that still remains incomplete. About eight minutes remain missing and the footage that is accounted for is taken from multiple sources of varying degrees of quality. Regarding the missing footage, I never felt like anything was unclear or unfinished, so I assume none of it was detrimental to the story. As for the picture quality, it’s never really that noticeable when cutting between the various sources. This is good news in comparison to the Complete Metropolis blu ray, in which the restored sequences stand out as very worn, poor quality additions to the otherwise pristine print. While People on Sunday certainly shows its age (it is over eighty years old), the image is fairly consistent. Any remaining scratches or debris are easily forgivable due to the expected aesthetic of silent filmmaking. Speaking of which, it’s worth noting that there are two tracks of musical accompaniment, both of which work just fine with the film. This is a detail that can be pretty hit or miss with DVD or blu ray releases of silent cinema. In this case, one track is referred to as a ‘silent-era-style’ score by the Mont Alto Orchestra, and the other a ‘modern’ score by Elena Kats-Chernin, performed by the Czech Film Orchestra. As for bonus features, the disc includes an informative documentary called Weekend am Wannsee, about the the restoration and impact of the film. Also included is a thirty six minute short called Ins Blaue hinein, by People on Sunday cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan. — Jay C.

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