Wiener Kunstfilm, in full Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie ( English: "Vienna Art Film Industry"), was the first major

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

film production Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

company. Founded in

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

as the Erste österreichische Kinofilms-Industrie, it was a pioneer in almost every field of

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

in Austria.

History

Wiener Kunstfilm was founded in as the Erste österreichische Kinofilms-Industrie in

Alsergrund Alsergrund (; ) is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. As a central district, the area is densely populated. Accor ...

in Vienna by the photographer

Anton Kolm Anton Kolm (12 October 1865 in Vienna as Gustav Anton Kolm – 11 October 1922, also in Vienna) was an Austrian photographer who became one of the first film directors and film producers in the history of Austrian cinema. A skilled photographer ...

, his wife Luise née Veltée, daughter of the owner of a

panopticon The panopticon is a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be ...

, and the cameraman

Jacob Fleck Jacob Fleck (8 November 1881 in Vienna as Jacob Julius Fleck – 19 September 1953, also in Vienna) was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, film producer and cameraman. He is noted for his long-standing professional partnership with his wife ...

. Wiener Kunstfilm was established at a time when the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

cinema market was almost totally dominated by French companies. In order to be able to resist these financially powerful international companies, Wiener Kunstfilm, in its role as the first Austrian film production company, needed, and received, the full support of patriotic media and cinema proprietors. The company is distinguished as the first in Austria to produce a weekly

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...

; it also produced the first Austrian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

, as well as achieving a number of other Austrian cinematic firsts. Due to its coverage of important events, Wiener Kunstfilm also has great significance as the chronicler of the last years of the

monarchy. 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 ...

, although its former French rivals vanished from the picture, expelled from Austria as enemy aliens, Wiener Kunstfilm came under increasing pressure from the rival Austrian company

Sascha-Film Sascha-Film, in full Sascha-Filmindustrie AG and from 1933 Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG, was the largest Austrian film production company of the silent film and early sound film period. History The business was established in 1910 by Alexander ...

, backed by the immense family wealth of its proprietor, Count Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky, which by 1918 had secured dominance of the market. Wiener Kunstfilm was forced into liquidation in , although refounded by Anton and Luise Kolm as the short-lived Vita-Film.

Co-workers

In the early years film direction was undertaken entirely by the founders themselves, Anton Kolm, Luise Kolm and Jacob Fleck, as well as Luise's brother Claudius Veltée, as a team. The first regular director outside this small family group was Marco Brociner. From 1913 Alfred Deutsch-German worked as the company

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. Other directors who worked occasionally for Wiener Kunstfilm were Walter Friedemann,

Ludwig Ganghofer Ludwig Ganghofer (7 July 1855 – 24 July 1920) was a German writer. He has been called the "most-adapted author in the history of German cinema", as many of his novels were turned into films. Biography Ganghofer was born in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, ...

Max Neufeld Max Neufeld (13 February 1887 – 2 December 1967) was an Austrian film director, actor and screenwriter. He directed 70 films between 1919 and 1957. He directed the 1934 film ''The Song of the Sun'', which starred Vittorio De Sica. Selecte ...

and Hans Otto Löwenstein.

Studio

The studio of Wiener Kunstfilm was apparently located in Mauer (now part of Vienna, then a village just outside the city boundaries), according to contemporary advertisements, presumably on the same site as the still-extant Rosenhügel Film Studios, which were built by the successor company, Vita-Film.''Francesco Bono, Paolo Caneppele, Günter Krenn (eds.): Elektrische Schatten'', Vienna 1999, Verlag Filmarchiv Austria

Productions

All productions of the period were silent and apart from major features were usually no more than 20 minutes in length, and this applied also to the productions of Wiener Kunstfilm. Several subjects were produced twice. The following list is a selection of their work, mostly dramas; only a very few of the enormous quantity of weekly news reels are noted. * ''Der Faschingszug in Ober-St. Veit'' ("The Fasching Procession in Ober-St. Veit"; newsreel, 1910) * ''Der Trauerzug Sr. Exzellenz des Bürgermeisters Dr. Karl Lueger'' ("The Funeral Procession of His Excellency the Mayor Dr.

Karl Lueger Karl Lueger (; 24 October 1844 – 10 March 1910) was an Austrian lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of Vienna from 1897 until his death in 1910. He is credited with the transformation of Vienna into a modern city at the turn of the 20th c ...

"; newsreel, 1910) * ''Die böse Schwiegermutter'' (1910) * ''Die Ahnfrau'' (1910, 1919) * ''Typen und Szenen aus dem Wiener Volksleben'' (documentary, 1911) * ''Volkssänger'' (1911) * ''Der Dorftrottel'' (1911) * ''Die Glückspuppe'' (1911) * ''Mutter - Tragödie eines Fabriksmädels'' (1911) * ''Nur ein armer Knecht'' (1911) * ''Martha mit dem Hosenrock'' (1911) * '' Der Müller und sein Kind'' (1910, 1911; premiere 21 October 1911) * ''Trilby'' (1912) * ''Das Gänsehäufel'' (documentary, 1912) * ''Karl Blasel als Zahnarzt'' (1912) * ''Der Unbekannte'' (1912) * ''Der Psychiater'' (second title ''Das Proletarierherz'', 1913) * ''Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld'' (1913/1914; premiere 30 October 1914) * ''Svengali'' (1914) * '' Das vierte Gebot'' (1914) * ''Der Meineidbauer'' (1915)

Notes

Sources

* Francesco Bono, Paolo Caneppele, Günter Krenn (eds.): ''Elektrische Schatten'', Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 1999, * Walter Fritz: ''Im Kino erlebe ich die Welt: 100 Jahre Kino und Film in Österreich.'' Verlag Christian Brandstätter, Vienna 1997, {{ISBN, 3-85447-661-2. Film production companies of Austria Alsergrund