I was in Berlin on business yesterday and managed to squeeze in a quick
visit to the film museum there.
I wanted to catch their current special exhibition "Best Actress", which
(unsurprisingly) covers the Best Actress Oscar winners of the last 73 years.
Having seen an excellent film stills exhibition on a previous visit to
Berlin, I was anything but impressed with "Best Actress". Perhaps I'm being
a bit harsh but the majority of the show appeared to consist of a few stills
and publicity photographs of each of the actresses. Many of these did not
appear to be "vintage original". There were also a few uninspiring posters
(e.g. German A1 of Butterfield 8), common magazine covers (literally stuck
on a wall) and some fairly uninspiring costumes (one was a Leigh dress from
Gone With The Wind admittedly). Not an Oscar in sight. I was seriously
underwhelmed. At the risk of bragging, I am sure that I could rustle up a
much more interesting selection of (vintage original) photographs and
posters for the bigger names.
This is not my first underwhelming exhibition experience. I remember a
particularly small Monroe exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in
London. For the amount and quality of material on show the entry charge was
incredible. I think there were one or two really nice things but I remember
thinking then as well that I could have given the curator a good run for his
or her money.
Another thing about the Berlin museum is that some of the rarer posters
displayed (e.g. for Caligari and Metropolis) appear to be good quality
repros. While I appreciate that light is the enemy of posters and care needs
to be taken, if I visit a museum I expect to see the real thing. If posters
are rotated and "rested" regularly it should be possible to show real stuff
all the time - I know museums "rest" vintage photographs to help preserve
them.
Despite all my moaning I would still recommend the Berlin museum, especially
for those into the 20s/30s German films and Dietrich. As I said, the stills
exhibition I saw there a couple of years back was excellent. Their next
special show is "Things To Come" (science fiction). I'll definitely give
that one a try too.
A few questions to members:
1. Have you also had such underwhelming exhibition experiences?
2. What do think about museums displaying copies?
3. What is the best and worst movie-related exhibition or museum you
have ever visited?
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