Frederic Zelnik (born Friedrich Zelnik; 17 May 1885 – 29 November 1950) was an Austrian producer, director, and actor. He was one of the most important producers-directors of the German silent cinema. Zelnik achieved success through period operetta films in the 1920s and 1930s.

Biography

Friedrich Zelnik was born into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in Czernowitz, today in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, at the time the capital of the

Duchy of Bukovina The Duchy of Bukovina (; ; ) was a constituent land of the Austrian Empire from 1849 and a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary from 1867 until 1918. Name The name ''Bukovina'' came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation ...

in the Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. After studying in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Friedrich Zelnik worked as an actor in theaters in

Nürnberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. ...

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

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Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and finally

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

- in the theaters Theater an der Königsgrätzer Straße, Berliner Theater, and Komödienhaus. In 1914 Friedrich Zelnik began acting in films, and after 1915 producing and directing movies while still appearing in roles as an actor in other director'films. In 1918 he married a young Polish ballet dancer turned film actress named

Lya Mara Lya Mara (born Aleksandra Gudowicz; 1 August 1897 – 1 March 1960) was a Polish people, Polish actress. She was one of the biggest stars of the Cinema of Germany, German silent cinema. Biography Lya Mara was born Aleksandra Gudowicz in a Polis ...

and promoted her to stardom by producing and directing movies for her. In 1920 he established a film production firm Zelnik-Mara-Film GmbH. Popular, operetta style costume films like '' The Blue Danube'', '' The Bohemian Dancer'', '' Dancing Vienna'', '' Mariett Dances Today'' brought

and Zelnik enormous success in Germany and beyond. Several of his collaborators, such as cameraman Frederik Fuglsang and production designer André Andrejew are perceived today as important artists of the German silent cinema. Upon the introduction of

sound film A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

, Friedrich Zelnik became the first director in Europe to postsynchronize a movie, '' The Crimson Circle'' (1929), using the DeForest

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofi ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...

process. In 1930, Zelnik traveled to

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

and upon his return to Germany, directed his first full sound film, a new version of his silent success '' The Bohemian Dancer''. After

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

took power in 1933, Zelnik and

left Germany for

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In the following years, Zelnik continued to direct and produce movies in Great Britain and The Netherlands. He also legally changed his name to Frederic Zelnik and took British citizenship. Zelnik died in 1950 in London, aged 65.

Selected filmography

Director

* '' His Majesty the Hypochondriac'' (1918) * ''

Charlotte Corday Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont (27 July 1768 – 17 July 1793), known simply as Charlotte Corday (), was a figure of the French Revolution who assassinated revolutionary and Jacobins, Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat on 13 July 1793. Cor ...

'' (1919) * '' The Heiress of the Count of Monte Cristo'' (1919) * ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial in ...

'' (1920) * ''

Kri-Kri, the Duchess of Tarabac ''Kri-Kri, the Duchess of Tarabac'' () is a 1920 German silent comedy film directed by Frederic Zelnik and starring Lya Mara, Johannes Riemann, and Gisela Werbisek. It premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin. Cast *Lya Mara as Kri-Kri *Johannes ...

'' (1920) * '' Fanny Elssler'' (1920) * '' Count Varenne's Lover'' (1921) * '' The Girl from Piccadilly'' (1921) * '' Trix, the Romance of a Millionairess'' (1921) * '' Miss Beryll'' (1921) * '' Memoirs of a Film Actress'' (1921) * '' Count Festenberg'' (1922) * '' Napoleon's Daughter'' (1922) * '' The Mistress of the King'' (1922) * '' Insulted and Humiliated'' (1922) * '' Yvette, the Fashion Princess'' (1922) * ''

The Marriage of Princess Demidoff ''The Marriage of Princess Demidoff'' () is a 1922 German silent film, silent drama film directed by Frederic Zelnik and starring Lya Mara, Charles Willy Kayser, and Olga Limburg. It premiered at the Marmorhaus cinema in Berlin. The film's sets ...

'' (1922) * '' Tania, the Woman in Chains'' (1922) * '' Lyda Ssanin'' (1923) * ''

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

'' (1923) * '' The Men of Sybill'' (1923) * '' Irene of Gold'' (1923) * '' The Girl from Hell'' (1923) * '' Daisy'' (1923) * '' The Girl from Capri'' (1924) * '' The Sailor Perugino'' (1924) * '' Marionettes of the Princess'' (1924) * '' The Mistress of Monbijou'' (1924) * '' Nelly, the Bride Without a Husband'' (1924) * '' By Order of Pompadour'' (1924) * ''

Athletes An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including trac ...

'' (1925) * ''

Letters Which Never Reached Him ''Letters Which Never Reached Him'' (German: ''Briefe, die ihn nicht erreichten'') is a 1925 German silent film directed by Frederic Zelnik and starring Albert Bassermann, Marcella Albani and Mia Pankau. The film's sets were designed by the ...

'' (1925) * '' Women You Rarely Greet'' (1925) * '' The Venus of Montmartre'' (1925) * '' The Bohemian Dancer'' (1926) * '' The Mill at Sanssouci'' (1926) * '' The Violet Eater'' (1926) * '' The Blue Danube'' (1926) * '' Fadette'' (1926) * ''

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

'' (1927) * '' Dancing Vienna'' (1927) * ''

The Gypsy Baron ''The Gypsy Baron'' () is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story ''Saffi'' by Mór Jókai. Jokai ...

'' (1927) * '' Mariett Dances Today'' (1928) * '' Mary Lou'' (1928) * '' My Heart is a Jazz Band'' (1929) * '' The Crimson Circle'' (1929) * '' The Forester's Daughter'' (1931) * '' Everyone Asks for Erika'' (1932) * '' The Dancer of Sanssouci'' (1932) * ''

Happy Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

'' (1933) * '' The Emperor's Waltz'' (1933) * '' Southern Roses'' (1936) * '' The Lilac Domino'' (1937) * '' Daddy Long Legs'' (1938) * '' Tomorrow It Will Be Better'' (1939) * '' I Killed the Count'' (1939)

Producer

* '' The Lost Paradise'' (1917) * '' The Serenyi'' (1918) * '' The Peruvian'' (1919) * '' The Yellow Diplomat'' (1920) * ''

The Princess of the Nile ''The Princess of the Nile'' (German: ''Die Prinzessin vom Nil'') is a 1920 German silent comedy film directed by Martin Zickel and starring Lya Mara, Julius Falkenstein and Lotte Stein.Bock & Bergfelder p.549 The film's sets were designed b ...

'' (1920) * '' The Law of the Desert'' (1920) * '' The Convict of Cayenne'' (1921) * '' The Buried Self'' (1921) * '' The Bank Crash of Unter den Linden'' (1926)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zelnik, Friedrich 1885 births 1950 deaths Mass media people from Chernivtsi People from the Duchy of Bukovina Bukovina Jews German people of Austrian-Jewish descent Silent film directors German film directors German male film actors German male silent film actors 20th-century German male actors Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Artists from Chernivtsi Austrian film directors Actors from Chernivtsi