Franz Porten

Franz Porten (born August 23, 1859 in Zeltingen ; † May 21, 1932 in Berlin ) was a German actor , film director and opera singer (baritone), at the same time a film pioneer from the very beginning.

Live and act

After graduating from high school, Porten, who comes from a small town on the Moselle, completed an apprenticeship as an art caster before he trained as an opera singer. In this function and finally also as an actor, Porten has been on numerous small and medium-sized stages in the German provinces since his debut in Trier in 1876 : Mainz (1877/78), again Trier (1878/79), again Mainz (1879–1883), Düsseldorf (1883/84), Chemnitz (1884/85), Bremen (1885–1887), Kiel (1887/88), Magdeburg (1888–1890), Breslau (1890/91) and, since 1891, Dortmund . In Dortmund he was also the leaseholder and director of the city theater. In 1896 he went to Berlin to take up an engagement at the "Theater Unter den Linden". Porten was particularly successful at the Theater des Westens .

In January 1906, Porten turned to cinematography, which was still in its infancy. As an autodidact, he first made so-called sound pictures with his two acting daughters, Rosa Porten and Henny Porten . The younger of the two sisters in particular, supported by her father, was to become one of the most celebrated stars in German cinema history. In 1910 Franz Porten directed his first feature film "The Secret of the Dead", again with both daughters in the leading roles. A little later (1912/13) he was hired for some historical-patriotic material that was supposed to evoke Germany's supposedly glorious past. At the beginning of the First World War , Porten's film career took a turn, and in just a few years the film pioneer was almost forgotten. Until the end of the war (1918), Porten presented the majority of his works in collaboration with his daughter Rosa under the pseudonym Dr. R. Portegg . He then retired.

Filmography

until 1910 only audio images

• 1906: Meissen porcelain
• 1907: God protect you from 'Der Trompeter von Säckingen' (also actor)
• 1908: Thank you for my dear swan from 'Lohengrin'
• 1908: The beggar student - appearance by Colonel Ollendorf (also actor)
• 1908: Funiculi-Funicula
• 1909: Witches song
• 1909: Christmas tone picture: The letter to God
• 1909: Dungeon scene from 'Faust' (also actor)
• 1909: Heart thief
• 1909: rocking song
• 1909: At Mantua in gangs
• 1909: Don Juan marries (assignment uncertain)
• 1910: Lohengrin
• 1910: The Ticklish Virgin
• 1910: Woe, that we have to divorce
• 1910: The Secret of the Dead
• 1911: Charlemagne
• 1912: Theodor Körner (co-directing, scriptwriting)
• 1912/13: The film of Queen Luise , three parts (also screenplay)
• 1913: From Germany's glory days 1870/71 (also screenplay)
• 1914–16: rule of tyranny
• 1916: The washer-resl (co-director)
• 1917: Who are not allowed to love (co-director)
• 1917: Die Erzkokette (co-director)
• 1917: Countess Maruschka (co-director)
• 1917: The newest star from Varieté (co-director)
• 1917: The victim of Yella Rogesius (co-director)
• 1918: The trumpeter von Säckingen (also script collaboration)
• 1918: Die Film-Kathi (co-director)

Web links

• Franz Porten in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Sound document

In a cool ground , Franz Porten, Columbia hard cast wax roller # 50264, ca.1905