Film history Thiersee
From 1946 to 1952, Thiersee was the center of post-war Austrian film . The only film studio in Tyrol to date was set up in the then vacant Passion Playhouse. In the period mentioned, 18 feature films were produced. Production countries were Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland and England. At the end of 1952 the film studio in Thiersee was given up by the ÖFA.
How the film came to Thiersee
In 1946 the Innsbruck director and producer Eduard Wieser began shooting Wintermelodie , one of the first Austrian post-war films alongside Géza von Cziffra's Faith in Me . In addition to the famous ski racer Rudi Matt, the main roles are played by the actors Franz Eichberger, Rudolf Brix, Ilse Peternell and the young Dietmar Schönherr . Walter Riml , an experienced mountain film specialist , is behind the camera . He learned camera technology from Arnold Fanck and belonged to the so-called "Freiburg School".
The outdoor shots are shot in the vicinity of Innsbruck , Kitzbühel , Seefeld , St. Anton and Zürs am Arlberg . However, there is no suitable studio available for indoor shots. Hubert Koffou from Kufstein, who was involved in the film as a skier and porter, made the film team aware of the vacant Passion Play House in Thiersee. Director Wieser, cameraman Walter Riml and Hubert Koffou visit the building, which is ideally suited for studio recordings due to its size. Since the house was initially used as a prison camp for Ukrainian forced laborers during the war and as a material warehouse for the SS for the construction of the “ Alpine fortress ” in the last weeks of the war , in 1946 it is in a desolate and ailing condition.
Provided that Hubert Koffou, meanwhile the local liaison of the film team, will be able to repair the house quickly and equip it for film, Eduard Wieser decides to rent the building for the interior shots of the film.
The then Thiersee mayor Maierhöfer recognized the possibilities and opportunities for the community, as a local film studio promises work and bread for many people. With the outstanding commitment of this mayor, the Thiersee carpenter and former Christ actor at the Passion Play, Alois Kaindl, the Kufstein companies Jäger and Eder and the Wörgler fiber board factory, the Passion Play House becomes a full-fledged film studio in a very short time. The companies involved provide the wood, nails, screws and fibreboard required for the interior work on purchase orders and a cash advance is also granted. With the support of the French general Émile Béthouart and the then governor Weissgatterer , the advance payment can be repaid.
Later director Eduard Wieser explains that it was only the boundless optimism and fanatical willingness to work of all his employees, as well as the great support and trust of local companies and the population of Thiersee, that made the realization of the first film possible in the first place.
On August 14, 1947, one of the first Austrian post-war productions “Winter Melody” celebrated its world premiere in Vienna.
The film studio by the lake
In the period that followed, the Thierseer Atelier am See was expanded. With its numerous technical innovations, it is the most modern film recording hall in Austria. A newly built extension contains cloakroom and make-up rooms, and a restaurant will be set up in another. Studios for film architects and film craftsmen, for sculptors, carpenters and painters are created. The former set rooms are being converted into small lounges for the actors. A total of eighteen full-length feature films are produced in this ultra-modern Thiersee film studio. These include such well-known and outstanding films as, Das doppelte Lottchen , Eroica , Blaubart or “ Maria Chapdelaine ” . French, English, German, Austrian and Swiss production companies are involved in the various films.
Stars like Oskar Werner , Curd Jürgens , Attila Hörbiger , Paula Wessely , Hilde Krahl , Brigitte Horney or Hans Albers are in front of the camera in Thiersee.
Many people from Thiersee find work on film as extras, technicians, office workers or helpers. Until around 1950, a sum of around 8 million schillings in wages for workers, salaried employees and extras in hotels and restaurants is implemented in Thiersee .
In mid-1952, the up-and-coming film community of Thiersee with its modern studio was given up by the ÖFA (Wienfilm) in favor of its Viennese studios, despite the millions of euros invested.
Film productions in Thiersee
1946: Winter Melody (Les Amours de Blanche Neige) with Dietmar Schönherr , Ilse Peternell , Erika Matejka, Franz Eichberger , Rudi Matt / Director: Eduard Wieser - Camera: Walter Riml
1947: The rejuvenation cure (after rain follows sun) with Lotte Lang , Olga von Togny, Josef Egger , Paul Löwinger , Hermann Erhard , Martha Marbo / director: Harald Röbbeling - camera: Walter Riml
1947/49: Eroica with Ewald Balser , Judith Holzmeister , Iván Petrovich , Oskar Werner / Director: Walter Kolm-Veltée - Camera: Günther Anders
1948: The White Night (judgment of one night / La Nuit Blanche) with Claude Farell (= Monika Burg ), Pierre Brasseur / director: Richard Pottier - camera: Robert Le Febvre
1948/49: Angela - Weißes Gold with Robert Freitag , Alma Seidler , Ursula Lingen / Director: Eduard von Borsody - Camera: Walter Riml
1948: The woman on the way with Willi Forst , Brigitte Horney , Robert Freitag , Alma Seidler , Heinrich Gretler , Ursula Lingen / Director: Eduard von Borsody - Camera: Walter Riml
1949: Maria Chapdelaine with Michèle Morgan , Kieron Moore , Jack Whiting, Francis de Wolf / Director: F. Mogle - Camera: Armand Thirard
1949: The Wonderkid (Entführung ins Glück / Das Wunderkind / The Wonderboy) with Bobby Henrey, Christa Winter, Robert Shackleton , Oskar Werner / Director: Karl Hartl - Camera: Robert Krasker
1949: Vagabonds of love with Alma Seidler, Attila Hörbiger , Kurt Heintel , Paula Wessely / Director: Rolf Hansen - Camera: Oskar Schnirch
1950: Smile in the storm (Sturm über Alaska / A Smile in the Storm / Un sourire dans la tempete) with Curd Jürgens , Aglaija Schmid, Oskar Werner / director: Rene Chanas - camera: Roger Dormoy
1950: The double Lottchen with Isa and Jutta Günther , Antje Weisgerber , Maria Krahn , Gaby Philipp , Senta Wengraf / Director: Josef von Baky - Camera: Walter Riml - Script: Erich Kästner
1950: Der Teufel directs (Teufelparade, Demonische Liebe) with Paul Hörbiger , Margot Hielscher , Fritz Muliar / Director: Kurt Meisel - Camera: Helmuth Ashley
1950/1951: White Shadows (Last Advent) with Hilde Krahl , Hans Söhnker , Claude Farell / Director: Helmut Käutner - Camera: Helmuth Ashley
1951: Fräulein Bimbi (The Impossible Girl) with Hannelore Schroth , Paul Kemp , Hans Holt , Hans Albert Rettich, Hermann Thimig , Hans Olden , Evelyn Künnecke / Director: Akos von Ratony - Camera: Albert Benitz
1951: Bluebeard with Hans Albers , Pierre Brasseur , Fritz Kortner , Arno Paulsen , Lina Carstens , Cécile Aubry / Director: Christian-Jaque - Camera: Günther Christian Matras
1951: Der Weibsteufel with Kurt Heintel, Bruno Hübner , Hilde Krahl , Franz Muxeneder / Director: Wolfgang Liebeneiner - Camera: Günther Anders / Hans Staudinger
1951: Night on Mont Blanc (White Hell Mont-Blanc / Purgatory of Love) with Dietmar Schönherr , Dagmar Rom , Hans von Hohenbalken, Oskar Sima , Geraldine Katt / Director: Harald Reinl - Camera: Walter Riml
1952: The man in the tub (engagement in the bathtub) with Gunther Philipp , Christa Winter, Axel von Ambesser , Wolf Albach-Retty , Lucie English / director: Franz Antel - camera: Hans Schneeberger
Stars in the Thierseer Atelier (selection)
Wolf Albach-Retty - Hans Albers - Maria Andergast - Ekkehard Arendt - Cécile Aubry - Ewald Balser - Fred Barius - Otto Bolesch - Jan Boon - Pierre Brasseur - Viktor Braun - Siegfried Breuer - Hermann Brix - Rudolf Carl - Lina Carstens - Georges Chamrat - Espanita Cortez - Willy Danek - Marion Davis - Gerhard Deutschmann - Josef Egger - Karl Ehmann - Hermann Erhardt - Franz Eichberger - Lucie Englisch - Fernand Fabre - Claude Farell - Leila Fouad - Robert Freitag - Erik Frey - Geneviève Gérald - Heinrich Gretler - Hugo Gottschlich - Isa Günther - Jutta Günther - Carl Günther - Hertha von Hagen - Ina Halley - Rolf Hansen - Kurt Heintel - Bobby Henrey - Margot Hielscher - Paul Hörbiger - Attila Hörbiger - Hans Holt - Brigitte Horney - Judith Holzmeister - Karl Hruschka - Herbert Hübner - Curd Jürgens - Liesl Karlstadt - Erich Kästner - Geraldine Katt - Paul Kemp - Fritz Kortner - Hilde Krahl - Maria Krahn - Evelyn Künneke - Walter Ladengast - Philippe Lemaire - Lotte Lang - Ursula Lingen - Paul Löwinger - Günther Lüders - Rudi Matt - Kurt Meisel - Kieron Moore - Michèle Morgan - Peter Mosbacher - Franz Muxeneder - Reggie Nalder - Rolf von Nauckhoff - Dorothea Neff - Lizzi Neudecker - Elly Norden - Hans Olden - Arno Paulsen - Ilse Peternell - Iván Petrovich - Gunther Philipp - Gaby Philipp - Nancy Price - Rudolf Rhomberg - Henry Rollan - Françoise Rosay - Inge Rosenberg - Leopold Rudolf - Dietmar Schönherr - Hannelore Schroth - Jeanette Schultze - Karl Schwetter - Alma Seidler - Jacques Sernas - Helli Servi - Robert Shakelton - Oskar Sima - Hans Söhnker - Mimi Stelzer - Mar Stevens - Albert Strouhal - Phung Thi Nghien - Hermann Thimig - Oskar Togni - Otto Wägerer - Gustav Waldau - Jack Whiting - Oskar Wegrostek - Antje Weisgerber - Senta Wengraf - Oskar Werner - Paula Wessely - Francis De Wolff - Gertrud Wolle - Ferry Wondra - Gisa Wurm - Ludwig Zwickl
today
In April 2006, Helma Türk and Dr. Christian Riml, son of the cameraman Walter Riml, the association "Freundeskreis Filmmuseum Thiersee". Already in August 2006, sixty years after the first film production in the Thiersee studio, the exhibition “Das Filmatelier am See”, conceived and supervised by Helma Türk, artistic director of the film association, and Christian Riml opened. The exhibition was a reminder of the community's film history. In 2007, Helma Türk's exhibition was expanded to include the subject of “Filmland Tyrol”. In addition to many original documents, film posters, as well as the anecdotes and stories about the film researched and written by Helma Türk, the exhibition also showed rare cinematographic devices such as a magic lantern, cameras, spotlights and projection devices. In the same year, Türk and Riml organized the "Thierseer Filmsommer".
In 2008, the Ferienland Kufstein tourism association developed the concept for a themed trail film, which was implemented in 2009.
Helma Türk published her extensive research on the history of Tyrolean film and the former film studio in the book "Filmland Tirol" in 2007.
In 2008 Ms. Türk resigned from her position as artistic director of the film association.
Then the exhibition in the Thiersee Film Museum was redesigned and reduced again to the film history of Thiersee. The exhibition also showed the technical process of a film production at that time.
The film exhibition in the Passionsspielhaus has been closed since November 2010.
Individual evidence
- ↑ A Tyrolean film studio? (No longer available online.) WaRis - Tiroler Filmarchiv, archived from the original on January 24, 2013 ; accessed on August 4, 2012 (report + photos). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Tourism magazine "Saison". Edition autumn 2006. P. 38ff. Article: "A Touch of Hollywood" v. I. Prugger
- ^ Silvia Albrich: Kulturbericht 2007. In: Tirol im Film - Film in Tirol. Tiroler Landesregierung, p. 48 , archived from the original on January 23, 2011 ; Retrieved January 23, 2011 .
- ^ Tourism magazine "Saison". Edition summer / autumn 2007. p. 42ff. Article: "Detectives of Film History" v. I. Prugger
- ↑ The film museum is closed. Verein Freundeskreis Filmmuseum Thiersee, archived from the original on August 4, 2012 ; accessed on August 4, 2012 (information).
literature
- Helma Türk: Filmland Tyrol! - A journey through Tyrol's film history. 140 pages, 117 ills. Self-published, Innsbruck / Bad Reichenhall 2007