Arthur Maria Rabenalt
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Arthur Maria Rabenalt (25 June 1905 – 26 February 1993) was an Austrian
film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
, writer, and author. He directed more than 90 films between 1934 and 1978. His 1958 film ''
That Won't Keep a Sailor Down ''That'' is an English language word used for several grammatical purposes. These include use as an adjective, conjunction, pronoun, adverb and intensifier; it has distance from the speaker, as opposed to words like ''this''. The word did not ...
'' was entered into the
1st Moscow International Film Festival The 1st Moscow International Film Festival was held from 3 to 17 August 1959. The Grand Prix was awarded to the Soviet film '' Destiny of a Man'' directed by Sergei Bondarchuk. Jury * Sergei Gerasimov (USSR - President of the Jury) * Antonin B ...
. Two years later, his 1960 film ''
Big Request Concert ''Big Request Concert'' () is a 1960 Austrian family film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt. It was entered into the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival The 2nd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 9 to 23 July 1961. The Grand ...
'' was entered into the
2nd Moscow International Film Festival The 2nd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 9 to 23 July 1961. The Grand Prix was shared between the Japanese film '' The Naked Island'' directed by Kaneto Shindo and the Soviet film '' Clear Skies'' directed by Grigori Chukhrai. ...
. His career encompassed both Nazi cinema and West German productions. He also wrote several books on the 1930s and 1940s wave of German cinema.


Career

In his early teens, Rabenalt began his stage career directing operas at theatres in
Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
,
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 ...
and
Gera Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...
. From then on to the mid-1920s he worked (though uncredited) as a production assistant on several films such including
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. ...
's ''
Joyless Street ''Joyless Street'' (), also titled ''The Street of Sorrow'' or ''The Joyless Street'', is a 1925 German silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst starring Greta Garbo, Asta Nielsen and Werner Krauss. It is based on a novel by Hugo Bettauer an ...
'' (1925). After Nazi's rise to power, Rabenalt made his feature film debut directing the
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
, ''
What Am I Without You ''What Am I Without You'' () is a 1934 German musical comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Wolfgang Liebeneiner, Betty Bird, and Olga Chekhova. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Gustav A. Knauer, Alexander ...
'' (1934), which was then shortly followed with the release of the comedy ''
Pappi In Asteraceae, the pappus is the modified calyx_(botany), calyx, the part of an individual floret, that surrounds the base of the petal, corolla tube in flower. It functions as a dispersal mechanism for the achenes that contain the seeds. In ...
'' (1934). He continued to work in different genres, including ''
The Love of the Maharaja ''The Love of the Maharaja'' () is a 1936 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Gustav Diessl, Attila Hörbiger and Hilde von Stolz. It was made as a co-production between the Italian Astra Film and the Munich-based Bav ...
'' (1936), and ''
Men Are That Way ''Men Are That Way'' () is a 1939 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Hertha Feiler, Hans Söhnker and Hans Olden. The film's sets were designed by the art director Willi Herrmann. It was remade by Rabenalt in Austr ...
'' and ''
Midsummer Night's Fire ''Midsummer Night's Fire'' or ''St. John's Fire'' () is a 1939 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Anna Dammann, Ernst von Klipstein, and Gertrud Meyen. The film is based on the play '' Fires of St. John'' by Herma ...
'' which were released in 1939. Throughout the 1940s, Rabaenalt worked with melodramatic dramas and comedy. Some of his early films in the 1940s, such as ''
Riding for Germany ''Riding for Germany'' () is a 1941 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Willy Birgel, Gertrud Eysoldt and Gerhild Weber. A German cavalry officer, badly injured during the First World War, emerges as a leading compet ...
'', supported Nazi ideology. In 1989, he said "I had only made circus films and chamber-type entertainment films since 1941. The only Nazi film I knew was ... rides for Germany (1941), and it was admired. The first films of mine that were distributed again after the war were Circus Renz (1943) and Regimental Music (shot in 1944 under the title The Guilty of Gabriele Rottweil, the film only came to the cinemas in 1950). The controversy about ... rides for Germany came much later. After the war he resumed his stage career as a director, beginning with the East German production,
Chemistry and Love ''Chemistry and Love'' () is a 1948 East German comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Hans Nielsen, Tilly Lauenstein and Ralph Lothar. It is an anti-capitalist satire inspired by a stage play by the communist writer Béla Ba ...
(1948), satire on anti-capitalism based on a play by Bela Balasz. He continued to work on productions for East German state studio
DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...
until 1948. In the 1950s, he moved into more mainstream entertainment, including the Weimar horror remake of
Alraune ''Alraune'' (German language, German for ) is a novel by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character. The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald. Legend The bas ...
(1952), which starred
Hildegard Knef Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff. Early years Hildegard Knef was born in Ulm in 19 ...
and
Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim, ; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of ...
. From 1960, Rabanalt worked only in television, adapting classic comedies and operettas for a mainstream audience. He also wrote several erotic pulp fiction books as well as memoirs and factual books about Nazi Germany.


Selected filmography

* ''
What Am I Without You ''What Am I Without You'' () is a 1934 German musical comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Wolfgang Liebeneiner, Betty Bird, and Olga Chekhova. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Gustav A. Knauer, Alexander ...
'' (1934) * ''
Pappi In Asteraceae, the pappus is the modified calyx_(botany), calyx, the part of an individual floret, that surrounds the base of the petal, corolla tube in flower. It functions as a dispersal mechanism for the achenes that contain the seeds. In ...
'' (1934) * ''
The Love of the Maharaja ''The Love of the Maharaja'' () is a 1936 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Gustav Diessl, Attila Hörbiger and Hilde von Stolz. It was made as a co-production between the Italian Astra Film and the Munich-based Bav ...
'' (1936) * ''
Men Are That Way ''Men Are That Way'' () is a 1939 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Hertha Feiler, Hans Söhnker and Hans Olden. The film's sets were designed by the art director Willi Herrmann. It was remade by Rabenalt in Austr ...
'' (1939) * ''
Escape in the Dark ''Escape in the Dark'' or ''Flight into Darkness'' () is a 1939 German crime film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Hertha Feiler, Joachim Gottschalk and Ernst von Klipstein. It was made at the Babelsberg Studios outside Berlin. ...
'' (1939) * ''
Midsummer Night's Fire ''Midsummer Night's Fire'' or ''St. John's Fire'' () is a 1939 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Anna Dammann, Ernst von Klipstein, and Gertrud Meyen. The film is based on the play '' Fires of St. John'' by Herma ...
'' (1939) * ''
The Three Codonas ''The Three Codonas'' () is a 1940 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring René Deltgen, Ernst von Klipstein and Josef Sieber. It is based on the life of the circus performer Alfredo Codona. It was made by Tobis Film, ...
'' (1940) * ''Achtung! Feind hört mit!'' (1940), i.e. ''Attention! The enemy is listening!'', Nazi propaganda film * ''
Riding for Germany ''Riding for Germany'' () is a 1941 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Willy Birgel, Gertrud Eysoldt and Gerhild Weber. A German cavalry officer, badly injured during the First World War, emerges as a leading compet ...
'' (1941), Antisemitic propaganda film * ''
Front Theatre ''Front Theatre'' (German: ''Fronttheater'') is a 1942 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Heli Finkenzeller, René Deltgen and Lothar Firmans. It was made at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin and the Cinetone Studi ...
'' (1942), i.e. ''Front theatre'' * ''
Circus Renz Circus Renz was a German circus company. It was established in 1842 in Berlin by Ernst Jakob Renz (1815–1892) as ''Circus Olympic'' and existed until 1897. The company had several stationary buildings in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Breslau and V ...
'' (1943) * ''
Love Premiere ''Love Premiere'' () is a 1943 German comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Hans Söhnker, Kirsten Heiberg and Fritz Odemar. The film's sets were designed by Robert Herlth. The film is based on the stage play "Axel an der Hi ...
'' (1943) * ''
Life Calls ''Life Calls'' (German: ''Das Leben ruft'') is a 1944 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Sybille Schmitz, Paul Klinger and Elsa Wagner. It was based on the 1898 play ''Mutter Erde'' by Max Halbe. It was shot at the Ba ...
'' (1944) * ''
Chemistry and Love ''Chemistry and Love'' () is a 1948 East German comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Hans Nielsen, Tilly Lauenstein and Ralph Lothar. It is an anti-capitalist satire inspired by a stage play by the communist writer Béla Ba ...
'' (1948) * '' Everything Will Be Better in the Morning'' (1948) * '' Martina'' (1949) * '' Nights on the Nile'' (1949) * ''
The Woman from Last Night ''The Woman from Last Night'' () is a 1950 West German comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Heli Finkenzeller, Albert Matterstock, and Hilde Sessak. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in West Berlin. The film's sets we ...
'' (1950) * ''
Regimental Music ''Regimental Music'' (German: ''Regimentsmusik'') is a 1950 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Heidemarie Hatheyer, Friedrich Domin and Siegfried Breuer. It was an Überläufer, a film made predominantly during the S ...
'' (1950) * ''
Immortal Light ''Immortal Light'' () is a 1951 West German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Rudolf Forster, Cornell Borchers and Volker von Collande.Bock & Bergfelder p. 487 It was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich and on location ...
'' (1951) * ''
Wedding in the Hay ''Wedding in the Hay'' (German: ''Hochzeit im Heu'') is a 1951 Austrian-German comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Oskar Sima, Inge Egger and Kurt Seifert.Fritsche p.242 It was shot at the Schönbrunn Studios in Vienna and t ...
'' (1951) * ''
The White Adventure ''The White Adventure'' () is a 1952 West German comedy crime film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Joe Stöckel, Lucie Englisch and Adrian Hoven. It set at a ski resort on the Bavarian border with Austria, where smuggling is taking ...
'' (1952) * '' The Forester's Daughter'' (1952) * ''
We're Dancing on the Rainbow ''We're Dancing on the Rainbow'' (, ) is a 1952 German-Italian musical melodrama film directed by Carmine Gallone and Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Inge Egger, Isa Barzizza and Karl Schönböck. It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome ...
'' (1952) * ''
Alraune ''Alraune'' (German language, German for ) is a novel by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character. The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald. Legend The bas ...
'' (1952) * '' The Mistress of Treves'' (1952) * '' The Immortal Vagabond'' (1953) * ''
Lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of perennial flowering plants in the sage family, Lamiaceae. It is native plant, native to the Old World, primarily found across the drier, warmer regions of the Mediterranean ...
'' (1953) * ''
The Last Waltz ''The Last Waltz'' was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group the Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. ''The Last Waltz'' was advertised as the Band's "farewell concert a ...
'' (1953) * '' The Bird Seller'' (1953) * ''
The Little Czar ''The Little Czar'' () is a 1954 French-German historical drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Luis Mariano, Sonja Ziemann and Iván Petrovich. It is based on the operetta '' Der Zarewitsch'' by Franz Lehár. It was shot ...
'' (1954) * ''
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 ...
'' (1954) * ''
Operation Sleeping Bag ''Operation Sleeping Bag'' (German: ''Unternehmen Schlafsack'') is a 1955 West German comedy war film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Eva Ingeborg Scholz, Paul Klinger and Karlheinz Böhm. It was shot at the Wandsbek Studios in Ha ...
'' (1955) * ''
As Long as There Are Pretty Girls ''As Long as There Are Pretty Girls'' (German: ''Solang' es hübsche Mädchen gibt'') is a 1955 West German musical comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Georg Thomalla, Alice Kessler and Ellen Kessler.Bock & Bergfelder p.456 ...
'' (1955) * '' Love Is Just a Fairytale'' (1955) * '' Between Time and Eternity'' (1956) * ''
The Marriage of Doctor Danwitz ''The Marriage of Doctor Danwitz'' () is a 1956 West German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Marianne Koch, Karlheinz Böhm and Heidemarie Hatheyer. It was made at the Wandsbek Studios of the Hamburg-based Real Film. Th ...
'' (1956) * ' (1956) * ''
Spring in Berlin ''Spring in Berlin'' () is a 1957 West German romantic comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Sonja Ziemann, Gerhard Riedmann, and Gardy Granass. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in West Berlin and on location across th ...
'' (1957) * ''
That Won't Keep a Sailor Down ''That'' is an English language word used for several grammatical purposes. These include use as an adjective, conjunction, pronoun, adverb and intensifier; it has distance from the speaker, as opposed to words like ''this''. The word did not ...
'' (1958) * ''
A Woman Who Knows What She Wants ''A Woman Who Knows What She Wants'' () is a 1934 Czech musical comedy film directed by Václav Binovec and starring Markéta Krausová, , and Truda Grosslichtová. It is an adaptation of a 1932 stage musical of the same title, with music by ...
'' (1958) * '' Arena of Fear'' (1959) * '' What a Woman Dreams of in Springtime'' (1959) * ''
Big Request Concert ''Big Request Concert'' () is a 1960 Austrian family film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt. It was entered into the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival The 2nd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 9 to 23 July 1961. The Grand ...
'' (1960)


Published books

* ''Tanz and Film'

(1960) * ''Das Theater der Lust'' (1982) * ''Theater ohne Tabu'

(Emsdetten, 1970) * ''Der Operetten-Bildband Bühne Film Fernsehen'

(1980) * ''Mimus eroticus'

(Hamburg, 1965/67) * ''Joseph Goebbels und der Grossdeutsche Film'

(Munich, 1985) * ''Gesammelte Schriften'

(Hildesheim, 1999)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rabenalt, Arthur Maria 1905 births 1973 deaths Austrian film directors Austrian television directors Film people from Vienna