Eight hundred German filmmakers (cast and crew) fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The film uses voice-overs, archival footage, and film clips to examine Berlin's vital filmmaking in the 1920s; then it follows a producer, directors, composers, editors, writers, and actors to Hollywood: some succeeded and many found no work. Among those profiled are Erich Pommer, Joseph May, Ernst Lubitsch, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, and Peter Lorre. Once in Hollywood, these exiles helped each other, housed new arrivals, and raised money so others could escape. Some worked on anti-Nazi films, like Casablanca. The themes and lighting of German Expressionism gave rise in Hollywood to film noir.
Sigourney Weaver
as Narrator (voice)
Marlene Dietrich
as Self (archive footage)
Hedy Lamarr
as Self (archive footage)
Elsa Lanchester
as Self (archive footage)
Peter Lorre
as Self (archive footage)
Billy Wilder
as Self (archive footage)
Fritz Lang
as Self (archive footage)
Lupita Tovar
as Self - Interviewee
Fred Zinnemann
as Self (archive footage)
Peter Viertel
as Self (archive footage)
Rudi Fehr
as Self (archive footage)
