CCC Film (German: Central Cinema Compagnie-Film GmbH) is a German film production company founded in 1946 by Artur Brauner. A Polish Jew who survived the Nazi era by fleeing to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, he lost dozens of relatives to the Nazis. His primary interest was making films about the Nazi era, but after his first such film failed at the box office, throwing him into debt, he began producing entertainment films, the commercial success of which then financed his

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

-related films, some of which also became successful. In 2009, Brauner donated 21 Holocaust-related films to

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

1946–1950s

On September 16, 1946, Brauner founded CCC Film with Joseph Einstein, his brother-in-law, a

black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the ...

eer in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

,Hans Schmid
"Old Atze und der Schatz im Silbersee"
'' Heise'' Online. (August 23, 2008) Retrieved March 1, 2012 with a capital investment of 21,000

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...

s in the American sector of postwar Germany. They had money, but no license from the American authorities, without which, it was impossible to produce anything. Two months later, Einstein quit the enterprise, leaving Brauner as sole owner. The first CCC-produced film was the 1947 '' King of Hearts'', followed in 1948 by partially self-autobiographical"Sein letztes Kapitel"
''

Der Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...

'' (April 21, 2008). Retrieved March 1, 2012 '' Morituri'', directed by

Eugen York Eugen York (26 November 1912 – 18 November 1991) was a German film director. He directed 35 films between 1938 and 1984. He was born in Rybinsk, Russian Empire and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography Film * '' Morituri'' (194 ...

. ''Morituri'' tells the story of a Polish refugee from a Nazi concentration camp. After a few theaters were damaged, the film was boycotted by other theaters and became a

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is f ...

disaster, nearly ruining CCC Film and Brauner, and causing him to begin producing "normal films" in order to pay off his debt, as he told ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' magazine in 2003.William Boston
"Burying the Past"
''

'' (October 1, 2003). Retrieved February 29, 2012 Postwar German audiences, struggling with devastated cities, homelessness and hunger, wanted escapist movies in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and Brauner filled that desire with a mixture of comedies,

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

s, crime stories and the occasional drama. In 1949, Brauner finally received his license from the American authorities and CCC Film produced three successful films and moved to a former Nazi munitions and

poison gas Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal dose) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious or perm ...

factory in

Haselhorst Haselhorst () is a locality in the borough of Spandau in Berlin. It is located between Siemensstadt and the Old Town of Spandau and is separated from the Hakenfelde locality by the River Havel. Overview The manor of Haselhorst was incorporated ...

, a locality in the

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by la ...

district of

. Brauner later said, "Out of the poison-gas factory I wanted to make a dream factory." In the 1950s, CCC continued producing its proven mix of light-hearted fare and hired directors such as

Carl Boese Carl Eduard Hermann Boese (; 26 August 1887 – 6 July 1958) was a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He directed 158 films between 1917 and 1957. Selected filmography * ''Farmer Borchardt'' (1917) * ''Donna Lucia'' (1918) * ''T ...

Helmut Käutner Helmut Käutner (25 March 1908 – 20 April 1980) was a German film director active mainly in the 1940s and 1950s. He entered the film industry at the end of the Weimar Republic and released his first films as a director in Nazi Germany. Käu ...

, Robert Adolf Stemmle,

Géza von Bolváry Géza von Bolváry (born Géza Gyula Mária Bolváry Zahn, german: Géza Maria von Bolváry-Zahn; 26 December 1897 – 10 August 1961) was a Hungarian actor, screenwriter, and film director, who worked principally in Germany and Austria. Biog ...

, Akos von Ratony, Kurt Neumann,

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

and Erich Engel. Actors and actresses such as

Heinz Rühmann Heinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann (; 7 March 1902 – 3 October 1994) was a German film actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1926 and 1993. He is one of the most famous and popular German actors of the 20th century, and is considered a Ge ...

Maria Schell Maria Margarethe Anna Schell (15 January 1926 – 26 April 2005) was an Austrian-Swiss actress. She was one of the leading stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, she was awarded the Cannes Best Actress Award for her performance ...

, Gert Fröbe,

Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor, equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality. He appeared in over 130 film roles in a c ...

Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in '' Des Teufels Gen ...

and

Romy Schneider Romy Schneider (; born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach; 23 September 1938 – 29 May 1982) was a German-French actress. She began her career in the German genre in the early 1950s when she was 15. From 1955 to 1957, she played the central chara ...

were featured, some, like Kinski, making his film debut. It became one of the largest producers of postwar German-language films and helped to establish Berlin as a center of German film and television production. CCC produced ' directed by

Franz Cap Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

in 1952. In 1955, the company produced ''

The Plot to Assassinate Hitler ''The Plot to Assassinate Hitler'' (german: Der 20. Juli) is a 1955 German feature film produced by CCC Film on the failed 20 July 1944 attempt to kill Adolf Hitler. Falk Harnack directed and co-wrote the film's script with Günther Weisenborn ...

'', directed by Falk Harnack and co-written by Günther Weisenborn, about the failed July 20, 1944 attempt on

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's life.Both director Falk Harnack and screenwriter Günther Weisenborn were former members of the German Resistance and Weisenborn was imprisoned by the Nazis for several years. In addition, Harnack's brother, sister-in-law and cousins were all executed by the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Other more challenging films from the 1950s were '' Die Ratten'' (directed by

Robert Siodmak Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as '' The Killers'' (19 ...

) adapted from a play by

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...

winner

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He recei ...

; ' (1956, directed by Rudolf Jugert) adapted from a book by

Vicki Baum Hedwig "Vicki" Baum (; he, ויקי באום; January 24, 1888 – August 29, 1960) was an Austrian writer. She is known for the novel ''Menschen im Hotel'' ("People at a Hotel", 1929 — published in English as ''Grand Hotel''), one of he ...

; and ''

Vor Sonnenuntergang ''Before Sundown'' (german: Vor Sonnenuntergang) is a 1956 West German drama film directed by Gottfried Reinhardt and starring Hans Albers, Annemarie Düringer and Martin Held. At the 6th Berlin International Film Festival it won the Golden ...

'' (1956, directed by Gottfried Reinhardt), also adapted from Hauptmann. CCC produced 19 films in 1958 and began working on large productions. By the end of the 1950s, the company had built five additional film studios on its Haselhorst property, outfitting them with equipment for film and television production.

The 1960s

At the end of the 1950s, CCC began a string of

Karl May films Karl May film adaptations are films based on stories and characters by German author Karl May (1842–1912). The characters Old Shatterhand, Winnetou, and Kara Ben Nemsi are very famous in Central Europe. In most of the film versions the novels we ...

and historical dramas and Brauner brought important directors back from exile, such as

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Hollywood primarily as a director for much of his ...

and Gerd Oswald. In 1959, the company produced '' The Tiger of Eschnapur'' and '' The Indian Tomb'', directed by Lang; in 1960, '' Mistress of the World'' directed by Dieterle; and ''

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr /> Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent) Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin ...

'' directed by Henry Levin in 1964. The company also began co-producing low-budget films by American

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...

directors like

Hugo Fregonese Hugo Geronimo Fregonese (April 8, 1908 in Mendoza – January 11, 1987 in Tigre) was an Argentine film director and screenwriter who worked both in Hollywood and his home country.''Cine Nacional''Hugo Fregonese filmography Cinenacional.com ...

and

Russ Meyer Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that fe ...

. Brauner tried to establish a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

production base, but abandoned this after making two films, one of which was '' Station Six-Sahara'' (1962) by Seth Holt. In the mid-1960s, the

French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of icono ...

introduced a new, more realistic and contemporary way of filmmaking. Brauner pursued just one such project, called '' Man and Beast'' and directed by

Edwin Zbonek Edwin Zbonek (28 March 1928 – 29 May 2006) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1960 and 1982. His film ''Man and Beast (1963 film), Man and Beast'' was entered into the 13th Berlin International Fil ...

. The effort was neither a commercial nor an artistic success. CCC then returned to its safe formula of entertainment ventures, such as

, a series of Doctor Mabuse films and movies with sequels, such as '' The Treasure of the Aztecs'' and its sequel, '' The Pyramid of the Sun God''. Nonetheless, when German television station ZDF moved to

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

and no longer used CCC facilities to produce their programs, Brauner was forced to reverse his company's expansion of just a few years earlier.

The 1970s and beyond

In 1970, CCC Film co-produced '' The Garden of the Finzi Continis'' (''Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini'') directed by

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: '' Sciuscià'' and '' Bicycle Thieves'' (honorar ...

, which won the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

for ''Best Foreign Language Film''. With his large studio space less in demand and his staff already reduced from over 200 in the 1950s to 85, Brauner closed the studios and laid off his remaining employees in September 1970,Hans Schmid
"Winnetou und der Häuptling der Komantschen: Atze Brauner jagt Karl May"
'' Heise'' Online. (August 23, 2008). Retrieved March 2, 2012 afterwards working instead on occasional projects, such as ' in 1974, directed by

Aleksander Ford Aleksander Ford (born Mosze Lifszyc; 24 November 1908 in Kiev, Russian Empire – 4 April 1980 in Naples, Florida, United States, U.S.) was a Polish film director; and head of the Polish People's Army of Poland, People's Army Film Crew in the Sov ...

; '' Eine Liebe in Deutschland'' in 1983, directed by

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of th ...

; and '' Hanussen'' in 1988, directed by István Szabó. He also continued to produce projects related to Nazi war crimes, such as '' Die Weiße Rose'' in 1983, directed by

Michael Verhoeven Michael Verhoeven (born 13 July 1938) is a German film director. Life and work Verhoeven is the son of the German film director Paul Verhoeven (not to be confused with the Dutch film director Paul Verhoeven). He married actress Senta Berger in ...

; '' Europa Europa'' in 1990, directed by

Agnieszka Holland Agnieszka Holland (born 28 November 1948) is a Polish film and television director and screenwriter, best known for her political contributions to Polish cinema. She began her career as assistant to directors Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda, ...

and nominated for an Oscar. In 2003, he produced ''

Babi Yar Babi Yar (russian: Ба́бий Яр) or Babyn Yar ( uk, Бабин Яр) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The f ...

'', directed by the American director Jeff Kanew, about the mass executions at

, which included 12 members of Brauner's family. In 2006, Brauner produced '' The Last Train'', directed by Joseph Vilsmaier and Dana Vávrová, about the last transport of Jews from Berlin to Auschwitz. In 2009, Brauner donated 21 of his Holocaust-related films to

, and in his honor, Yad Vashem named its media research center after him.Liat Benhabib and Mimi Ash
"Visual Center Receives Artur Brauner Film Collection"
(PDF) ''

Jerusalem Quarterly Magazine'' Vol. 57, (April 2010), p. 20. Retrieved March 1, 2012

Notes

References

Sources

* Artur Brauner, ''Mich gibt's nur einmal – Rückblende eines Lebens.'' Munich (1978) * Claudia Dillmann, ''Artur Brauner und die CCC – Filmgeschäft, Produktionsalltag, Studiogeschichte 1946–1990.'' Frankfurt am Main (1990)

External links

CCC Film
official website. (Homepage has link (top, right) for English version, then use the navigation bar for English pages.)

Dirk Jasper Film Lexicon. Republished from Concorde Film. (November 2006). Retrieved March 1, 2012
Artur Brauner-Archiv
Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt/Main {{DEFAULTSORT:CCC Film Film production companies of Germany Entertainment companies of Germany