A conference titled "Hollywood vs. Babelsberg: Nazi Entertainment Films" on Saturday, Jan. 27, at Cornell University will explore the politics of film in the Third Reich within the broader context of an emerging entertainment industry.

The conference, to be held from 9:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Cornell Center for Theatre Arts' Film Forum, will feature lectures from scholars and screenings of several Nazi films.

The conference is offered in conjunction with "The Ministry of Illusion," a series of 13 films from the Nazi era, presented by Cornell Cinema.

"A great deal has been written about German cinema in the Third Reich, much of it focusing on the political propaganda films of that era," said conference coordinator David Bathrick, Cornell professor of German studies and theater arts. "Such an emphasis appropriately highlights the use of media by the Nazi regime to reshape the values and social imagination of the German people in the cause of war and ethnic genocide; however, it also has led to some misunderstanding concerning the nature of the Third Reich cinema in its entirety."

According to Bathrick, of the 1,100 feature films produced in Germany between 1933 and 1945, only 100 were officially coded as "political" and forbidden public showing in Germany by the Allies after the war. In addition to melodramas and detective stories, almost half of all films were comedies and musicals, similar in genre to movies produced in Hollywood during the same period.

Featured lectures include:

• "The Politics of Normal Life in Abnormal Times" by Isabel Hull, Cornell professor of history;
• "Making the National Family: The Nazi Request Concert (Wunschkonzert)" by Bathrick;
• "Hollywood Made in Germany: Lucky Kids (GlŸckskinder)" by Eric Rentschler, professor of film studies at the University of California at Irvine;
• "The Doctor is In (and Out): Paracelsus's Open House" by Jaimey Fisher, Cornell graduate student in German studies.

On the eve of the conference, Cornell Cinema will screen The Great Love (Die gro§e Liebe) Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. This 1942 musical melodrama was the Third Reich's biggest box office hit. The story is about singer Hanna Holberg's one night encounter with on-leave aviator Paul Wendlandt, who is called back to duty, leaving Holberg forlorn and desperate.

Cornell Cinema's "Ministry of Illusion" series will feature the following titles:

" Paracelsus (1943), Jan. 23 at 7 p.m.

" Lucky Kids (GlŸckskinder, 1936) is a remake of Hollywood's It Happened One Night. Jan. 24, 7 p.m.

" Request Concert (Wunschkonzert, 1940) begins with Hitler's arrival at the 1936 Olympics and takes moviegoers on a tour of Reichshaupstadt (Berlin). Jan. 25, 7 p.m.

" Great Freedom (Gro§e Freiheit Nr. 7, 1943) features the dashing German star Hans Albers. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Paul Goebbels ordered the film banned, saying it dwelled on sad and needy males rather than celebrating rough- and-tumble German men. Jan. 29, 5 p.m.

" Ferryman Maria (FŠhrmann Maria, 1936), Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m.

" The Prodigal Son (Der verlorene Sohn, 1934), Feb. 5, 5:15 p.m.

" La Habanera (1937), Feb. 5, 7:15 p.m.

" Amphitryon-Happiness From The Clouds (1935), Feb. 12, 5 p.m.

" Romance in a Minor Key (Romanze in Moll, 1943), Feb. 12, 7:15 p.m.

" MŸnchhausen (1943), Feb. 19, 5 p.m.

" Under The Bridges (Unter den BrŸcken, 1945), Feb. 19, 7:15 p.m.

" Akrobat Schš-š-šn (1943), Feb. 26, 7 p.m.

All films will be shown in Willard Straight Theatre. For information on tickets, contact Cornell Cinema at 255-3522.

The Cornell conference is co-sponsored by the Department of German Studies, the Institute for German Cultural Studies, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) and Goethe House in New York City. For more information on the conference or to register, call (607) 254-2700.

The "Ministry of Illusion" film series is sponsored by Goethe House.