Frank Wisbar

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Frank Wisbar during the filming of the film Dogs, do you want to live forever .
Illustration by Helmuth Ellgaard

Frank Bentick Wisbar , born as Frank Wysbar (born December 9, 1899 in Tilsit ; † March 17, 1967 in Mainz ), is considered an important film director of the 20th century, who was successful with German-language works as well as American films and TV series could celebrate. He has worked with numerous actors who have shaped German post-war film and German television since the 1950s, including Dietmar Schönherr , Brigitte Horney , Horst Frank and Günter Pfitzmann . One of his most famous works is dogs, if you want to live forever .

Life

Frank Wisbar, 1959

Frank Wisbar was born on December 9, 1899 in Tilsit. Little is known about his youth. His musical inclinations were initially expressed in an intensive examination of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . He initially strove for a career as a career officer and attended the Prussian military academy.

After a twelve-year military career that ended in 1927, he edited the magazine Theater und Kunst together with Georg H. Will before turning to filmmaking. He was first as assistant director and manager , before taking over in 1932 was given the opportunity, his first film entitled Under the spell of the Eulenspiegel to stage itself. In the following year he came into conflict for the first time with cultural functionaries of the National Socialists , because his second film Anna and Elisabeth allegedly offended the " healthy public feeling ". In 1935 he and Ferryman Maria created what was probably the most artistically important work of his entire career. Sybille Schmitz , with whom Wysbar then shot The Unknown , shone in the title role of the gloomy legendary film, which was only sparsely provided with dialogues .

After the Reichspogromnacht in 1938 , he emigrated with his wife Eva, née Eva, who was not considered “Aryan” according to the racist National Socialist laws . Krojanker, to the USA , where he was initially involved in various functions in the production of C-movies . Here he changed the spelling of his name from Wysbar to Wisbar. A notable film from this phase is Strangler of the Swamp , a slightly modified remake by Ferryman Maria . Attempts to win one of the large film studios for a demanding production (including a drama about Mozart's life) failed. He only became successful in the United States when he turned to the new medium of television and became a pioneer of television show production. His first successful show, Fireside Theater , enabled Frank Wisbar to set up his own production company, with which he produced over 300 television films and which had 125 employees.

In the mid-1950s, Wisbar returned to the Federal Republic as an American citizen , turned away from mass production and the staging of more sophisticated films . The need for seriousness and the confrontation with his own history led him to focus his cinematic work on war and anti-war materials for the rest of his career. In 1959 Wisbar was awarded the German Critics' Prize.

Gravestone of Frank Wisbar.

Frank Wisbar died of an embolism in Mainz on March 17, 1967 and was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg.

Working method

Actors such as Joachim Hansen and Günter Pfitzmann described his late working method as extremely meticulous and striving for authenticity. While working on a script, Wisbar used to study the testimony of contemporary witnesses, documents and literature. He is said to have regularly sought contact with descendants of historical personalities from his films in order to discuss individual formulations in dialogues and to ensure their credibility. Joachim Hansen described him and the way he worked as implacable . Frank Wisbar about his way of making cinema: “It is useless to make useless film. If I'm already working in Germany, I want to follow my conscience. And that tells me to make films against the war. "

Filmography (mostly directing)

swell

  • Information and bonus material from various DVDs
  • Eva Wysbar, Detlef Garz (ed.): Out of Germany, somewhere. My life in Germany before and after 1933. Libelle Verlag, Lengwil 2000, ISBN 3-909081-30-4 .
  • Kay Less : 'In life, more is taken from you than given ...'. Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. P. 545 f., ACABUS-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Elsaesser, Michael Wedel: The BFI companion to German cinema (in English), British Film Institute, 1999, p. 255; limited preview in Google Book search
  2. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Tast "Ferryman Maria". 80 years ago world premiere in Hildesheim cinema ; in: Sven Abromeit (Red.) Hildesheim Calendar 2016. Yearbook for History and Culture , Hildesheim 2015, ISSN  1863-5393 , ISBN 978-3-8067-8616-3 , pp. 133-143
  3. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 670.
  4. ↑ See: Film Portal .
  5. ↑ Original title in Germany & Austria. The flag of the seven upright in Switzerland
personal data
SURNAME Yes, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wisbar, Frank Bentick (full name); Wysbar, Frank (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German director, producer and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Tilsit
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1967
Place of death Mainz