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 The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

Early years

Pabst was born in Raudnitz,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Austria-Hungary 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#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(today's

Roudnice nad Labem Roudnice nad Labem (; ) is a town in Litoměřice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 13,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Rep ...

, Czech Republic), the son of a railroad official. While growing up 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. ...

, he studied drama at the Academy of Decorative Arts and initially began his career as a stage actor in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In 1910, Pabst traveled to the United States, where he worked as an actor and director at the German Theater in New York City. In 1914, he decided to become a director, and he returned to recruit actors in Europe. Pabst was in France when

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 ...

began, he was arrested and held as an enemy alien and interned in a

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

near Brest. * * * While imprisoned, Pabst organised a theatre group at the camp and directed French-language plays. Upon his release in 1919, he returned to Vienna, where he became director of the Neue Wiener Bühne, an

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

theatre.

Career

Pabst began his career as a film director at the behest of

Carl Froelich Carl August Hugo Froelich (5 September 1875 – 12 February 1953) was a German film pioneer and film director. He was born and died in Berlin. Biography Apparatus builder and cameraman From 1903 Froelich was a colleague of Oskar Messter, one of ...

who hired Pabst as an assistant director. He directed his first film, '' The Treasure'', in 1923. He developed a talent for "discovering" and developing the talents of actresses, such as Louise Brooks, and Leni Riefenstahl. Film theorist

Karel Reisz Karel Reisz (21 July 1926 – 25 November 2002) was a Czech-born British filmmaker and film critic, one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the best-known films he directed are '' Satur ...

noted that Pabst was among the first filmmakers to time his cuts to specific movements, using cutting on action to create seamless transitions and enhance the fluidity of his films. Pabst's best known films concern the plight of women, including '' The Joyless Street'' (1925) with Greta Garbo and Asta Nielsen, '' Secrets of a Soul'' (1926) with Lili Damita, '' The Loves of Jeanne Ney'' (1927) with Brigitte Helm, and '' Pandora's Box'' (1929) and '' Diary of a Lost Girl'' (1929) with American actress Louise Brooks. He also co-directed with Arnold Fanck a mountain film entitled '' The White Hell of Pitz Palu'' (1929) starring Leni Riefenstahl. After the coming of sound, he made a trilogy of films that secured his reputation: '' Westfront 1918'' (1930), ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

'' (1931) with Lotte Lenya (based on the

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

and

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

musical), and '' Kameradschaft'' (1931). Pabst also filmed three versions of Pierre Benoit's novel '' L'Atlantide'' in 1932, in German, English, and French, titled ''Die Herrin von Atlantis'', ''The Mistress of Atlantis'', and ''L'Atlantide'', respectively. In 1933, Pabst directed ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', once again in German, English, and French versions. After making '' A Modern Hero'' (1934) in the USA and '' Street of Shadows'' (1937) in France, Pabst (who was planning to emigrate to the United States) was caught in France in 1939, when war was declared, whilst visiting his mother, and was forced to return to Nazi Germany. Under the auspices of propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels, Pabst made two films in Germany during this period: '' The Comedians'' (1941) and ''

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. H ...

'' (1943). Pabst directed four opera productions in Italy in 1953: '' La forza del destino'' for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos, the cast included Renata Tebaldi, Fedora Barbieri, Mario del Monaco, Aldo Protti, Cesare Siepi), and a few weeks later, for the Arena di Verona Festival, a spectacular '' Aïda'', with

Maria Callas Maria Callas (born Maria Anna Cecilia Sophia Kalogeropoulos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised ...

in the title role (conducted by Tullio Serafin, with del Monaco), '' Il trovatore'' and again ''La forza del destino''. He directed '' The Last Ten Days'' (1955), the first post-war German feature film to feature

Adolf 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 ...

as a character.

Death

On 29 May 1967, Pabst died in Vienna at the age of 81. He was interred at the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna.

Awards

* 1941, Venice Film Festival: Gold Medal of the Biennale for Best Director for his film '' The Comedians''

Filmography

* '' The Treasure'' (1923) * '' Countess Donelli'' (1924) * '' Joyless Street'' (1925) * '' Secrets of a Soul'' (1926) * '' One Does Not Play with Love'' (1926) * '' The Love of Jeanne Ney'' (1927) * '' The Devious Path'' (1928) * '' Pandora's Box'' (1929) * '' Diary of a Lost Girl'' (1929) * '' The White Hell of Pitz Palu'' (dir. Arnold Fanck, 1929) * '' Westfront 1918'' (1930) * '' Scandalous Eva'' (1930) * '' Morals at Midnight'' (dir. Marc Sorkin, 1930) * ''

'' (1931) two versions: German and French * '' Kameradschaft'' (1931) * '' L'Atlantide'' (1932) three versions: German, French, and English * ''

'' (1933) three versions: German, French, and English * '' High and Low'' (1933) * '' Cette nuit-là'' (1933) * '' A Modern Hero'' (1934) * '' Street of Shadows'' (1937) * '' The Shanghai Drama'' (1938) * '' Girls in Distress'' (1939) * '' The Comedians'' (1941) * ''

'' (1943) * '' Der Fall Molander'' (1945) * '' The Trial'' (1948) * '' Mysterious Shadows'' (1949) * '' Duel with Death'' (1949) * '' Call Over the Air'' (dir.

Georg C. Klaren Georg C. Klaren (1900–1962) was an Austrian screenwriter and film director. He worked on a number of screenplays with Herbert Juttke during the silent era, silent and early sound eras including Alfred Hitchcock's 1931 film ''Mary (1931 film), Ma ...

, 1951) * '' Voice of Silence'' (1953) * '' Cose da pazzi'' (1953) * '' The Confession of Ina Kahr'' (1954) * '' The Last Ten Days'' (1955) * '' Jackboot Mutiny'' (1955) * '' Ballerina'' (1956) * '' Through the Forests and Through the Trees'' (1956)

References

Notes Further reading * Amengual, Barthélémy. ''G.W. Pabst''. Paris, Seghers, 1966 * Atwell, Lee. ''G.W. Pabst''. Boston, Twayne Publishers, 1977 * Baxter, John. "G.W. Pabst" in ''International Directory of Films and Filmmakers''. Chicago, 1990. pp. 376–378 * Groppali, Enrico. ''Georg W. Pabst''. Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1983 * Jacobsen, Wolfgang (ed.) ''G.W. Pabst''. Berlin, Argen, 1997 * Kagelmann, Andre and Keiner, Reinhold. "Lässig beginnt der Tod, Mensch und Tier zu ernten: Überlegungen zu Ernst Johannsens Roman ''Vier von der Infanterie'' und G. W. Pabsts Film ''Westfront 1918''" in Johannsen, Eric; Kassell (ed.) ''Vier von der Infanterie. Ihre letzen Tage an der Westfront 1918''. Media Net-Edition, 2014. S. 80-113. * * Kracauer, Siegfried. '' From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film''. Princeton, Princeton university press, 1947 * Mitry, Jean. ''Histoire du cinéma: Art et industrie'' (5 volumes) Paris, Editions Universitaires – J.P. Delarge, 1967–1980 * Rentschler, Eric (ed.) ''The Films of G.W. Pabst. An extraterritorial cinema''. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1990 * Pabst, Georg Wilhelm. "Servitude et grandeur de Hollywood" in ''Le rôle intellectuel du cinéma, Paris'', SDN-Institut International de Coopération Intellectuelle, 1937. pp. 251–255 * Van den Berghe, Marc. ''La mémoire impossible. Westfront 1918 de G.W. Pabst. Grande Guerre, soldats, automates. Le film et sa problématique vus par la 'Petite Illustration (1931), Bruxelles, 200

External links

*
"The Other Eye", Filmessay on G.W.Pabst, by Hannah Heer & Werner Schmiedel (A/USA 1991/92)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pabst, Georg Wilhelm 1885 births 1967 deaths 20th-century Austrian male actors Austrian film directors Austrian male stage actors Austrian opera directors Austrian theatre directors English-language film directors French-language film directors Silent film directors Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war in World War I World War I prisoners of war held by France Male actors from Vienna People from Roudnice nad Labem Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery 20th-century Austrian screenwriters 20th-century Austrian male writers