Carl Hoffmann

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Carl Hoffmann (born June 9, 1885 in Neisse , † July 13, 1947 in Minden in Westphalia ) was a German cameraman and director . Alongside Karl Freund and Fritz Arno Wagner, Hoffmann is one of the most important cameramen of the Weimar Republic .

Life

At the age of thirteen he was already engaged in photography . He completed his training in Freiburg , where he initially worked in a photo laboratory and as a projectionist. He later moved to Berlin . In 1916 he became chief operator of the Decla film company.

Carl Hoffmann began as a cameraman with short films based on literary motifs such as B. The Guarantee (1912/13), The Singer's Curse or The Walk to the Iron Hammer ; feature films such as Macbeth and Fiesko (both from 1913) followed. In 1916 Hoffmann shot Otto Rippert's six-part Homunculus series. In addition to numerous entertainment films, documentaries such as In den wilden Schroff des Hochgebirgs (1918) were made. Besides works with rather abstruse titles like From the secrets of a convent (1919) or O he were still a stewing hen (1920), he worked on other literary adaptations, such as 1920-21 in the conspiracy to Genoa with Fritz Kortner and 1920 at La Ronde with Asta Nielsen and Conrad Veidt . Even with the first Dr. Mabuse film, Dr. Mabuse, the player , was Hoffmann behind the camera in the twenties. The director was here Fritz Lang , as well as in the Nibelungen films that emerged a little later.

Under the direction of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau , Hoffmann filmed Faust in 1925/26 - a German folk tale with Gösta Ekman , Emil Jannings and Yvette Guilbert . This film is a testament to his skills in trick technology.

In The Mysterious Mirror (1927), he led together with Richard Teschner also directed.

After a few more years behind the camera, Hoffmann directed Ich bin du , a mix-up film against a semi-exotic background, in 1933/34 , as well as in 1934 for People in the Shadow, People in the Light and numerous entertainment films from the Nazi era. During this time he also introduced his son Kurt, born in 1910, to the film business as a volunteer. He shot his last film, Shiva and the Gallows Flower , in 1945. Hoffmann's grave is located in Minden's north cemetery.

Filmography (selection)

camera

Director

  • 1935: The multiplication table of love
  • 1935: Victoria
  • 1935: The merry women
  • 1936: The people with the sunstroke
  • 1936: Full throttle into marriage
  • 1936: Rolf has a secret
  • 1937: People in the shadow, people in the light
  • 1937: From midnight

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