Giants, sultans, and other strangers: Fritz Kortner in British cinema, 1934-37

This article charts the brief British film career (1934–7) of renowned German-Jewish actor and director Fritz Kortner (1892–1970). Although this period has often been neglected and regarded as insignificant in previous accounts of Kortner's life, this article argues that there is much to discover in his cinematic activity during this time, in terms of variety of performance approaches and techniques, of sometimes openly racially inflected and sometimes more coded characterisations, as well of explicit attempts by Kortner to make a political intervention. The article also compares the reception of Kortner by different audiences and constituencies, including the British press, Kortner's fellow émigrés across Europe, particularly in his original homeland of Austria, and as far afield as Palestine