Alberts Frères, founded around 1899, was one of the first film production companies in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The company was founded by brothers Albert (1879–1941) and

Willy Mullens Willy Mullens (4 October 1880, Weesp, North Holland - 21 April 1952, The Hague) was a Dutch producer, director, and promoter of movies. He is considered to be one of the early pioneers of Dutch cinema, and one of his movies was recently elected ...

(1880–1952); they were the main filmmakers and exhibitors in the Netherlands in the first two decades of the twentieth century.

History

Willy and Albert's father, Albertus Abraham Mullens (30 July 1847

Hoorn Hoorn () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the northwest of the Netherlands, in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. It is the largest town an ...

– 1890), alias "A. Alber(t)", and a German by the name of Ernst Ahrens Basch (1838-1908) had founded a theater company, Koninklijk Nederlandsch Cagliostro-Théâtre Alber & Basch, specializing in "mysterious and pseudo-scientific spectacles". After Albert Senior's death, their mother, Christina Mullens-Verpoort, continued to direct the company. Christina took her sons to

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, where they saw

Auguste and Louis Lumière The Lumière brothers (, ; ), Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (19 October 1862 – 10 April 1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1948), were French manufacturers of photography equipment, best known for their ' motion ...

's films in the

Salon Indien du Grand Café Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

. With financial aid from their mother, they bought a number of films and started to show them in the Netherlands. They chose the French name "Alberts Frères" since the film business at the time was predominantly French. In 1899, the company started touring the halls and theaters of the country during the winter, and quickly became one of the main attractions at fairs throughout the country. Mullens also helped found the Nederlandsch Centraal Filmarchief (1919), the first audio-visual archive in the Netherlands.

Production and notable films

Beside showing films, Alberts Frères quickly started making them. An early film which generated headlines was made in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

. On Friday, 13 September 1907, the brothers had filmed a practical joke in Maastricht, in which an actor by the name of Tünnes (from the local Schmidt theater), pulling a

donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

by a rope, took off from the local market carrying a

suckling pig A suckling pig is a Piglet (animal), piglet fed on its pig milk, mother's milk (i.e., a piglet which is still a "suckling"). In culinary contexts, a suckling pig is Animal slaughter, slaughtered between the ages of two and six weeks. It is trad ...

under his arm without having paid for it. He proceeded to visit the vegetable stands, and the scene erupts with screaming housemaids, flying baskets and vegetables, and a number of police officers. Their most successful production is also one of the oldest surviving Dutch fictional films, '' The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach'', made in 1905, which in 2007 was "canonized" as one of sixteen canonical films by the

Netherlands Film Festival The Netherlands Film Festival () is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht. During the ten-day festival, Dutch film productions and co-productions are exhibited. Besides feature films, the prog ...

. Willy Mullens later became a well-known producer of

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

s; his ''Holland Neutraal: Leger en Vlootfilm'' (1917) received a royal

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

, in the presence of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Hendrik. The two and a half hour long film, which showcased the Dutch army and navy, was commissioned by the Dutch Minister of War Bosboom, and was intended to rally popular support for Dutch neutrality during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

; on the other hand, the film, with its display of military might, also aimed to show that the Dutch, despite their neutrality, were not to be thought of lightly. During World War I the company was hired by Kaiser Wilhelm's Dutch legate to film German children celebrating Queen Wilhelmina's birthday in 1919. The German Bild- und Filmamt, which aimed at the production of propaganda, was to procure copies for the German market, in hopes of maintaining good relations between Germany and the Netherlands. It is not known if this actually happened.Ivo Blom, "Business As Usual? Filmhandel, Bioscoopwezen en Filmpropaganda in Nederland Tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog," in Pp. 137–138.

References

External links

Alberts Frères
at Cinema Context {{DEFAULTSORT:Alberts Freres Film production companies of the Netherlands Mass media companies established in 1899 Film production companies established in the 1890s Dutch companies established in 1899