Eberhard Spiess

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Eberhard Spiess (sometimes also Spieß , * 1925 in Berlin ; † February 24, 2007 in Wiesbaden ) was a German film historian . For many years he was deputy head of the German Institute for Film Studies (DIF).

Life

Eberhard Spiess attended the Zehlendorfer Gymnasium in Berlin until he was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1943 . After the end of World War II , he was in British captivity in Egypt from 1945 to 1949 . After his release he worked for a film advertising company in Mainz until 1952 . From there he made contacts in the neighboring city of Wiesbaden to the German Institute for Film Studies, which he joined in 1956 as an employee. From 1960 he was its deputy director, a position that he held after the DIF moved to Frankfurt am Main .

During the 1950s, Spiess and DIF founder Hanns Wilhelm Lavies exchanged extensive letters with artists who had emigrated in the “ Third Reich ”, but also with former NS filmmakers (see also German film history ). The resulting autograph collection is of great value for film history research. Spiess published his research results in various specialist journals, but they also flowed into the German Feature Film Almanac . He also worked as a member of the well-known Fischer Film Almanac . He wrote independent publications about the screenwriter Carl Mayer and the popular actors Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann . One of his specialties was the Italian silent film of the 1920s.

Later Spiess focused on editorial activities . For example, he coordinated the compilation of two volumes - Germany and Italy - of the multi-part, comprehensive standard work International Directory of Cinematographers, Set and Costume Designers in Film .

Eberhard Spiess died on February 24, 2007 at the age of 81 after a brief serious illness in Wiesbaden.

Fonts

  • Hans Albers . A filmography , Frankfurt am Main 1977
  • Carl Mayer . A film author between expressionism and idyll , Frankfurt am Main, around 1979
  • as co-author: German Feature Film Almanac. Volume 2: 1946 - 1955. A guide through German-language film production in the first ten post-war years in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Austria and Switzerland , Munich 1981, ISBN 3-921612-01-2
  • together with Gregor Ball: Heinz Rühmann and his films . Citadel Movie Books . Munich 1982, ISBN 3-442-10213-8
  • as editor: International Directory of Cinematographers, Set- and Costume Designers in Film. Vol. 4: Germany (From the Beginnings to 1945) , Munich 1984, ISBN 3-598-21434-0
  • as editor: International Directory of Cinematographers, Set- and Costume Designers in Film. Vol. 7 .: Italy (From the Beginnings to 1986) , Munich 1988, ISBN 3-598-21437-5
  • as editor: "If only you monkeys wanted to write more often!". Correspondence between Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and Lothar Müthel , 1915 - 1917 . Writings of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Society eV (Volume 1), Bielefeld 1991, ISBN 3-921680-94-8

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Spiess, Eberhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spit, Eberhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 24, 2007
Place of death Wiesbaden