Rialto Film is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

motion-picture production company headquartered in

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 ...

. It is named after the

Rialto The Rialto is a central area of Venice, Italy, in the ''sestiere'' of San Polo. It is, and has been for many centuries, the financial and commercial heart of the city. Rialto is known for its prominent markets as well as for the monumental Ria ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, and used as its production logo an image of a

gondola The gondola (, ; , ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a scul ...

in front of the

Rialto Bridge The Rialto Bridge (; ) is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Connecting the ' (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since its first construction as a pontoon bridge in 1 ...

History

The original Danish Rialto Film company was founded in 1897 by Constantin Philipsen (1859–1925) in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. In 1950 his son Preben Philipsen (1910–2005) established the

Constantin Film Constantin Film AG is a German film production company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of productions. Constantin has releas ...

distribution at

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, named after his father, together with his associate Waldfried Barthel (1913–1979). After Philipsen exited Constantin Film in 1955, he again turned to his father's film business in both Scandianvia and Germany. On 18 August 1960, he established Rialto Film GmbH at Frankfurt as a German subsidiary. Little is known about Rialto's productions prior to 1950. The company became internationally famous after the production of the 1959 film ''

Der Frosch mit der Maske ''Der Frosch mit der Maske'' (translation: ''The Frog with the Mask''), aka ''Face of the Frog'', is a 1959 West German-Danish black-and-white crime film directed by Harald Reinl and starring Siegfried Lowitz and Joachim Fuchsberger. It was the ...

'', followed by the release of further 32 films based on the works of

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer of crime and adventure fiction. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was ...

, as well as 9 films based on the works of

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his novels of travels and adventures, set in the American Old West, the Orient, the Middle East, Latin America, China and Germany. He als ...

under director

Harald Reinl Harald Reinl (8 July 1908 in Bad Ischl, Austria – 9 October 1986 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) was an Austrian film director. He is known for the films he made based on Edgar Wallace and Karl May books (see Karl May movies and Edgar Wallace ...

and, from 1960, co-owner Horst Wendlandt. As was the practice of mainstream and successful European cinema, most of the films were

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint vent ...

s.Bergfelder, Tim ''International Adventures: German Popular Cinema and European Co-Production'' 2006 Berghahn Books Wendlandt's son

Matthias Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew. Notable people Notable people named Matthias include the following: Religion * Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Isca ...

joined the company in 1992 as co-managing director, and continued in this role following his father's death in 2002. His own son Felix was made a managing director in 2010.

References

External links

Homepage of Rialto Film
*Rialto at IMDB https://www.imdb.com/company/co0043072/ Film distributors of Germany Film production companies of Germany {{film-company-stub