Charles Klein (director)

Charles Klein , born in Friedrich Carl Klein (born January 29, 1898 in Namedy ; † February 1981 ) was a German writer , screenwriter and director for German and American films.

Life

The factory owner's son had attended the humanistic grammar school. At the beginning of the Weimar Republic, Klein learned the cinematic trade from scratch and subsequently worked as a cameraman, assistant director, screenwriter and finally as a director. His filmic activities took him to Berlin , New York and Hollywood .

In the USA he made his directorial debut in silent film, but returned to Germany shortly after the start of the talky-film era. There he found employment with large and small production companies, interrupted again and again by phases of unemployment. Klein's productions are predominantly cheerful: he shot comedies, pranks and comedies. After the outbreak of war in 1939, Klein was no longer offered any productions; in 1944/45 he was drafted.

Even after the war, Klein hardly worked for the film anymore. The naming of his and Felix Lützkendorf 's scripts in the remake of the military and world war material Urlaub auf Ehrenwort (1955) only referred to the adoption of both scripts for the first filming from 1937.

Beyond his cinematic activities, Klein concentrated on his writing activities. He wrote novels and plays (especially plays) like The Devil Invented Money and also worked as a dubbing author.

Filmography (selection)

• 1921: The robbery of the dollar princess
• 1928: The Tell-Tale-Heart (short film, only screenplay and co-production)
• 1928: Blindfold
• 1928/29: Sin Sister
• 1929: Plesasure Crazed (co-director)
• 1932: The Naked Fact (short film)
• 1933: When the village music plays on Sunday evening
• 1933/34: Gypsy blood
• 1934: his best invention (short film, also scriptwriting)
• 1937: Profile 606 (short film, also script collaboration)
• 1937: The timber auction (short film)
• 1937: Bluff (short film, also screenplay)
• 1937: Psst, I'm Aunt Emma (short film)
• 1938: Vacation on word of honor (only scriptwriting, also re-use for the 1955 remake)
• 1938: The fourth does not come (only script collaboration)
• 1939: love at first sight (short film, also screenplay)
• 1939: The woman without a past (dialogue director, script collaboration)
• 1939: The Shot (short film, script collaboration)
• 1940: your private secretary
• 1956: Sanssouci today (short documentary film)

Literary works

• 1931: Safari (drama)
• 1937: Brave Little Woman (drama)
• 1940: Race against death (play)
• 1941: Cleopatra from Copenhagen (musical comedy)

literature

• Karl Friedrich Klein . In: Wilhelm Kosch: Deutsches Theater-Lexikon , second volume. Klagenfurt / Vienna 1960, p. 1013.
• Johann Caspar Glenzdorf: Glenzdorf's international film lexicon. Biographical manual for the entire film industry. Volume 2: Hed – Peis. Prominent-Filmverlag, Bad Münder 1961, DNB 451560744 , p. 837.

Web links

• Charles Klein in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Charles Klein at filmportal.de