Albrecht Viktor Blum

Albrecht Viktor Blum (* 1888 in Brno ; † May 16, 1959 in Mexico City ) was an Austrian film director , film editor , actor and theater director .

Life

He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army and made it up to first lieutenant . In Berlin he worked as an extra in several films, in the same position he worked at the Volksbühne Berlin with Erwin Piscator . At a rally on March 30, 1927, Blum made his first public appearance by declaring the extra series' solidarity with Piscator as the spokesman for the extra series.

In the filming of Ernst Toller's Oops, we're alive! by Curt Oertel in 1927, it was Blum's task to look for and assemble authentic film material from the last ten years in the archives of the film companies. From newsreel Reports with he introduced in 1928, the films What we want - what we do not want the same communist-controlled People's film association and Time Report - face time together. The latter was not approved by the censors.

In the same year, Blum was entrusted with the editing of the film The Document of Shanghai , a co-production of Willi Munzenberg's Prometheus film and Moscow's Meshrabpom about the beginning of the Chinese Civil War . In the next few years, Blum worked on numerous other films for Prometheus Film and its daughter, the film cartel "Weltfilm" . In this way, Blum, who was a member of several communist organizations, made a significant contribution to the development of the compilation film .

In 1929 he directed Aufstieg - a film about the development and social work of the Association of Factory Workers in Germany , whose actors were all real workers. His next three films were commercials for communist organizations, then cultural and documentary films followed.

When his sponsor Piscator went to Moscow in 1931, Blum created the medium-length film The Great Stream on behalf of the Evangelical Press Association and Evangelical Women's Aid . A film about mother and people , which only passed the censorship with a youth ban.

With the bankruptcy of Münzenberg's companies Prometheus Film and Weltfilm in 1932, Blum lost an important source of income. Apparently he took over (mentioned as "A. Blum") at the end of the year the post of camera assistant in the Friedrich-der-Große- declaration Der Choral von Leuthen .

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists, he emigrated to Czechoslovakia in 1933. Blum received an engagement as an actor at the Theater von Reichenberg , but was arrested and expelled for activities for the Czech Communist Party. In 1936 he was a member of the International Brigades in Spain, then he went to Mexico.

There he participated in events of the Heinrich Heine Club , which was founded in November 1941 and was under the direction of Anna Seghers , Erwin Römer and Egon Erwin Kisch . On January 23, 1943 he staged Kisch's play Ascension of the Galgentoni and on July 17, 1943 Johannes R. Bechers A Hundred Kilometers from Moscow , in which he himself played the judge of the People's Court . In various other plays he was only involved as an actor.

In January 1942 he joined the Free Germany Movement , gave lectures, wrote magazine articles and earned a living as a photographer. On August 28, 1949, he directed a performance of Faust I in the Bellas Artes room and played Mephisto himself . He died of stomach cancer.

Filmography

• 1921: Burning Land (actor)
• 1922: Marizza, called the Smuggler Madonna (actor)
• 1922: Vanina - The Gallows Wedding (actor)
• 1922: Duke Ferrantes Ende (actor)
• 1927: Thunderstorm over Gottland (actor)
• 1927: Oops, we're alive! (Archive film research)
• 1928: What we want - What we don't want (director, editor)
• 1928: Zeitgesicht - Zeitgesicht (director)
• 1928: Hundreds of thousands fighting (director, editor)
• 1928: In the shadow of the machine (director)
• 1928: The Shanghai Document (cut)
• 1929: Crusade of the Machine (director, editor)
• 1929: Aufstieg - A film about the development and social impact of the Association of Factory Workers in Germany (director)
• 1929: Heart, city animals, industry and deeper meaning: An assembly dream by Albrecht Viktor Blum, dedicated to the Bauhaus Dessau (director)
• 1929: The water cycle (director)
• 1929: Across Sports (Director)
• 1929: World Port (section)
• 1930: Facts - This is what AIZ has been showing you for 10 years (director, editor)
• 1930: World and Work (director)
• 1930: Rotterdam (director)
• 1930: Break the chains! (Director, editor)
• 1930: The emperor's coolies (director, producer)
• 1930: Rot Sport Marching (Director)
• 1930: City and Port of Rotterdam (Director)
• 1930: In the shadow of the cosmopolitan city (director)
• 1930: Dutch trip. A film report (director)
• 1931: Through Dalmatia with a hand-held camera (director)
• 1931: The great river. A film by mother and people (camera, director)
• 1934: Karl Kraus . From own writings (recording manager)

Web links

• Literature by and about Albrecht Viktor Blum in the catalog of the German National Library
• Albrecht Viktor Blum at filmportal.de
• Albrecht Viktor Blum in the Internet Movie Database (English)