Tobis Film was a German

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 ...

and film distribution company. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent to

sound films A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

, the organisation emerged as a leading German sound studio. Tobis used the

Tri-Ergon The Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system was developed from around 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl (1893–1942), Joseph Massolle (1889–1957), and Hans Vogt (1890–1979). The system used a photoelectric recording method and a non-standar ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...

system under the Tobis-Klang trade name. The

UFA Ufa is a city in Russia and the capital of the republic of Bashkortostan. UFA or Ufa may also refer to: Places * Ufa (river), a river in Russia; a tributary of the Belaya * Ufa International Airport, near the Russian city * Ufa railway statio ...

production company had separate rights to the Tobis system, which it used under the trade name of Ufa-Klang. Some Tobis films were released in Germany by the subsidiary Europa Film. Its principal production studios were the

Johannisthal Studios The Johannisthal Studios were film studios located in the Berlin area of Johannisthal. Founded in 1920 on the site of a former airfield, they were a centre of production during the Weimar and Nazi eras. Nearly four hundred films were made at Johan ...

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 ...

. During the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, Tobis was one of the four major film companies along with

Terra Film Terra Film was a Berlin-based film production company. Founded in 1919, it became one of Germany's largest film production companies in the 1930s under the Nazi regime. Corporate history The company was founded at end of 1919, initially as a limi ...

Bavaria Film Bavaria Film GmbH is a German film production and distribution company located in Grünwald, Bavaria at the district of Munich. It is one of Europe's largest film production companies and one of the leading production and distribution companies ...

and

. In 1942 all these companies were merged into a single state-controlled industry bringing an end to Tobis' independent existence, though films continued to be released under the Tobis banner.

International operations

From 1933 until 1938, Tobis controlled the dominant Austrian producer

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 ...

which was known as Tobis-Sascha. From 1932, it also owned a majority share of one of the main Portuguese producers known as

Tobis Portuguesa Tobis Portuguesa is a Portuguese film production and lab processing company. Established in June 3, 1932, Tobis produced many of the major works in Portuguese cinema for three decades. History Founded in 1932, Tobis originally focused on film p ...

, a name which the company kept even after the German participation was terminated at the end of world War II. Tobis established a Paris subsidiary and produced French-language film at the

Epinay Studios The Epinay Studios are film production studios located in Epinay in northern Paris. It was a complex with two distinct and separate structures. The earliest was built in 1902 by Eclair Film. A second studio was controlled by the French subsidiar ...

during the 1930s. Among the directors under contract to the company was

René Clair René Clair (; 11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette (), was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. H ...

who produced the films ''

Under the Roofs of Paris ''Under the Roofs of Paris'' () is a 1930 French film directed by René Clair. The film was probably the earliest French example of a filmed musical-comedy, although its often dark tone differentiates it from other instances of the genre. It w ...

'' and ''

Le Million ''Le Million'' is a 1931 French musical comedy film directed by René Clair. The story was adapted by Clair from a play by Georges Berr and Marcel Guillemand. Plot Michel, a debt-ridden artist, is interrupted several times while romancing Van ...

'' during the early sound era.

Legacy

One of the studio's employees

Horst Wendlandt Horst Otto Gregor Wendlandt (15 March 1922 – 30 August 2002) was a German film producer. He produced more than 100 films between 1956 and 2002. In the 1960s Horst Wendlandt's production company Rialto Film produced films based on Edgar W ...

later (1971) founded a new distribution company which is also known as

Tobis Entertainment Tobis may refer to: *Tobis Film Tobis Film was a German film production and film distribution company. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent film, silent to sound films, the organisation em ...

.Bergfelder p.439 In 2016, the present-day Tobis became an investor in Globalgate Entertainment.

Selected filmography

* ''

Land Without Women ''Land Without Women'' () is a 1929 German drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Conrad Veidt, Elga Brink and Clifford McLaglen. It was based on the novel ''Die Braut Nr. 68'' by Peter Bolt. The film is set amongst a community of ...

'' (1929) * '' Where the Lark Sings'' (1936) * ''

Adventure in Warsaw ''Adventure in Warsaw'' () is a 1938 German-Polish comedy film directed by Carl Boese and starring Georg Alexander, Paul Klinger and Jadwiga Kenda. The film was the second of two German-Polish co-productions following ''Augustus the Strong'' (19 ...

'' (1937) * ''

Truxa ''Truxa'' is a 1937 German drama film directed by Hans H. Zerlett and starring La Jana, Hannes Stelzer, and Ernst Fritz Fürbringer. It is a Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may inclu ...

'' (1937) * ''

The Broken Jug ''The Broken Jug'' (, , also sometimes translated ''The Broken Pitcher'') is a comedy written by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. Kleist first conceived the idea for the play in 1801 after looking at a copper engraving in Heinrich Zsch ...

'' (1937) * '' The Gambler'' (1938) * '' Wibbel the Tailor'' (1939) * ''

The Journey to Tilsit ''The Journey to Tilsit'' (German: ''Die Reise nach Tilsit'') is a 1939 German drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Kristina Söderbaum, Philip Dorn and Anna Dammann. Synopsis Elske faithfully loves her fisherman husband Endrik as h ...

'' (1939) * ''

We Danced Around the World ''We Danced Around the World'' () is a 1939 German musical film directed by Karl Anton and starring Charlotte Thiele, Irene von Meyendorff, and Carola Höhn. It is a backstage musical. The film's sets were designed by Paul Markwitz and Fritz M ...

'' (1939) * ''

Renate in the Quartet ''Renate in the Quartet'' () is a 1939 German musical comedy film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Käthe von Nagy, Hans Brausewetter and Gustav Fröhlich.Hake p. 198 It is based on a novel by Geog Albrecht von Ihering. Synopsis When a fe ...

'' (1939) * ''

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( ; ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax, he i ...

'' (1939) * ''

The Fox of Glenarvon ''The Fox of Glenarvon'' (German: ''Der Fuchs von Glenarvon'') is a 1940 Nazi German anti-British propaganda drama film produced in World War II portraying the Irish fight for independence during World War I. It was produced in 1940 by Max W. ...

'' (1940) * ''

Falstaff in Vienna ''Falstaff in Vienna'' () is a 1940 German musical comedy film directed by Leopold Hainisch and starring Hans Nielsen (actor), Hans Nielsen, Gusti Wolf and Paul Hörbiger.Fawkes p. 110 It portrays the life of the nineteenth century composer Otto N ...

'' (1940) * ''

Ohm Krüger ''Ohm Krüger'' (English: ''Uncle Krüger'') is a 1941 German biographical film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Emil Jannings, Lucie Höflich, and Werner Hinz. It was one of a series of major propaganda films produced in Nazi Germany ...

'' (1941) * '' Ferdinand the Ant'' (1944) * ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'' (1943) * ''

Anna Alt ''Anna Alt'' (also known as ''Soloist Anna Alt,'' ) is a 1945 German drama film directed by Werner Klingler. The movie stars Anneliese Uhlig, Will Quadflieg and Emil Lohkamp.Hake p. 200 The story follows a talented pianist who sacrifices her o ...

'' (1945) * ''

The Years Pass ''The Years Pass'' () is a 1945 German drama film directed by Günther Rittau and starring Heidemarie Hatheyer, Carl Kuhlmann and Werner Fuetterer.Bock & Bergfelder p. 33 It was shot at the Althoff Studios in Berlin and on location around Garmis ...

'' (1945)

References

Bibliography

* Bergfelder, Tim. ''International Adventures: German Popular Cinema and European Co-Productions in the 1960s''. Berhahn Books, 2005. * * (Restricted view, subscription needed) * Kreimeier, Klaus. ''The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918-1945''. University of California Press, 1999.

External links

* German film studios Film production companies of Germany Mass media in Berlin Entertainment companies established in 1928 1928 establishments in Germany Film distributors of Germany {{film-company-stub