EW Emo

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EW Emo (* July 11, 1898 as Emerich Josef Wojtek in Unter-Seebarn 51, near Grafenwörth , Austria ; † December 2, 1975 in Vienna ) was an Austrian film director , mainly for comedies, 21 of them with the actor Hans Moser . He also worked abroad and wrote some scripts .

Live and act

Emerich Josef Wojtek was the son of a senior teacher. He attended the regional secondary school in Krems and did military service in the First World War. In 1919 he worked first as an extra and then as an assistant director, unit manager and finally assistant director in the film industry. In 1927 he came to Berlin as an assistant director and also worked here as an editor and dramaturge with various directors.

In 1928 he directed his first feature film called Honeymoon . He then made numerous entertainment films and, with the start of the sound film era, also several music and operetta films . As a director, Emo played a significant role in the popularity of actors such as Paul Hörbiger , Theo Lingen and above all Hans Moser , who starred in a total of 21 of his films. In 1936 he founded the Algefa film in Berlin with Paul Hörbiger and the Austrian consul Karl Künzel . In the same year his stage name was recognized as the official name "Emerich Walter Emo". Even after the Second World War, Emo was able to make several feature films.

During National Socialism he was one of the "house" directors of Wien-Film , where he continued to shoot light comedies, often with Hans Moser , to whom he gave a lot of room for improvisation. In some of his films, the director, who was loyal to the line, also criticized the clichés of Viennese films , for example in Anton the Last (1939), where he exaggerated Hans Moser's grumbling into troublemaking, and in love is duty-free (1941), where he described the "high Viennese society" less cheesy than cocky and malicious.

However, Emo's only decidedly propagandistic film is Vienna 1910 (1942), which was intended to legitimize the annexation of Austria to Germany with the distorted representation of Viennese politics around the anti-Semite Karl Lueger and the German national Georg Ritter von Schönerer . However, this attempt must be regarded as a failure, as the film was still too Austrian for the National Socialists, which is why it was banned from showing in the "Ostmark", Austria. In Germany there was little interest in film.

He was married to the German actress Anita Dorris since 1930 . Her daughter is the actress Maria Emo, born in 1936 . EW Emo died of arteriosclerosis on December 2, 1975 in Vienna . He was buried at the Hietzingen cemetery .

Filmography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Emerich Wojtek-Emo grave site , Vienna, Hietzing Friedhof, Group 34, No. 25G.
personal data
SURNAME Emo, EW
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wojtek, Emerich Josef (real name); Emo, Emerich Walter (other sources)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian film director
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Seebarn am Wagram
DATE OF DEATH 2nd December 1975
Place of death Vienna