Mountain and sports film

Letterhead with picture stamp of Berg- und Sport-Film GmbH , 1920s

The mountain and sports-Film GmbH was a German company based in Freiburg , whose major business purpose was the film production. In line with its name, the company then focused on the production of films about the mountains and (ski) sports.

founding

The company was founded after the First World War in 1920 by the two mountaineers and skiers Arnold Fanck and Odo Deodatus I. Tauern . Their headquarters had the mountain and sports-Film GmbH in Freiburg Röderstraße 9th

Further development

The researchers Rolf Bauer and in 1921 Bernhard Villinger joined the company’s group of shareholders . Sepp Allgeier was the first cameraman for the film production company between 1920 and 1923 . In addition to this, after training by Allgeier and Fanck, Richard Angst , Albert Benitz , Kurt Neubert , Walter Riml and Hans Schneeberger also worked as cameramen. Together with Allgeier and Fanck, they belonged to the Freiburg School and ensured that Freiburg im Breisgau was a center of German filmmaking at the time. In addition to Fanck's films, Berg- und Sport-Film GmbH produced documentary, animation and fairy tale films. Improvisation became an essential element in recording and editing.

“While almost all film manuscripts were initially based on the invention of a literary story, which was subsequently illustrated by film images, I always went the opposite way. That means figurative ideas first, which then gradually merged into a closed action. "

- Arnold Fanck, 1973

Studio recordings were also made for the first time from 1923/24. For the film Der Berg des Schicksals , debutant Luis Trenker, mountaineers and skiers were not only used as actors, but as actors for the first time.

The hyperinflation brought the company considerable difficulties; In 1925 it was taken over by Universum-Film ( UFA ), which was able to swallow a successful and annoying competitor in this way.

In 1946 Fanck tried to revive the Berg- und Sport-Film GmbH in Freiburg, but did not get beyond the planning phase. The company was entered in the commercial register between 1946 and 1952.

Filmography

1919/20: The miracle of the snowshoe , 1st part
1920: The masters of water
1921: Jiu-Jitsu - the invisible weapon
1921: Moritz, the dreamer - How Moritz imagines the creation of the world
1921: The great Dempsey – Carpentier boxing match
1921: In the fight with the mountains
1921: With the Jungfrau Railway to the regions of the eternal ice
1921/22: The wonder of the snowshoe , part 2 A fox hunt on skis through the Engadine
1921/22: The dying city
1922: Pömperli's fight with the snowshoe
1922: Chufu
1922: The German fighting games in 1922
1922: Earth – Mars football competition
1922: Ali-Baba and the 40 robbers
1922: A great ride - a sailing film and what surgeon Huckebein experienced when it was shot
1923: $ 1,000 reward
1923: The heart of man
1923: Saving Franz's life - an experience among the savages
1923/24: The mountain of fate
1924: The Maloja cloud phenomenon
1924: The coveted Lotte or Welch delightful little feet
1924/25: The white art
1925: Rowing
1925/26: South Tyrol - an outpost of German culture
1927: Winter sports in the Black Forest

Individual evidence

↑ Transcript of the publication for the entry in the local commercial register: “In the commercial register B, Volume III, O.-B. 14 was registered: Berg- und Sportfilm, company with limited liability based in Freiburg i. Br. The object of the company is the production and exploitation of cinematographic recordings of a sporting and scientific nature. The share capital amounts to 21,000 marks. The managing directors are Dr. Odo Deodatus Tauern, private, Freiburg and Dr. Arnold Fanck, geologist, Freiburg. The articles of association of this limited liability company were adopted on February 20, 1920. Each of the two partners is entitled to represent the company alone. Freiburg, March 8, 1920. 2580. District Court I. "
^ ^A ^b Hans-Michael Bock : The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema . Berghahn Books, New York and Oxford 2009. ISBN 978-0-8574-5565-9 , pp. 116-117.
↑ Lisa Blitz: Freiburg as the cradle of German mountain films , July 17, 2017, exhibition at the Museum for City History, Freiburg im Breisgau, on: freiburg.de
^ Kurt Hochstuhl, Freiburg State Archives, April 2014; Finding aid T 1 (access 2005/0058): T 1 estate Allgeier, Sepp
^ Address book of the capital Freiburg im Breisgau 1922, p. II 18.
^ La Montagne Sacrée, Arnold Fanck - 1926 , on: fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com
^ Villinger, Bernhard , on: leo-bw.de
^ Arnold Fanck , on: filmportal.de
↑ Allgeier, Sepp , on: leo-bw.de
^ Heidi Ossenberg: Freiburg - the birthplace of mountain films . In: Badische Zeitung of March 21, 2009, on: badische-zeitung.de
↑ The mountain of fate , on: filmportal.de
↑ ^a ^b Berg- und Sportfilm GmbH (Freiburg / Br.) , On: filmportal.de
^ Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, State Archives Freiburg, Commercial Register files, District Court Freiburg, G 540/5 No. 11508, Archival Identifier 5-2068186.

[1] Transcript of the publication for the entry in the local commercial register: “In the commercial register B, Volume III, O.-B. 14 was registered: Berg- und Sportfilm, company with limited liability based in Freiburg i. Br. The object of the company is the production and exploitation of cinematographic recordings of a sporting and scientific nature. The share capital amounts to 21,000 marks. The managing directors are Dr. Odo Deodatus Tauern, private, Freiburg and Dr. Arnold Fanck, geologist, Freiburg. The articles of association of this limited liability company were adopted on February 20, 1920. Each of the two partners is entitled to represent the company alone. Freiburg, March 8, 1920. 2580. District Court I. "

[Bock-2] A ^b Hans-Michael Bock : The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema . Berghahn Books, New York and Oxford 2009. ISBN 978-0-8574-5565-9 , pp. 116-117.

[3] Lisa Blitz: Freiburg as the cradle of German mountain films , July 17, 2017, exhibition at the Museum for City History, Freiburg im Breisgau, on: freiburg.de

[4] Kurt Hochstuhl, Freiburg State Archives, April 2014; Finding aid T 1 (access 2005/0058): T 1 estate Allgeier, Sepp

[5] Address book of the capital Freiburg im Breisgau 1922, p. II 18.

[6] La Montagne Sacrée, Arnold Fanck - 1926 , on: fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com

[7] Villinger, Bernhard , on: leo-bw.de

[8] Arnold Fanck , on: filmportal.de

[9] Allgeier, Sepp , on: leo-bw.de

[10] Heidi Ossenberg: Freiburg - the birthplace of mountain films . In: Badische Zeitung of March 21, 2009, on: badische-zeitung.de

[11] The mountain of fate , on: filmportal.de

[FilmportalBergSportFilm-12] Berg- und Sportfilm GmbH (Freiburg / Br.) , On: filmportal.de

[13] Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, State Archives Freiburg, Commercial Register files, District Court Freiburg, G 540/5 No. 11508, Archival Identifier 5-2068186.