Visiting the Berlin Film Museum

There may be a lot of you film buffs out there who are already up-to-speed on classic German films like "Metropolis", "The Blue Angel" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". But I think I've got one up on you. I may not be a film expert, but I just got a whole lot smarter about "the business" - film in general, that is, and German film in particular - after having visited The Berlin Film Museum.

It's a museum that is certainly easy enough to find. Everyone who comes to Berlin stops by to visit the beautiful circular courtyard of the Sony Center. And that's where you'll find this sleek futuristic complex, generously spread out throughout three floors of this great, spacious structure. Designed by celebrity architect Helmut Jahn, The Berlin Film Museum guides you through 100 years of film history, with a focus on that golden era when films made in Berlin came close to challenging those of Hollywood.

The "Permanent Exhibition" is essentially a condensed journey through German film history. Beginning in the early "Metropolis"-years of silent films, it takes you on to the "Blue Angel"-period of the Weimar Republic years and beyond. The "Transatlantic" section is particularly interesting. During the 1920s, many of Europe's filmmakers and stars went to Hollywood to do American versions of the films produced here (most of which failed miserably). Propaganda film under National Socialism is then covered, of course, as are the individual famous exiles of Hollywood who managed to escape the Nazi terror. Post-war cinema and contemporary film are explored in great detail, but the heart of the exhibition remains, understandably, the Marlene Dietrich Collection.