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G.W. Pabst
Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. Early years Pabst was born in Raudnitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (today's Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic), the son of a railroad official. While growing up in Vienna, he studied drama at the Academy of Decorative Arts and initially began his career as a stage actor in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In 1910, Pabst traveled to the United States, where he worked as an actor and director at the German Theater in New York City. In 1914, he decided to become a director, and he returned to recruit actors in Europe. Pabst was in France when World War I began, he was arrested and held as an enemy alien and interned in a prisoner-of-war camp near Brest. * * * While imprisoned, Pabst organised a theatre group at the camp and directed Frenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Threepenny Opera (1931 Film)
''The Threepenny Opera'' (german: Die 3 Groschen-Oper) is a 1931 German musical film directed by G. W. Pabst. Produced by Seymour Nebenzal's Nero-Film for Tonbild-Syndikat AG ( Tobis), Berlin and Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH, Berlin, the film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success of the same name by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. As was usual in the early sound film era, Pabst also directed a French language version of the film, ''L'Opéra de quat'sous'', with some variation of plot details (the French title literally translates as "the four penny opera"). A planned English version went unproduced. The two existing versions were released on home video by The Criterion Collection. ''The Threepenny Opera'' differs in significant respects from the play and the internal timeline is somewhat vague. The whole of society is presented as corrupt in one form or another. Only some of the songs from the play are used, in a different order. Plot summary In 19th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic characters, and her subtle and understated performances. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on its list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Garbo launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film '' The Saga of Gösta Berling''. Her performance caught the attention of Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), who brought her to Hollywood in 1925. She stirred interest with her first American silent film, '' Torrent'' (1926). Garbo's performance in ''Flesh and the Devil'' (1927), her third movie, made her an international star. In 1928, Garbo starred in '' A Woman of Affairs,'' which catapulted her at MGM to its highest box-office star, surpassing the long-reign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The White Hell Of Pitz Palu (1929 Film)
''The White Hell of Pitz Palu'' (german: Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü) is a 1929 German silent mountain film co-directed by Arnold Fanck and G. W. Pabst and starring Leni Riefenstahl, Gustav Diessl, Ernst Petersen, and World War I pilot Ernst Udet. Written by Fanck and Ladislaus Vajda, the film is about a man who loses his wife in an avalanche while climbing the Piz Palü mountain, and spends the next few years searching the mountain alone for her body. Four years later he meets a young couple who agree to accompany him on his next climb. ''The White Hell of Pitz Palu'' was filmed on location in the Bernina Range in Graubünden, Switzerland. Plot Dr. Johannes Krafft and his bride Maria are spending their honeymoon mountain climbing in the Bernina Alps in southeast Switzerland. While climbing the north face of Piz Palü in the strong föhn winds, the loving couple's guide Christian warns Krafft not to be cocky in this dangerous environment, but the doctor dismisses the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain Film
A mountain film is a film genre that focuses on mountaineering and especially the battle of human against nature. In addition to mere adventure, the protagonists who return from the mountain come back changed, usually gaining wisdom and enlightenment. ''Bergfilme'' Although the first mountain film, depicting the ascent of the Mont Blanc by the American climber Frank Ormiston-Smith, was released in 1903, the mountain film genre is most associated with the German ''Bergfilme'' (singular: ''Bergfilm'') released in the 1920s. Some critics describe the German mountain film as an indigenous national / cultural genre, comparable to the American western. The most important director of mountain films was Dr. Arnold Fanck. According to an essay by Doug Cummings in the DVD release of the landmark '' The Holy Mountain'' (1926), Fanck shot his first motion picture in 1913, and after serving in World War I, purchased a rare Ernemann slow-motion camera, taught himself to shoot on locati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnold Fanck
Arnold Fanck (6 March 1889 – 28 September 1974) was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre. He is best known for the extraordinary alpine footage he captured in such films as '' The Holy Mountain'' (1926), '' The White Hell of Pitz Palu'' (1929), ''Storm over Mont Blanc'' (1930), '' The White Ecstasy'' (1931), and '' S.O.S. Eisberg'' (1933). Fanck was also instrumental in launching the careers of several filmmakers during the Weimar years in Germany, including Leni Riefenstahl, Luis Trenker, and cinematographers Sepp Allgeier, Richard Angst, Hans Schneeberger, and Walter Riml.Inkster 2012, p. 19. Biography Arnold Fanck was born on 6 March 1889 in Frankenthal, Germany. Together with Odo Deodatus Tauern, Bernhard Villinger and Rolf Bauer, Fanck established the company "Berg- und Sportfilm GmbH Freiburg" in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1920. Fanck, who held a PhD in geology, directed mountain films, sports films and ski films. He was assisted by Sepp Allgeie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diary Of A Lost Girl
''Diary of a Lost Girl'' (german: Tagebuch einer Verlorenen) is a 1929 German silent film directed by G. W. Pabst and starring American silent star Louise Brooks. It is shot in black and white, and various versions of the film range from 79 minutes to 116 minutes in length. This was Brooks' second and last film with Pabst, and like their prior collaboration, ''Pandora's Box'', it is considered to be a classic by many film historians. It is based on the controversial and bestselling 1905 novel of the same name by Margarete Böhme. The novel had been previously adapted by Richard Oswald as ''Diary of a Lost Woman''. Plot Thymian Henning, the innocent, naive daughter of pharmacist Robert Henning, is puzzled when their housekeeper, Elisabeth, leaves suddenly on the day of Thymian's confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pandora's Box (1929 Film)
Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's c. 700 B.C. poem ''Works and Days''. Hesiod reported that curiosity led her to open a container left in the care of her husband, thus releasing physical and emotional curses upon mankind. Later depictions of the story have been varied, while some literary and artistic treatments have focused more on the contents than on Pandora herself. The container mentioned in the original account was actually a large storage jar, but the word was later mistranslated. In modern times an idiom has grown from the story meaning "Any source of great and unexpected troubles", or alternatively "A present which seems valuable but which in reality is a curse". In mythology According to Hesiod, when Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus, the king of the gods, took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Pandora opened a jar left in her care containing sickness, death and many o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigitte Helm
Brigitte Helm (born Brigitte Gisela Eva Schittenhelm, 17 March 1906 – 11 June 1996) was a German actress, best remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double named Futura, in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film, '' Metropolis''. Early life and film career Brigitte Gisela Eva Schittenhelm was born on 17 March 1906 in Berlin, the daughter of Gretchen Gertrud Martha Schittenhelm (née Tews) and Edwin Alexander Johannes Schittenhelm. Helm's first role was that of Maria in '' Metropolis'', which she began work on while only 18 years old. After ''Metropolis'', Helm made over 30 other films, including talking pictures, before retiring in 1935. Her other appearances include ''The Love of Jeanne Ney'' (1927), ''Alraune'' (1928), ''L'Argent'' (1928), ''Gloria'' (1931), ''The Blue Danube'' (1932), '' L'Atlantide'' (1932), and '' Gold'' (1934). Helm was considered for the title role in ''Bride of Frankenstein'' before Elsa Lanchester was given the role. She signed a ten-year contract wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Love Of Jeanne Ney (movie)
''The Love of Jeanne Ney'' (german: Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney), released as ''Lusts of the Flesh'' in the United Kingdom, is a 1927 German silent drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst based on a novel by Ilya Ehrenburg. Plot Jeanne is the daughter of André Ney, a French diplomat and political observer in Crimea during the Russian Revolution. To finance his excessive, decadent lifestyle, Khalibiev sells Ney a list with names of alleged Bolshevik agents. Jeanne's lover, Andreas Labov, and one of his Bolshevik comrades show up in her father's office, demanding to hand over the list. Ney shoots at the intruders and is shot dead in return. Soon after, the revolutionary army storms the city. Jeanne flees to Paris with the help of a Bolshevik officer, who secretly gives Andreas her address. In Paris, Jeanne takes up a job as a secretary at her uncle Raymond's detective agency. Khalibiev, who followed her to Paris, sets about seducing Raymond's blind daughter Gabrielle, planning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lili Damita
Lili Damita (born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Carré; 10 July 1904 – 21 March 1994) was a French-American actress and singer who appeared in 33 films between 1922 and 1937. Early life and education Lili Damita was born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Carré in Blaye, France, on 10 July 1904. Her father was an officer. She was educated in convents and ballet schools in several countries, including her native France, as well as Spain and Portugal. At 14, she was enrolled as a dancer at the Opéra de Paris. Early career in revue, modeling and German film As a teenager, she was performing in popular music halls, eventually appearing in the Revue at the Casino de Paris. She worked as a photographic model. Offered a role in film as a prize for winning a magazine beauty competition in 1921, she appeared in several silent films before being offered her first leading role in ''Das Spielzeug von Paris'' (1925) by Hungarian-born director Michael Curtiz. She was an instant success, and Curtiz dir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secrets Of A Soul
''Secrets of a Soul'' (german: Geheimnisse einer Seele) is a 1926 silent German drama film directed by G. W. Pabst. Plot Martin Fellman, a learned professor, experiences nightmares that make him believe he is going insane. He fears that he is on the verge of murdering his wife, who loves him dearly. He hires Dr. Orth, a psychiatrist, to help him work out his psychoses. Cast * Werner Krauss as Martin Fellman * Ruth Weyher as Seine Frau * Ilka Grüning as Die Mutter * Jack Trevor as Erich * Pavel Pavlov as Dr. Orth (as Pawel Pawloff) * Hertha von Walther as Fellmans * Renate Brausewetter as Dienstmädchen * Colin Ross as Kriminalkommissar * Lili Damita (uncredited) Production ''Secrets of a Souls producer Hans Neumann was a firm believer in the theories of Sigmund Freud and tried to get Freud to participate in the making of the film. Freud did not respond, so he hired Karl Abraham, a close associate of Freud's, as an adviser on the project, to help Neumann make the most psych ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Joyless Street
''Joyless Street'' (german: Die freudlose Gasse), also titled ''The Street of Sorrow'' or ''The Joyless Street'', is a 1925 German silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst starring Greta Garbo and Asta Nielsen. It is based on a novel by Hugo Bettauer and widely considered an expression of New Objectivity in film. Plot In an alley called Melchiorgasse in a poor quarter of 1921 Vienna, Austria, the lives of several people coincide. Marie, daughter of an abusive war veteran father, hopes to escape her home with the help of her boyfriend Egon, a bank clerk. Grete is the elder daughter of impoverished civil servant Rumfort. Marie and Grete join the overnight line of waiting customers outside of the butcher's shop run by the abusive Josef Geiringer, but Grete passes out and loses her place. Marie and her friend Else manage to enter Geiringer's shop, where they receive a piece of meat in exchange for Else's sexual services. Else offers Marie to share the meat with her, but Marie dec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
