Erwin Lange (special effects artist)

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Erwin Lange (born March 24, 1913 in Berlin ; † October 25, 1982 in Munich ) was a German pyrotechnician working on films.

Live and act

For a long time he worked as an apprentice in a drugstore and was so enthusiastic about pyrotechnics by his boss, a hobby fireworker, that he made it his profession. In 1931 he made his debut as a pyrotechnics assistant in the Kästner adaptation Emil and the detectives . In 1935 he was the first chief pyrotechnician for the film Das Mädchen Johanna , where he staged the burning of the Maid of Orléans . After that, Lange was mainly involved in war films, where he effectively reenacted bombings on the battlefields. His most extensive task was the comprehensive pyrotechnic effects for Veit Harlan's war and perseverance film Kolberg , where, as Wolfgang Schleif reported in a television interview in 1979, he was literally allowed to burn 400,000 RM .

Lange began his post-war career at the end of 1947 with Morituri , Artur Brauner's first committed film project on the Holocaust . In the course of the 1950s, more and more international film productions approached him. Hollywood directors like Richard Fleischer , Douglas Sirk and Stanley Kubrick have hired Lange when they shot in Munich studios since the end of this decade. A rich field of activity presented itself to him in the sixties with the Karl May film wave, where he was involved in almost every film and was responsible for the increasing number of explosions. Lange was also responsible for the firecrackers and rockets that rascal Hansi Kraus let go of the first bank in the various episodes of the rascal stories and the episodes of the series Die Lümmel .

His motto was: "Long bombs are the best." He also appeared in many television productions. His son Peter (* 1942) and his grandson Dirk (* 1969) also became pyrotechnicians.

Filmography

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 4: H - L. Botho Höfer - Richard Lester. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 581.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Long, Erwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pyrotechnician at the film
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin , Kingdom of Prussia , German Empire
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1982
Place of death Munich , Bavaria , Federal Republic of Germany