Maureen Corrigan

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst's career moves were circuitous and puzzling, which makes him a tasty subject for historical fiction. He was born in Austria and worked in theater in New York as a young man. Then, after World War I, he became one of the most influential directors in Germany.

Pabst moved to Hollywood in the 1930s and was a temporary and less successful member of that émigré colony of filmmakers that included Otto Preminger and Fritz Lang. On a trip to France in 1939 to make a film and visit his mother, Pabst was stranded by the outbreak of war and returned to Nazi Germany. Enter the devil in the form of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Pabst moved to Hollywood in the 1930s and was a temporary and less successful member of that émigré colony of filmmakers that included Otto Preminger and Fritz Lang. On a trip to France in 1939 to make a film and visit his mother, Pabst was stranded by the outbreak of war and returned to Nazi Germany. Enter the devil in the form of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Pabst moved to Hollywood in the 1930s and was a temporary and less successful member of that émigré colony of filmmakers that included Otto Preminger and Fritz Lang. On a trip to France in 1939 to make a film and visit his mother, Pabst was stranded by the outbreak of war and returned to Nazi Germany. Enter the devil in the form of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

In Kelman's reimagining, Goebbels cunningly wields a stick and a carrot. He alternates the accusation that Pabst was a communist who belongs in a concentration camp with appeals to Pabst's ego, bruised by Hollywood's treatment of him as a highbrow hack.

In Kelman's reimagining, Goebbels cunningly wields a stick and a carrot. He alternates the accusation that Pabst was a communist who belongs in a concentration camp with appeals to Pabst's ego, bruised by Hollywood's treatment of him as a highbrow hack.

In Kelman's reimagining, Goebbels cunningly wields a stick and a carrot. He alternates the accusation that Pabst was a communist who belongs in a concentration camp with appeals to Pabst's ego, bruised by Hollywood's treatment of him as a highbrow hack.

In Germany, Goebbels promises, Pabst will make artistic films, sublime films, films that touch the German hearts of good, deep, metaphysical people to oppose the American cheap commercial trash with a resounding no. It's an offer Pabst feels he can't refuse. As a novel, the director itself joins the pleasures of commercial fiction with the moral weight of a novel of ideas.

In Germany, Goebbels promises, Pabst will make artistic films, sublime films, films that touch the German hearts of good, deep, metaphysical people to oppose the American cheap commercial trash with a resounding no. It's an offer Pabst feels he can't refuse. As a novel, the director itself joins the pleasures of commercial fiction with the moral weight of a novel of ideas.

In Germany, Goebbels promises, Pabst will make artistic films, sublime films, films that touch the German hearts of good, deep, metaphysical people to oppose the American cheap commercial trash with a resounding no. It's an offer Pabst feels he can't refuse. As a novel, the director itself joins the pleasures of commercial fiction with the moral weight of a novel of ideas.

Kelman clearly has fun vividly invoking a sun-splashed Hollywood party where Billy Wilder cavorts in a cowboy hat and studio execs casually confuse the émigré filmmakers with one another. But comedy turns sinister and surreal in later sections, where Pabst and his family return to their castle in Germany, where the caretaker, now the local Nazi party leader, relegates them to the basement.

Kelman clearly has fun vividly invoking a sun-splashed Hollywood party where Billy Wilder cavorts in a cowboy hat and studio execs casually confuse the émigré filmmakers with one another. But comedy turns sinister and surreal in later sections, where Pabst and his family return to their castle in Germany, where the caretaker, now the local Nazi party leader, relegates them to the basement.

Kelman clearly has fun vividly invoking a sun-splashed Hollywood party where Billy Wilder cavorts in a cowboy hat and studio execs casually confuse the émigré filmmakers with one another. But comedy turns sinister and surreal in later sections, where Pabst and his family return to their castle in Germany, where the caretaker, now the local Nazi party leader, relegates them to the basement.

And then there's the absurdist scene where Pabst directs close Hitler confidant Leni Reifenstahl in an imagined film. As the extras, shipped in from a nearby detention camp, look on, Reifenstahl insists that Pabst retake the scene some 21 times. Each time, Reifenstahl's performance is terrible.

And then there's the absurdist scene where Pabst directs close Hitler confidant Leni Reifenstahl in an imagined film. As the extras, shipped in from a nearby detention camp, look on, Reifenstahl insists that Pabst retake the scene some 21 times. Each time, Reifenstahl's performance is terrible.

And then there's the absurdist scene where Pabst directs close Hitler confidant Leni Reifenstahl in an imagined film. As the extras, shipped in from a nearby detention camp, look on, Reifenstahl insists that Pabst retake the scene some 21 times. Each time, Reifenstahl's performance is terrible.

But Pabst quickly catches on that it's dangerous to tell her anything but, it's perfect, just perfect again. Perhaps Kelman's greatest accomplishment is that he manages to raise larger themes through compact dialogues. Here, for instance, is a conversation about art and morality that he conjures up between Pabst and his wife Trudy, who was an actress and writer.

But Pabst quickly catches on that it's dangerous to tell her anything but, it's perfect, just perfect again. Perhaps Kelman's greatest accomplishment is that he manages to raise larger themes through compact dialogues. Here, for instance, is a conversation about art and morality that he conjures up between Pabst and his wife Trudy, who was an actress and writer.