History of Austrian film in the post-war era

The story of Austrian film in the post-war era begins with the occupation of Austria by the four allied victorious powers of World War II, the USA , the Soviet Union , Great Britain and France . With the introduction of television in the late 1950s, for the first time a serious competitor for the cinema emerged, which in the following decades also stole a large part of the audience from it. The late 1950s were also marked by a boom in musical comedies and homeland films. In the 1960s there was a decline in this less varied genre and it was not until the end of the 1970s that a new generation of filmmakers in Austria was able to take on more diverse topics and thus help Austrian film to recover. This new era is known as the “ New Austrian Film ”.

In occupied post-war Austria, 1945 to 1955

Film production Full-length (sound) feature films
year	number
1946	2
1947	13
1948	25th
1949	25th
1950	17th
1951	28
1952	19th
1953	28
1954	22nd
1955	28

After the Second World War and liberation from National Socialism, Austria was occupied by the Allies , and the film industry was very slow to get going again due to the consequences of the war, such as destruction, poverty and hunger. There was a lack of staff, coal for heating and raw film material. The electricity supply regularly came to a standstill and food was rationed. Many studios, cinemas, other buildings and streets were destroyed.

A lack of orientation and helplessness in the search for a successful Austrian film dramaturgy marked these years, in which successful productions of the 1930s were often imitated. However, films were also made that dealt with the past years, which were shaped by war and anti-Semitism. However, these often did not meet the taste of the general public. Even director Willi Forst speaks at the end of 1947 of a “fiasco of Viennese film”. The productions are not even average. During these years, eight films were released that were made or started during National Socialism - so-called " defectors ".

Not least because of the lack of high points in film production in the first post-war years, sales and distribution abroad were also difficult. Only exports to Switzerland went smoothly. In 1946 it was almost impossible to export films to Germany. The situation improved again around 1947. In 1948, however, West Germany negotiated an import quota with Austria, which provided a ratio of 1: 4 in favor of West Germany.

From October 26th, the popular film magazine “Mein Film” appeared again - but only to a limited extent, as there was a shortage of paper as well as many other goods. From 1949 "Filmkunst - Zeitschrift für Filmkultur und Filmwissenschaft" appeared. This film magazine, which was discontinued in 1997, was the longest-running German-language film magazine.

Film industry

The largest film company on Austrian soil, Wien-Film , was confiscated by the Allies as “German property”. After Vienna was divided into four zones of occupation, it was also clear that the film studios in Sievering and the headquarters in Siebensterngasse were assigned to the American administration, while the film studios on Rosenhügel were in the Soviet sector. The Sievering film studios should be liquidated by the Americans . The United States also pursued an interest in not competing with Hollywood productions.

While the Soviet Union made use of the Potsdam resolutions and took over all former “German” undertakings as reparations , the Western occupying powers USA, France and Great Britain waived this measure. For the newly founded Wien-Film this meant that they could continue to work with the film studios in Sievering and Schönbrunn , but had to do without the Rosenhügel film studios. These were incorporated into the Soviet USIA and continued to operate as "Wien-Film am Rosenhügel".

On August 16, 1945, the first step towards a new beginning was taken with the Cziffra-Film production company. The company, with its registered office at Neubaugasse 28 in Vienna, was 40% owned by Géza von Cziffra . The main partner was the businessman Carl-Albert Loewenstein, who did intensive business with the Soviet occupying power and was able to procure the necessary film material. The founding of the company was celebrated with a party, which was also attended by the responsible US officers. After the production of the first film, Glaub an mich , the cooperation between the shareholders broke up. Loewenstein left the company and founded the Löwen-Film production company in 1946, which then had more films made until 1950.

Despite all the difficulties, further film production companies were founded - or reopened in 1946. So at the end of 1946 the "Sascha-Film-Verleih- und -Vertriebs-Ges.mbH" and the Sascha-Film were re-established. Also in that year Elfi von Dassanowsky and Emmerich Hanus founded Belvedere-Film - to revive the Viennese music film. On July 3, 1947, Karl Hartl founded the Neue Wiener Filmproduktionsgesellschaft under the patronage of Creditanstalt , which was also involved in Sascha Film and in Österreichische Filmgesellschaft mbH (ÖFA), which was founded four months later . The seat was in Salzburg , where two studio halls were built. A branch was located in Innsbruck. Nearby, in Thiersee , the Passionsfestspielhaus was converted into a large studio hall. However, this was closed again in 1954 when more suitable studios became available for use.

1949 in Graz the Alpine film-Austria founded. It had a hangar as a reception hall in the Thalerhof district, which at 80 × 40 meters was the largest in Austria at the time. 1953 began in Wels , the Bergland movie with their production activity, but this was in 1960 already set again. During this time, one of the exhibition halls on the Wels festival grounds was available to her, which was converted into a film studio. In 1954 Erich Pochlatko founded Epo-Film , which has since been active in Vienna and Graz.

In contrast to large international film production companies, Austrian film producers did not have long-term sales contracts. For each film, the procedure for securing sales representatives, raising the financial resources and renting the studios had to be reorganized. In this economically inefficient way, usually only one or two films per film production company were made each year. Domestic film producers were completely dependent on German distribution and distribution, not entirely through no fault of their own. Because in order not to take any financial risk, the commercial homeland films and comedies were often based on the wishes of the German distributors. The commercial successes that increased in the early 1950s gave rise to a certain financial strength for the largest Viennese production companies. Still, they hardly dared to try something new or make more sophisticated films. Settlement modalities and the annually renegotiated import quota to Germany caused conflicts.

The first post-war productions

At the beginning of 1946, Marte Harell began her post-war career in the production of Glaub an mich . The film replaced the gloomy atmosphere of the Nazi homeland films with greater ease and motifs from the homeland film were combined with those of the comedy. The missing raw film material could be obtained from the Soviet Union, which in return, however, demanded the exploitation rights to the film. Marte Harell, Ewald Balser and Rudolf Prack played the main roles - Senta Wengraf her first role. The script for this love comedy produced by Loewen-Film came from Kurt Nachmann and Géza von Cziffra , who also directed it. Hans Schneeberger acted as cameraman . It was the first Austrian film to be shown in Germany after the Second World War. The reviews were negative for this love comedy in view of the difficult living environment at the time.

On September 27th, Schleichendes Poison was awarded a prize - an educational film of the "Standard-Film", which dealt with the venereal diseases that occurred in many ways in the post-war years. The film was shot in the General Hospital in Vienna , where the power supply was better than, for example, in the film studios. Soviet raw film material was also used in this production. In 1946, JA Hübler-Kahla directed the star film The world is turning upside down . In it, Hans Moser travels through the epochs of Austrian history in order to find out at the end: “The good time is always ahead of you, and only we ourselves are responsible for the fact that it is really good.” It was that first Hans Moser film after 1945. As early as 1946, Tirol-Film Innsbruck produced together with Zurich-based Omnia-Film Erde (premiered in 1947) based on Karl Schönherr's eponymous tragic comedy. Some actors from the Exl stage performed under the direction of Leopold Hainisch .

The comedy Triumph der Liebe der Wiener Mundus-Film with the main actors OW Fischer , Judith Holzmeister , Paul Kemp and Inge Konradi was also released in 1947. Directed by Alfred Stöger . Likewise the first production of the Belvedere film , Die Glücksmühle , directed by Emmerich Hanus , as well as the film The immortal countenance, directed by Géza von Cziffra, with OW Fischer in the leading role. In His Only Love , the Belvedere-Film took up a well-tried theme of Austrian film: the film adaptation of the life of a well-known musician. In this case that of Franz Schubert , who was played by Franz Böheim . Once again it was directed by Emmerich Hanus. “ Singing Angels ”, on the other hand, was staged by Gustav Ucicky . This figure includes the Vienna Boys' Choir and Gustav Waldau as Joseph Haydn with. The reactions of the critics to a renewed edition of such musician films were consistently that this was “not the right way for Viennese films”.

A little later, however, one of the greatest cinema successes of the Austrian post-war period appeared: In Der Hofrat Geiger , produced for Fürst Film by Willi Forst and Paul Hörbiger, Waltraut Haas sang a song that became a hit in 1947 and 1948: "Mariandl". The film set in the Wachau was based on a musical comedy by Martin Costa and Hans Lang . In addition to producer Paul Hörbiger, Hans Moser and Maria Andergast also played leading roles in this production, which is considered the first travel and homeland film . The function of the film was to delight the inhabitants of the bombed cities with an unspoilt landscape and to enable them to take a short vacation in the cinema. The film, which was also shown abroad, was also an effective advertisement for tourism. The film magazine Mein Film wrote in its review: “The three main actors Paul Hörbiger, Maria Andergast and Hans Moser have been put back into a suitable framework that enabled them to regain the old popularity of the embodied types from the Austrian folklore and thus finally helping Austrian entertainment film to regain the reputation abroad that enough bad films have now tried in vain to achieve. ” In Austrian cinemas the film had an exceptionally high number of visitors of 2,548,000 by April 30, 1951.

The 13 Austrian feature films released in 1947 represented roughly the range of Austrian filmmaking in the post-war years: theatrical comedy, rural swank, Viennese musical comedy, summer and winter tourist films, biographical films, literary adaptations and documentaries.

Filmmaking from 1948

The first film, which appeared in 1948, was also Franz Antel's first feature film production. The Singing House , produced by Sherberko Film , played in the 1920s and 1930s and was about theater, music and revue in the time of the emerging jazz rhythms. In the leading roles: Hans Moser, Hannelore Schroth , Curd Jürgens , Herta Mayen and Walter Müller .

At the end of 1947, the Pabst-Kiba production company was founded by the Vienna City Cinema Management Agency ( Kiba ) and the director GW Pabst . For ten million schillings, three films were to be made in the coming years. But there were four: Duel with Death , Mysterious Depth , 1 - 2 - 3 - out! and call from the ether . While Duel mit die Tod was still considered worth seeing by the critics, Mystery Depth , the script of which was written by GW Pabst's wife Trude , fell through with both critics and the box office. After heated discussions in the Vienna City Council, this company was dissolved again in 1949.

In 1948 Paul Hubschmid , Elfe Gerhart and Hans Putz played the leading roles in one of the few crime films of the post-war years: Arlberg Express . The director was Eduard von Borsody and camera routineer Hans Androschin was behind a film camera for the last time. The literary film adaptation An klingenden Ufern by Hans Unterkircher was also published this year. The production, based on a novella by Alexander Lernet-Holenia and playing in the chaos of war, managed with fewer dialogues, but more landscape images and background music, for which the otherwise very critical film magazine Funk und Film only found words of praise.

With favorite in the world in 1949 one of the rare fairy tales appeared Austrian production. The screenplay was written by Karl Farkas and Siegfried Bernfeld . In the same year, the third Beethoven film was released: Eroica . Walter Kolm-Veltée , the son of Luise Fleck's first marriage to Anton Kolm, directed this “musician film” . The Austrian Film Society (ÖFA) produced Vagabunden in 1949 with Paula Wessely and Attila Hörbiger. The film was awarded the Sascha Cup in 1950 for its success. On the other hand, Ernst Marischka's St. Matthew Passion received an international award .

In 1949, five years after filming began, Wiener Mädeln was completed. At the start of shooting it was the first color film ( Agfacolor ) of Wien-Film. This last film production on Austrian soil during National Socialism was again directed by Willi Forst. The filming was interrupted several times by air raids and could only be completed in the post-war years. The film, which showed similarities to operettas , was set in the 19th century and was about the composer Carl Michael Ziehrer , played by Willi Forst himself. The eponymous “girls” were: Judith Holzmeister , Dora Komar , Vera Schmid and Hilde Föda .

In 1949 the fairy tale of happiness appeared , which Gunther Philipp and Nadja Tiller got their first film roles. Also in 1949, Franz Antel and Gunther Philipp wrote the screenplay for Kleiner Schwindel am Wolfgangsee , which was filmed with the main actors Waltraut Haas , Hans Holt , Gunter Philipp, Nadja Tiller and Rolf Olsen . More Wolfgangsee films quickly followed , and this model continued to be used in the Wörthersee films of the 1960s and 1970s with a few changes.

In 1949, the Grazer Alpin-Film-Austria produced its first lavish feature film: Witches . Edith Mill played the lead role. The same film production company produced the critically acclaimed crime film Prämien auf die Tod in 1950 . Curd Jürgens directed this for the first time. He also wrote the script and played one of the leading roles alongside Werner Krauss , Siegfried Breuer , Judith Holzmeister and Edith Mill. In addition to this film, The Shot Through the Window , which was also produced by Alpin-Film, premiered on January 13, 1950. Siegfried Breuer directed and Curd Jürgens played the leading role. In the same year, a film adaptation of the love story of Archduke Johann and Anna Plochl was made in the reception hall in Graz-Thalerhof .

Coming to terms with the past in film

In addition to the homeland and music film comedies, several productions were made in the post-war years that dealt with the recent past. For example, in contrast to the first post-war production, Glaub in mich (Faith in Me) , which deals with the current living conditions and the drama The Wide Way , which deals with the fate of those returning from the war. The structure, however, was typical for an Austrian homeland or music film or for a comedy: a melodramatic love story, a fateful mix-up, a misunderstanding and finally a happy ending . However, this time the environment was much more serious.

It was directed by Eduard Hoesch , who was also a producer, writer, production and production manager due to a lack of staff. The main actors were Rudolf Prack, Hans Holt , Maria Andergast , Willy Danek and Thea Weis . In her role as a “waiting wife”, Maria Andergast spoke from the hearts of many women when she said desperately: “Do you even know what kind of life we ​​women led while you were out there? These constant bombing raids, it must have been difficult for you, but at least you were together with comrades, not alone. Alone, always alone - and waiting. And always have to tremble: is he still alive? And two years no news, nothing. And every day endlessly - every night. "

The artistic climax of the film year 1948 was the politically enlightening, philosemitic film The Trial by GW Pabst . Pabst wanted to tie in with his works Western Front 1918 and Comradeship , but he did not quite succeed. The film thematized the latent anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern Europe using the example of a Hungarian village in 1882, but did not go into the causes or proposed solutions. The film therefore met with little interest from the public and is one of the less visited of the 25 film productions from 1948.

Even the other life , of Rudolf Steinböck staged in the film studio of the theater in Josefstadt , addressed the recent political past. Despite the presence of the best actors in the theater such as Aglaja Schmid , Robert Lindner , Gustav Waldau , Vilma Degischer , Leopold Rudolf , Siegfried Breuer , Erik Frey , Anton Edthofer and Erni Mangold , this production also found little interest in the cinemas.

In 1948 Maria Schell, who fled to Switzerland in 1938, achieved her first leading role in The Angel with the Trumpet . Hans Holt, Oskar Werner , Paula Wessely and Attila Hörbiger played by their side in this history film directed by Karl Hartl. Based on a novel by Ernst Lothar , anti-Semitism and the adaptive behavior of the Austrians between the monarchy and the end of the Second World War is depicted on the basis of the Viennese piano-making family Alt. In contrast to The Trial and The Other Life , this production was very popular, including in Germany, and was the most successful Austrian film production of the post-war years, which is why Karl Hartl had an English version produced by Alexander Korda in London . Maria Schell and Oskar Werner in particular came into contact with the English film scene.

Eduard von Borsody produced in 1948, based on a play by Fritz Hochwälder based, the woman on the way . Brigitte Horney , Otto Woegerer and Robert Freytag played the main roles in this film, which was praised by “Funk und Film” as a “milestone on the path to healthy, upright and artistic Austrian film production as it should be and the world expects it from us” Resistance fighters. In addition to Der Hofrat Geiger and Der Herr Kanzleirat , this film was also one of the eight films that were officially shown in Germany in 1948.

The second, and at the same time last, film from the film studio of the Theater in der Josefstadt was Dear Friend from 1949. This film, set in post-war Vienna, was again directed by Rudolf Steinböck - based on a book by Curt Johannes Braun . Marriage and love problems and reconstruction with the main actors Vilma Degischer , Johannes Heesters and Erik Frey are discussed .

A very successful production was The Last Bridge from 1954. The somewhat glorifying anti-war film was about a German doctor who is captured by the Yugoslav partisans and bravely continues her medical duty there. The main actress Maria Schell rose to star thanks to this film. She won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival . The film sold worldwide - much to the delight of industrialist Ludwig Polsterer , who entered the film business with this film. Directed by Helmut Käutner .

Filmmaking in the early 1950s

In the 1950s, Austria was a popular filming location for German productions, which were able to fall back on favorable conditions here. At the same time, Austrian filmmakers had the opportunity to become known beyond national borders. Numerous film directors and especially actors emigrated to the Federal Republic.

In the first half of the 1950s, more cinematic biographies were created than ever before. In addition to the musicians, whose lives had repeatedly been used as a film subject since the early silent film era, other artists - such as Alexander Girardi in "The Comedian of Vienna" - and political personalities from Austrian history were now in the series. GW Pabst filmed the end of Adolf Hitler's life in “ The Last Act ” in 1955 with Albin Skoda in the lead role. The film tries to go into the psychological condition of Adolf Hitler, but suggests that the “ Third Reich ” in all its effects was solely the work of a “semi-madman”. Austrian literature of the 19th century was also increasingly noticed again. The homeland film "Das Mädchen vom Pfarrhof" was based on the drama "Der Pfarrer vom Kirchfeld" by Ludwig Anzengruber, which was already popular during the silent film era and was filmed several times . 1953 served Johann Nestroy's “ The Spent ” for a film production. Annual feature film production up to 1955 varied between 17 (1950) and 28 (1955).

What the Viennese productions could not do, the British production " The Third Man " did in 1950 . The agent film with its famous zither music by Anton Karas made Vienna world famous. The producer was the monumental film producer of the Viennese silent film of the 1920s, Alexander Korda . The book came from Graham Greene . The US film stars Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles played alongside well-known Austrian actors such as Paul Hörbiger , Hedwig Bleibtreu , Siegfried Breuer and Ernst Deutsch . A known scene of the movie played in the big wheel of Prater . This once popular location only appeared sporadically in film productions after the Second World War - for example in "Wienerinnen" from 1952. In 1952, a production based on the content and style of the Third Man appeared , which is one of the strongest achievements of Austrian film in the post-war years: " Adventure in Vienna " . Directed by Emil E. Reinert , based on a novel by Alexander Lernet-Holenia .

In 1950, after "Hofrat Geiger", director Hans Schott-Schöbinger's "Archduke Johanns Große Liebe " was the second major tourist advertising film for Austria. The romantic film, which arouses many longing for a secure time, attracted a large audience to the cinemas. Paula Wessely took up this success in 1951 and committed herself as a producer for the leading role in “Maria Theresia” , which, however, could not bring her much success due to the weak script. Encouraged by the success of the British documentary “ A Queen is Crowned ” , Ernst Marischka produced an operetta-like reworking of English history in 1953 with his Erma film “ A Queen's Girl Years ” . He discovered Romy Schneider for the leading role of the young Queen Victoria . In the same year Franz Antel jumped on the bandwagon of film adaptations of the life stories of the high nobility and wrote the screenplay for “Kaiserwalzer” , for which he also directed. “Kaiserwalzer” achieved the highest box office result in Germany that an Austrian film had ever achieved. Funk und Film commented on this fact with "The industry rubs its hands, the critics are tearing their hair" . Ernst Marischka followed with the Vindobona film production “Der Feldherrnhügel” after Alexander Roda Roda , which was filmed once before in 1926, whereupon Antel countered in 1954 with the Agfacolor color film “Imperial Maneuver” . Thereupon Ernst Marischka produced “ Die Deutschmeister ” in 1955 , again with Romy Schneider - also in Agfacolor. In the same year "Hofjagd in Ischl" by Hans Schott-Schöbinger and "Der Kongreß tanzt" followed , again by Franz Antel and the Neusser-Film . The most famous of all these productions was finally managed by Ernst Marischka when he kicked off the globally successful Sissi film series with “ Sissi ” in 1955 .

With “Das Salzburger Welttheater” by the documentary film pioneer Max Zehenthofer and “Adventure in the Red Sea” by the world-famous diver and naturalist Hans Hass , two noteworthy documentaries were released in 1951. At the Venice Film Festival , Hans Hass received the award for the best full-length documentary for his work. On behalf of Wien-Film, Albert Quendler accompanied the researcher Ernst Zwilling to Africa. He shot the documentary film “Omaru” with local amateur actors there in 1955 , which was enthusiastically received at the premiere in the Cinema-Palast on the Lido . As early as 1952 Quendler made an experimental contribution to documentary filmmaking with “Symphonie Wien” .

In 1951, “ Nova-Film ” produced the two revue films “Spring on the Ice” and “The Heart of a Woman” with Eva Pawlik , directed by Georg Jacoby , Marika Rökk's husband . In 1952 the last revue film of "Nova" appeared: "Seesterne" with Eva Kerbler .

Almost a dozen time-related and time-critical films were also made between 1950 and 1955. For example Georg C. Klaren's “Call from the Aether” (1951) with Oskar Werner, who appeared or the two years after the production company Pabst-Kiba-production company was dissolved Production “Asphalt” (1951) consisting of five episodes , in which the life of various young people is discussed. In addition to “Asphalt” , which was little appreciated by the critics, other neo-Romanist films by Kurt Steinwendner were released in 1952 with “Wienerinnen - Schrei nach Liebe” and in 1953 with “Flucht ins Schilf” . Daily newspapers even reported extensively on the latter, and after the premiere in the Künstlerhaus cinema in Vienna, the critics agreed that this film, which deals with a murder case on Lake Neusiedl and the reactions of the surrounding population to it, is a new beginning in the Austrian film scene could act.

A unique and extraordinary production in Austrian film history appeared in 1952. The science fiction film " April 1, 2000 " was made with funds from the Federal Government . The film is about the declaration of Austria's independence and the subsequent outrage of the “World Protection Commission”. The multi-million dollar production was to remind the Allies of their release of Austria into independence. This actually happened not 48, but three years later. It is not known whether the film played a role in this.

Between 1950 and 1954, two operetta adaptations were made annually, in which works by Edmund Eysler , Jara Beneš , Leo Fall , Robert Stolz , Fred Raymond , Carl Zeller and Johann Strauss were processed. The best-known actors in these films were Elfie Mayerhofer and Curd Jürgens in "Kissing Is Not Sünd" (1950), Paul Hörbiger in " Der fidele Bauer " (1951), Johannes Heesters and Waltraut Haas in " Tanz ins Glück " (1951) and Hannerl Matz in “Season in Salzburg” (1952) and “The Pearl of Tokay ” (1954).

An elaborate backdrop was set up on the Rosenhügel for the film adaptation of the Johann Strauss operetta “ One Night in Venice ” under director Georg Wildhagen - both in the studio building and outdoors. The film adaptation of Gaetano Donizetti's opera “The Regiment 's Daughter ” was also made on Rosenhügel in 1953 . The directors Georg C. Klaren and Günther Haendel worked for Nova-Film . Even Walter Kolm-Veltée filmed an opera here. Mozart's “Don Giovanni” was completed in 1955 with Cesare Danova , Josef Meinrad and Marianne Schönauer . Willi Sohm and Hannes Fuchs were responsible for the excellent camera work .

In 1954, the film in 1944 was started by Leni Riefenstahl - "Lowlands" - together with the Tyrolean Plesner film completed.

In Fritz Kortner's film “Sarajewo” from 1955, Klaus Kinski played the assassin of Franz Ferdinand (played by Ewald Balser ). In the same year, Oskar Werner played the main role in “Mozart” , a directorial work by Karl Hartl in a co-production by Polsterer- and Cosmopol-Film . Johanna Matz , Gertrud Kückelmann and Nadja Tiller played the other roles.

The climax of the play dramaturgy

Music and travel comedies reached their peak in the first half of the 1950s. Rejected by criticism and ridiculed by intellectuals, such films achieved widespread acceptance among the population. Important directors of these years were Franz Antel , Alfred Stöger , Hubert Marischka , Harald Reinl , Gustav Ucicky , Hans Schott-Schöbinger , Alfred Lehner or Alfons Stummer , whereby they usually did not implement any aesthetic innovations, but instead provided more conventional productions. With “ Kind der Donau ” , Marika Rökk shot the first Austrian color film of the post-war period in 1950.

As the best-known representative of travel and musical comedies, but also home movies, Franz Antel made some of the most successful Austrian films in the 1950s, commuting between the genres and in espionage (1955) even taking up the fall of Colonel Redl from the monarchy and one submitted quite serious film. In “The Old Sinner” (1951), Antel, inspired by the success of Martin Costa's “Hofrat Geiger” , had some actors perform vocal interludes. The title songs of the film came from Hans Lang and were called “The old sinner” and “Yes, you can't do anything about that”. Franz Antel also gave young actors such as Gunther Philipp in "Kleiner Schwindel am Wolfgangsee" (1949) and Peter Alexander in the travel comedy "Verliebte Menschen" their first leading roles. Hans Moser and Oskar Sima also traveled through the Salzkammergut , and for the German audience also Rudolf Platte . These early productions by Antel are now among the classics of Austrian film comedy. However, Antel was very successful as a director in the Federal Republic of Germany and only returned to Austria as a producer in the late 1960s.

The homeland and travel comedies, which are closely related to Heimatfilm, typically tell of mix-ups, luck and coincidences in the life of the average Austrian population. For example Ernst Marischka's travel comedy "Two in one car" . The main characters win the Toto the jackpot , buy a car and travel to Italy. There the female lead meets a famous racing driver. Confusions follow that lead to strange parallel plots, but at the end there is a happy ending. Through this film, the actress Johanna Matz , known in the following years as "Hannerl", became well known. She played them alongside Hans Moser, Leopold Rudolf and Wolf Albach-Retty . In the following homeland films " Försterchristel " , "Hannerl" and the operetta film "Die Perle von Tokay " she advanced to a new Austrian film star. In “ Hallo Dienstmann ” (1952) one saw the hair-raising consequences of mix-ups once again.

Erich Kästner's books “ Pünktchen und Anton (1953) ” and “ Drei Männer im Schnee ” were also evaluated as comedies . Paula Wessely played 1953 in "Ich und mein Frau" at the side of her husband Attila Hörbiger and the twins Isa and Jutta Günther . In 1954 she produced " The Light of Love " . The director of this new film adaptation of “ Mother's Love ” with Käthe Dorsch as the leading actress was RA Stemmle .

In addition to “Hallo Dienstmann” with the excellent teamwork of the duo Hans Moser and Paul Hörbiger and “Alter Sünder” , Schönbrunn-Film also produced the story about the Viennese folk singer “Fiakermilli” - played by Gretl Schörg . Together with the ÖFA, the love comedy “Praterherzen” was produced in 1953 based on Franz Schubert's play “Tingel Tangel” . The film led into the world of jugglers , stalls - and inn owners , who, however, no longer existed in the form shown back then. In the same year, director Ernst Marischka tried to revive the singer film with the Richard Tauber biography "You are the world for me" . The attempt was continued in 1954 with the circus film " King of the Manege " . Radio and record stars of the time such as Rudi Schuricke , Vico Torriani and Rudolf Schock should enrich such films.

Between commercial and avant-garde film, 1955 to 1970

Feature film production
year	number
1956	37
1957	26th
1958	23
1959	19th
1960	20th
1961	23

In 1955 the trial operation of television started in Austria, which already existed in West Germany . A new competition for the cinema was emerging. But for the time being, the number of cinema visits was still increasing across Austria. The number of visitors has only fallen in Vienna. Slowly at first, but drastically from 1959 - as in the rest of Austria. In 1969 the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) took up color television, and from 1970 two full-fledged programs existed.

The competition from television made film producers around the world aware for the first time that their productions could no longer be sold as naturally and effortlessly. The American film industry reacted immediately by introducing the production techniques Cinemascope , Cinerama , 70 mm film , 3-D spectacles and the production of films with elaborate buildings and crowds - similar to the monumental films of the 1920s. The technical changes were soon adopted by the rest of the world, including Austria. In 1956 there were already 98 Cinemascope cinemas in Austria, and from January 1, 1957, television was broadcast regularly throughout Austria on six days of the week. Stereo sound was introduced in the cinemas .

A 3-D camera was also developed in Austria - by Walter Maier and Kurt Traum from the animation studio Traum & Maier - but this invention was soon forgotten after a few short films and advertising films. Attempts have been made in this country to counter the incipient decline in visitors with even more intensive recycling of tried and tested things.

In addition to homeland films and related genres, projects with other goals were of minor importance. Feature film production experienced an extraordinary high in 1956. 37 feature films were made that year, up from 28 in 1955 and only 26 in 1957. 1958 was also the last big year for Heimat- and monarchy films. In the 1960s, attempts were made to counter the dwindling number of visitors to the cinemas by internationalizing film. Italian, German, French and American production companies, actors and directors were hired to imitate successful foreign productions such as the James Bond films.

Instead of homeland films and comedies, avant-garde films flourished with works by Peter Kubelka and Kurt Kren , which today enjoy international esteem and are among the main works in this genre. Continued this tradition Ernst Schmidt jr. and Dietmar Brehm successfully continued. Commercial productions came off less and less in the 1960s. It is true that mainly US productions came to Austria to shoot here, but Austria was excluded from the European co-production circus because it was not a member of the EEC . There were only a few co-productions, for example with Italy or France. However, it did not succeed in connecting with modern film aesthetics, such as the French Nouvelle Vague . The director Eddy Saller tried to establish an Austrian trash film , but failed. More successful productions in the erotic sector, such as the Mutzenbacher films by Kurt Nachmann with Christine Schuberth .

Film industry

After the Allies withdrew, the Rosenhügel studios became the property of the now state-owned Wien-Film , which showed no interest in continuing film production. Personnel were terminated and negotiations began with the ORF about the sale of halls. With the exception of the Sievering studio facilities, all Vienna film studios became the property of ORF in 1966. The last film production made on the Rosenhügel - "Fidelio" - was released in 1956. In 1957, it was also known that the film division of Creditanstalt-Bankverein (CA) conducted film credit transactions and ran film group companies. " Sascha-Film ", the "Sascha-Filmproduktion", " Österreichische Film GesmbH " (ÖFA), "Österreichische Filmverleih- und Verwertungsgesellschaft", "Firma Schmiedl" (props, furniture) and " Austria- Wochenschau ”participations and the“ Maria-Theresien Tages Kino ”mostly to CA. The ÖFA produced 18 films from 1947 to 1957, which were sold in 21 countries for 52 million schillings, and Sascha-Filmproduktion spent 70 million schillings in the same period for 15 films that were sold in 48 countries. The proceeds of Austrian film productions in Germany at this time were around 13.9 (1961) and 16.3 million schillings (1964). Significantly lower amounts than in previous years.

Although in addition to television, the increasing mobilization of the population with scooters and cars, as well as dance halls that are coming into fashion, continue to compete with the cinema, film stars and producers can continue to drive up their fees in Germany. In 1956, Maria Schell and OW Fischer each earned 1.2 million schillings, Curd Jürgens 900,000 and Nadja Tiller 450,000.

The big film production companies closed themselves to innovations. In order not to take any commercial risk, they willingly made themselves dependent on German film distributors. The so-called Austrian Heimatfilme were tailored to the German market in many respects - be it scenery or actors. It is therefore not surprising that the critics have continued negative attitudes towards such productions. A reviewer of “Funk und Film” summed up “Homesickness ... where the flowers bloom” in 1958: “Franz Antel tuned this film to the tear ducts and also contributed to a low point in domestic film production” . Paul Hörbiger, who also played a leading role in the above-mentioned film, confessed: “Due to the rich experience I was able to gain during my filming in Germany, I have acquired a Viennese dialect that is also understandable in Berlin and Hamburg. Since Austrian film can never pay for itself in Austria , we have to stage our films according to the wishes of the entire German-speaking audience. "

After the success of the comedies, operetta and homeland films, which were always the same in terms of content and which was already recognizable from 1958, their production fell drastically. The sales and turnover figures decreased accordingly, whereupon, for example, the CA responded in 1961 by liquidating the ÖFA. After the domestic film production continued to decline in the 1960s, the death of the cinema began in the mid-1960s, which only came to an end in the mid-1990s with the construction of numerous new cinema centers . In 1957 the film magazine “Mein Film” ended its activity, and at the end of 1965 the last edition of “ Paimann's Filmlisten ” appeared, which up to now served cinema owners as an orientation aid for new films. The German film , the equally banal mainly in the postwar period and undemanding entertainment films brought forth, walked in these years after his quantitative "film miracle" of the 50s also under. From the 1960s onwards, Austrian and German films began to diverge instead of steadily converging. In spite of this, the personal and economic links remained very large, but the directors of the two countries devoted themselves to more different topics.

High point of Heimatfilm production

The classic wave of Heimatfilm, in which the simple life of the population of mountain villages was portrayed in cliché, mostly in the form of love stories, was triggered in 1954 by the film Echo der Berge . The film was an Austria-specific modification of the American film Der Wilde and, due to its success, found numerous imitators. The director Billy Wilder , who once emigrated to the United States, described the limited variety of such productions very aptly with the statement “... if the Germans [meant the entire German-speaking area] see a mountain in the background and Paul Hörbiger in the foreground, they are satisfied. "

Among the first of these imitators were the productions The Sennerin von St. Kathrein (1955) by Schönbrunn-Film und Heimatland (1955), directed by Franz Antel, based on the novella , which were characterized by mountain and animal shots and thus also have an impact on tourism Krambambuli . The Heimatfilm genre was finally extended to the time of the monarchy and enriched with new motifs, whereby Sissi (1955) by Ernst Marischka with Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm in the leading roles is the most outstanding example, which also achieved international success and saw two sequels . Funded by the commercial success, six Heimatfilme appeared in 1956. Including Försterliesl, The Maid of Heiligenblut and The Shepherd's Song of the Kaisertal .

The genre was quickly expanded even further. German business people and other city dwellers mixed themselves into the Heimatfilm dramaturgy as tourists, and further strengthened these productions in their tourism effectiveness. The films no longer only played in idyllic mountain villages, but also, for example, in the Burgenland wine-growing region - for example in Die Winzerin von Langenlois (1957) with Herta Staal and Gunnar Möller - and in the Salzkammergut lake region - as in Almenrausch and Edelweiß (1957). One or more love stories were an essential part of such films. The best-known Heimatfilm lovers were Anita Gutwell and Rudolf Lenz , who worked in Försterliesl (1956) and My father's house is in the mountains (1960), among others .

Since the Heimatfilm initially attracted many viewers and was financially successful, it quickly came to overproduction, so that fewer and fewer films made profits. The occasional attempts to make homeland films that dispensed with positive drawings and placed more contemporary aspects in the foreground also only occurred when the genre was already nearing its end. Examples are Wolfgang Schleif's production Der rote Rausch from 1962 with Klaus Kinski or Der Weibsteufel from 1966 based on a drama by Karl Schönherr (directed by Georg Tressler ; with Sieghardt Rupp , Maria Emo , Hugo Gottschlich and others). Trygve Gulbranssen offered particularly unusual, as more serious, templates for homeland films . Two of his novels were filmed by Mundus-Film : Und Ewig die Wälder (1959), directed by Paul May with Gert Fröbe , Hansjörg Felmy , Joachim Hansen , Maj-Britt Nilsson and Hans Nielsen , as well as Das Erbe von Björndal (1960 ) by Gustav Ucicky with Brigitte Horney , Joachim Hansen, Michael Hinz and Ellen Schwiers .

As early as 1956, there were partly malicious parodies of the Heimatfilm in the Viennese cabaret scene. Under the direction of Gerhard Bronner , Georg Kreisler , Peter Wehle , Kurt Jaggberg and Helmut Qualtinger made fun of the German-language trivial film in the Intimate Theater . They were also involved in some of these productions themselves. Peter Wehle and Gerhard Bronner wrote not only for cabaret, but also for films like ... and who kisses me? (1956) music together. Helmut Qualtinger, on the other hand, could be seen as a film actor in You are the right one (1955). In a musically accompanied program, Blattl vor'm Mund, the numbers were accordingly called Der Halbwilde, Breasts, which mean the world and Orpheus in the film world. This form of criticism offered an analysis of this film genre for the first time. A sketch from it can be regarded as one of the most revealing statements about the Austrian film industry in 1956, according to the film scholar Dr. Walter Fritz, who describes this sketch as follows:

“In this sketch, the cabaret artists compared the film industry with the underworld, and the performers promised that people would now talk about 'how it can come about that we can then be unabashedly shown in the cinemas, how everything is constructed, plagiarized, copied, smeared , and no one cares about the poor audience, why, it's dumb, it's too stupid, it's too stupid '. You report on an author with a lot of talent and ambition who is writing a film about 'people who stand in life'. Then comes an understanding producer who changes a bit and adds a happy ending. And then someone comes with a lot of shouting: 'I'm from the German film distribution company!' And he now explains the necessary requirements for a German-language film: 'A silver forest with a green heather, further glowing sunset and a child with a decollete dress swears love to a forester to death'. Then the film is made, and the choir would like to thank the cancan rhythm of at the major rental companies, actors and directors of the German film, for example, Dieter Borschemich and Walter Müller , Walter Giller , Nadja Tiller , Romy Schneider , Magda Schneider , unfortunately, , unfortunately, unfortunately […] is directed by a great thinker named Luis Trenker […] everyone makes thoughtless, unguarded, still filming and filming overnight […] but it has to continue like this, that's how the level has to be, because Otherwise the distributors won't understand their own films, drumm it has to go on forever, that's how we make a lot of money, only business is considered here [...] '. "All of this on music from various operettas by Jacques Offenbach sung.

In 1972, Fritz Walden said, looking back on the entertainment films of the 1950s: “As far as the entertainment films of those years are concerned, word has got around that we weren't very happy, but I have to add right away, it couldn't be otherwise, because the whole - the commercial structure, the whole systematic compulsion to do so - required to think commercially in our, that is, in the western world. Germany had to fill a so-called 'gap in the market', and in this gap in the market the Austrian film, which was dependent on German distributors, had to fill a gap in the market again. That is, we were considered an amusing people; It went so far that, for example, when a really serious film was made, such as Georg Tressler's Der Weibsteufel (1966), you laughed when you saw our mountains because you were happy, now something funny is going to happen come."

Comedies, ice revues, operettas and monarchy films

Apart from the Heimatfilms, there were also ice revue films such as Symphonie in Gold (1956) or operetta films related to Heimatfilm such as Karl Parylas Gasparone (1956) based on Karl Millöcker and Ernst Marischka's operetta adaptation Opernball (1956) based on Richard Heuberger , which in turn is a remake of a German production from 1939, with Hans Moser and Theo Lingen replaying their earlier roles.

It was only after a four-year break that another operetta film was made in 1960 under the direction of German Werner Jacobs , Im Weisse Rößl von der Sascha-Film . The musical arrangements were modernized and new stars were introduced. Peter Alexander and Waltraut Haas played in Im Weiße Rößl . The last commercial operetta film adaptations - with the original material also being changed significantly both in terms of music and content - were made by Sascha-Film in 1962: Die Fledermaus , Wedding Night in Paradise and The Merry Widow . In all three, Peter Alexander played a leading role, in the second alongside Marika Rökk. In Die Fledermaus , 81-year-old Hans Moser played one of his last roles, the bailiff Frosch.

Other popular films and comedies of those years were, for example, Lifeguard Asparagus (1956), Red Poppy (1956), Waiter, Pay! (1957), Hallo Taxi (1958), Im schwarzen Rößl (1961), The adventures of Count Bobby (1961), Mariandl's homecoming (1962), Three love letters from Tyrol (1962), Wedding at Lake Neusiedl (1963), happy ending am Attersee (1964) and greetings from Tyrol (1964). In the successful trilogy about Count Bobby, for example, Peter Alexander played the leading role. In The Adventures of Count Bobby , The Sweet Life of Count Bobby and Count Bobby, the Horror of the Wild West (1966), the singing star was seen in a wide variety of disguises - including as a woman.

Monarchy films were also made in the 1950s according to the tried and tested model. In 1956 EW Emos Ihr Korporal and Franz Antels Kaiserball appeared . With K. u. In the same year, K. Feldmarschall also published a military fun game, again staged by EW Emo. Rudolf Vogel played the main role. And after 1919 and 1925 , Crown Prince Rudolf also received cinematic honors again. In Crown Prince Rudolf's Last Love (1956) he was played by Rudolf Prack , while Mary Vetsera was played by Christiane Hörbiger . Questions that have been controversial for decades deliberately remained unanswered. Willi Forst also directed the comedy Kaiserjäger in 1956 with Erika Remberg in a trouser role , as she disguised herself in her role as a man in order to deceive the general embodied by Rudolf Forster and to win her love. The script came from Kurt Nachmann , the music from Hans Lang . Oskar Sima and Gunther Philipp appeared as comedians in military uniforms. Other films about the Habsburg monarchy were The Emperor and the Laundry Girl (1957), Franz Antel's Love, Girls and Soldiers (1958) with the singers Renate Holm and Willy Hagara and Mikosch in the Secret Service (1959) with Gunther Philipp. In 1958, the "Paula-Wessely-Filmproduktion" let the trees in bloom again appear in the Prater with Johanna Matz and Gerhard Riedmann and with musical accompaniment from Robert Stolz .

Many films were also heavily promoted to tourism. For example Holiday am Wörthersee (1956), engagement at Wolfgangsee (1956), love, summer and music (1956) with the Günther twins, Franz Antel's " Four Girls from the Wachau " (1957) with two pairs of twins, Mariandl ( 1961) or drivers on the move (1961). Mariandl (directed by Werner Jacobs) was a remake of "Hofrat Geiger" . Waltraut Haas played the mother, the former child star Conny Froboess played Mariandl and Hans Moser served as Windischgruber. This time the Hofrat Geiger was given by Rudolf Prack .

In Vienna, you city of my dreams with Hans Holt , Erika Remberg and Hertha Feiler , Willi Forst directed the last time in 1957, before he retired into private life with the remark Mein Stil hat Pause . Ernst Marischka also ended his career as a director after completing Das Dreimäderlhaus with Karlheinz Böhm as Franz Schubert in 1958. Previously it turned out that there would be no fourth part in the Sissi film series. In 1959 his brother Hubert died , and four years later he died too.

In 1959, attempts were made to correct Romy Schneider's image with the mistaken comedy Die Halbzarte . In it, she played an immoral, often revealingly dressed young person who wants to impress an American producer. Her mother played Magda Schneider . Other roles were cast with Carlos Thompson , Josef Meinrad , Rudolf Forster , Erni Mangold , Helmuth Lohner and Gertraud Jesserer .

In 1961, directed by Géza von Cziffra, the ice revue film Kauf Dir eine Colorful Luftballon with Ina Bauer and the skiing film A star falls from the sky with Toni Sailer were released . Another of the ice revue films that were increasingly appearing at the time due to the success of Austrian figure skaters was ... and you, my darling, stay here . This film, produced in 1961 by the Wiener Stadthalle and directed by Franz Antel, featured thin threads, a dozen comedians and just as many musicians. It was only the second production of the "Wiener Stadthalle Betriebs- und Produktionsgesellschaft", which was founded in 1961 by the City of Vienna. After a successful first production - the musical comedy Our Great Aunts - and that ice revue film, numerous other productions of this type followed, such as Our Great Niece (1962, with Gunther Philipp , Paul Hörbiger ; Director: Rolf Olsen ), Our Great Aunts in the South Seas (1963, with Udo Jürgens , Gus Backus ; director: Rolf Olsen), The whole world is sky blue (1963, with Peter Weck , Johanna Matz ; director: Franz Antel), Happy-End am Wörthersee (1964, with Waltraut Haas , Rudolf Prack ; director : Hans Hollmann ) or the ice revue film The Great Freestyle with the current star couple of art ice skating, the Germans Hans-Jürgen Bäumler and Marika Kilius .

With Ruf der Wälder , at least one literary film was made in 1965, and The Great Love Game based on a script by Herbert Reinecker saw itself at least as a modern version of Schnitzler's round dance , but it was actually a collection of scandalous stories in illustrated style . In 1963 they tried their hand at a western film. The last ride to Santa Cruz was directed by Rolf Olsen in the Canary Islands with Marianne Koch , Mario Adorf and Klaus Kinski , but it was hardly successful. The criticism then said that only the Americans could make good western films. But only a little later the spaghetti westerns emerged with great success . In 1964 and 1967 other production companies tried again in Western productions: My friend Shorty by Rolf Olsen and Women Who Go Through Hell by Rudolf Zehetgruber .

After all the films in the Wiener Stadthalle except for the first production had little success, the last production followed in 1966: The congress is having fun . In total, the city of Vienna had the 25 productions cost around 100 million schillings (around 7.3 million euros, excluding inflation). Despite the modest success of the films with both audiences and critics, the City of Vienna, unlike the federal government, at least fulfilled the task of stimulating Austrian film - even if artistically demanding productions were dispensed with in the implementation. The then chairman of the supervisory board, Glaserer, summed up in an interview with the magazine “Filmkunst” (No. 47, p. 15): “If we hadn't had such success with the 'Tollen Aunts', then all the money would not have gone into the bucket. "

In 1963 the German-Austrian production The great love game based on Reigen 51 by Carl Merz , Helmut Qualtinger and Michael Kehlmann , which in turn was based on "Reigen" by Arthur Schnitzler . Alfred Weidenmann directed this comedy . The main roles were cast by Lilli Palmer , Hildegard Knef , Nadja Tiller as well as French and Italian actors. In the 1965 comedy Das Liebeskarussell by Intercontinental-Film , directed by Rolf Thiele , Alfred Weidenmann and Axel von Ambesser, the actors Gert Fröbe , Catherine Deneuve , Curd Jürgens , Nadja Tiller, Heinz Rühmann , Johanna von Koczian , Peter Alexander and die played Liberally dressed Anita Ekberg - the Swedish star of Italian film - in four different relationship stories.

In 1965, Salzburg served as the backdrop for the US film My Songs - My Dreams . In 1966 he made several satirical films. For example Vojtěch Jasnýs Pfeifen , Betten, Turteltauben and Michael Pflegehar with Bel Ami 2000 or How do you seduce a playboy with Renato Salvatori , Antonella Lualdi and Peter Alexander in the leading roles.

In 1967, Hans Conrad Fischer directed the documentary film biography: The Life of Mozart . In the same year, Wolfgang Müller-Sehn directed Verliebt in Österreich . In 1967 the first of the so-called “ landlady films” were made with Terry Torday in the title role and international cast: Susanne, the landlady on the Lahn and the landlady also have a count . This was followed by sequels, which were only slightly different in terms of content, Frau Wirtin also has a niece (1969), Frau Wirtin also likes to blow the trumpet (1970), Frau Wirtin is now doing it even better (1970) and Frau Wirtin's great little daughter (1973). The scripts were written by Kurt Nachmann and directed by Franz Antel .

Crime and agent films

The first crime and spy films of the post-war period appeared in 1960 (“Women in the Devil's Hand”) and 1961 (“Man in the Shadow”) . In the spy film "Women in devil's hand" from the Palace movie played Helmut Schmid and Maria Sebaldt the leading roles, and " Man in the Shadows " was a thriller and also the last production of the ÖFA. Directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt , Helmut Qualtinger played the police advisor Dr. Radosch, who with his partner played by Fritz Tillmann a . a. on the heels of a suspect played by Herbert Fux .

In 1963 Alfred Vohrer shot for the Sascha film "An Alibi breaks" with Ruth Leuwerik and Peter van Eyck . Crime films were also made around “Kommissar-X” and “Tim Frazer” , starring German, English and American actors such as Tony Kendall , Klaus Kinski , Stewart Granger , Rupert Davies and Günther Stroll .

Franz Antel tried his hand at an agent film in 1963 together with an Italian production company. The film, directed by Domenico Paolella , was entitled “Masked Ball at Scotland Yard” and featured actors Bill Ramsey , France Anglade , Stelvio Rosi , Trude Herr , Hannelore Auer , Rex Gildo , Peppino di Capri and Rudolf Carl . The agent film “ 00Sex am Wolfgangsee ” , whose screenplay was written by Kurt Nachmann , also came from Franz Antel . The production was more impressive because of its bare skin than because of the top performance of the agent played by Paul Löwinger . In 1966 the agent comedy "I gladly killed the women" was made . Directed by Sheldon Reynolds , Alberto Cardone and Robert Lynn starred Stewart Granger , Lex Barker and Pierre Brice .

Film adaptations

In the 1950s and 1960s, literary adaptations, like avant-garde productions, only had a small place in domestic film production outside of the comedy sector . Although they occasionally achieved attention at international film festivals or, in individual cases, awards, they had no influence on the overall direction of the domestic film industry.

In 1955, one of the most interesting Austrian literary films was shot on Rosenhügel : Mr. Puntila and his servant Matti. The film is based on a work by Bertolt Brecht and was directed by the Brazilian director Alberto Cavalcanti . Curt Bois played the puntila, but could not convince Bertolt Brecht. His fears about a "weak and indistinct figure" Matti, which arose after reading the script, were also confirmed for him.

In 1956 the last film production appeared on the Rosenhügel. This was Fidelio, a film adaptation of Beethoven's opera of the same name. Claude Nollier played the leading role under director Walter Felsenstein and the Vienna State Opera Choir sang accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra . This film represented the last influence of GDR culture on Austria under the dictates of the now withdrawn Soviet occupiers.

With Fuhrmann Henschel , the film adaptation of a work by Gerhart Hauptmann appeared in 1956 . Under the direction of Josef von Báky , the two Germans Walter Richter and Wolfgang Lukschy played the leading roles alongside the Austrians Nadja Tiller and Richard Romanowsky . After Franz Antel and Lumpazivagabundus had already filmed a film adaptation of Anzengruber in Germany in 1956, such a film was also made in Austria in the same year with Der Schandfleck . The main actors were Heinrich Gretler , Hans von Borsody , Armin Dahlen and Gerlinde Locker . A comedy by Hermann Bahr was also filmed in 1956 under the title Nothing but Trouble with Love . Although this was a turn-of-the-century Viennese comedy, the main roles were cast with the German audience favorites Viktor de Kowa , Winnie Markus , Walter Giller and Sonja Ziemann and the Bavarian comedians Beppo Brem and Liesl Karlstadt .

The Vienna film of Otto Dürer made 1957 the most interesting literary adaptation this year ago. Scandal in Ischl was again based on a comedy by Hermann Bahr and featured an Austrian cast consisting of OW Fischer , Elisabeth Müller , Ivan Desny , Nina Sandt , Doris Kirchner , Alma Seidler and Rudolf Forster. Based on a book by Johannes Mario Simmel , Hubert Marischka's son , Georg Marischka , directed the critically acclaimed film With raspberry spirit, everything goes better. Above all, the script was praised for its clever dialogues for the main actors OW Fischer and Marianne Koch and the comic comedy. In the same year Mundus-Film produced Gustav Adolfs Page with the Swiss director Conrad Ferdinand Meyer , with Liselotte Pulver in the leading role.

Based on Frank Wedekind's drama Die Büchse der Pandora , the film Lulu was made in 1962 for the Otto Dürer production under the direction of Rolf Thiele . Nadja Tiller played the main role - Leon Askin in a supporting role . Based on Somerset Maugham's theater , Julia, You're Magical , was created that same year . The film, which starred Lilli Palmer , Charles Boyer , Thomas Fritsch and Jean Sorel , was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Alfred Weidenmann . In 1963, Axel Corti staged Kaiser Joseph and the railwayman’s daughter based on Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando . It was also the film in which Hans Moser, who died at the age of 84 that same year, appeared for the last time.

In 1965 Lumpazivagabundus was filmed again after Nestroy . In the same year also appeared on November 3, 1918 after Franz Theodor Csokor . Helmut Qualtinger , Kurt Sowinetz and Alfred Böhm could be seen as three “journeymen” . The young German theater and film director Edwin Zbonek directed both times . Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach's Krambambuli was also filmed in 1965 under the title Ruf der Wälder . Johanna Matz and the Italian Mario Girotti - better known as Terence Hill - played under the direction of Franz Antel . In Otto Dürer's Weibsteufel (1966), based on a model by Karl Schönherr , Maria Emo , Sieghart Rupp and Hugo Gottschlich played . The film, a serious variant of the otherwise kitschy Heimatfilm, was shown as an Austrian contribution to the Moscow Film Festival .

Freedom of movement and the removal of taboos in film

The second half of the 1950s was also marked by a new approach to sexual issues, which was promoted by the emergence of more revealing women's fashion. Of course, the mass medium of film also played a key role as a transport medium for fashion trends. Even in local films such as Franz Antel's “Four Girls from the Wachau” (1957), viewers saw blondes in “ hot pants ”. The term “ sex bomb ” was circulating in the media at the time and served as a name for the actresses Marilyn Monroe , Brigitte Bardot , Jayne Mansfield , Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren , who were not stingy with eroticism . In Austria they looked for a “sex bomb” and found it in Edith Elmay , who was immediately referred to by “Funk und Film” as “The Marilyn from Ottakring ”.

Taboo and irritating topics such as juvenile delinquency and dealing with sexuality among young people were also prepared for the film. After the German film “Die Halbstarken” was successful, Georg Tressler , son of Otto Tressler , directed the youth film “Unter Eighteen” in 1957 . This cliché addresses the rehabilitation of criminal youths. The young leading actresses Vera Chekhova and Edith Elmay, who were consciously dressed in a modern and revealing way, were also intended to stimulate .

This was followed by other productions of this kind, which deliberately speculated with the public's interest in the “corrupt youth”. For example Hermann Leitner's productions “Because of seduction minors” (1960) and “Tomorrow begins life” (1961) as well as Georg Tressler's “Endstation Liebe” (1958), “Confession of a sixteen year old” (1961). In the obligatory dance club scenes, the record industry provided musical support from Jimmy Makulis , Tony Sandler, the Jochen Brauer Sextet , “The Bambis” and the hit “Life only begins at 17”. These films gave young, often German, actors the chance to distinguish themselves. Including Cordula Trantow , Marisa Mell , Barbara Frey , Corny Collins , Michael Heltau and Gertraud Jesserer .

Sex films were also made for the first time in 1965. For example Paul Milan's “ The Girl with the Mini ” as well as “Via Eroica 6” (1967) and “ Men in their prime tell sex stories ” (1967) by Fritz Fronz . In 1968 the film magazines also reported a flood of sex films from abroad. The state was not exactly enthusiastic about this, and so in 1968 the Viennese regional court came to the so-called “porn trial” against producers and distributors of such films.

Funded films and cultural films

In the second half of the 1950s and early 1960s, the Ministry of Education funded numerous productions that dealt with current events - so-called " reality films ". Financed entirely by the Ministry of Education, director Alfred Stöger filmed theater performances in the Burgtheater and the Salzburg Festival Hall. The cinema appearances of these recordings remained despite interesting casts - Ewald Balser as " Wilhelm Tell " (1956) with Albin Skoda as " Gessler ", Josef Meinrad and Inge Konradi in "He wants to make a joke" (1957), Judith Holzmeister as " Maria Stuart ” (1959), Walther Reyer as “ Don Carlos ” (1960), again Josef Meinrad in “ The Farmer as Millionaire ” (1961) and Hans Moser as the“ Old Age ”at the Salzburg Festival - relatively unsuccessful. Only one generation of schoolchildren was forced to be happy with it.

A production by Walter Kolm-Veltée also caused a stir in those years . Funded by the Ministry of Education, “Panoptikum 59” was created , which was supposed to represent a sketch of the time picture. It's about a manipulative and oppressive cultural manager, played by Alexander Trojan and his dreamy opponent, who tries to fight him with unsuitable means, played by Michael Heltau. Elisabeth Berzobohaty acted as an actress who was cared for by both of them. Gottfried Reinhardt , son of Max Reinhardt , staged " Jedermann " in 1961 with the original cast of the Salzburg Festival .

Aside from filming plays, however, the Ministry of Education's film funding didn't have much to offer. While theater and opera productions have always been funded or fully funded, Austrian films continued to receive only minimal funding, even in times of the decline of the domestic film industry. Under Ministerialrat Raimund Warhanek, who committed himself to cultural film and from 1955 was the responsible advisor for “Film and Photography”, the funding could be increased at least a little. Above all, short films and documentaries such as “The whole world is a stage” , “Let us bloom” , “Auf Flügeln des Gesangs” (about the Vienna Boys' Choir ) or “Adventure of a drawing pen” about Alfred Kubin's work as a graphic artist were funded.

However, the production of nature documentaries for the cinema declined sharply in these years. Television later appeared as a client for nature films and documentaries. In addition to Vienna, the smaller film production companies from the other federal states also played a larger role in these productions known as “cultural films”. Max Zehenthofer from Salzburg produced “Winter in the Alps” in 1956 , and “Oh, you mein Österreich” was a historical documentation by Herbert Heidmann , who worked for the production company of FW Rossack . In 1960 the nature film “God's Picture Book” by JA Holmann was made , which was extremely well received at its premiere in Hamburg . Further documentaries of these years were “In the Name of Allah” (1960), “South Tyrol - the Land of Longing” (1961) by Harald Zusanek and “Operetta from Vienna” (1961). In 1964 the official film report from the Innsbruck Olympic Games came to the cinemas: "In the mountains of Tyrol" , by Theo Hörmann .

In the 1972 television film “Filmgeschichten aus Österreich” , Raimund Warhanek said in his time as a film advisor: “In the first fifties, I saw my main task as anchoring the film in Austria in the public consciousness, in order to gain understanding for it . I have found many times that there was either an orientation towards the so-called traditional arts, which left film as an art out of consideration, or that it was declared that the matter was a matter of private commercial interest and that there was no need to do something about the film. I have always described it as a certain inconsistency that, on the one hand, the film is left in the hands of the commercial film makers, and on the other hand, the appeal to these people is that the film should be culturally and artistically valuable. I therefore meant that in addition to popularizing the valuable cinematic awareness among the public, another task would have to be to establish an obligation on the part of the public sector to keep the film alive. ” If the Ministry of Education subsidized full-length films, they were However, these are not creative films, but rather the preservation of opera and castle theater performances.

Avant-garde and alternative filmmaking

The first post-war films that stood out from the uniformity of comedies and operetta films were Herbert Vesely's “And the children so like to play soldiers” (1951) by Franz Kafka and “On these evenings” (1952) by Trakl . In 1951 Wolfgang Kudrnofsky appeared with a film production never seen in Austria . He produced a 15-minute disassembly of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" . This production was never really put into circulation by "Rex-Film", but only ran in special screenings and after an award in Edinburgh at the request of interested parties. In 1955 the first 16-minute experimental film by Ferry Radax , Peter Kubelka and Konrad Bayer followed : "Mosaic in Trust" . A popular meeting place for the avant-garde art scene in Vienna in the 1950s was the “Art Club”, where alternative filmmakers such as Kurt Steinwender , Gerhard Rühm , Peppino Wieterik , Paul Kont and Wolfgang Hutter met alongside the aforementioned .

Aside from the commercial film business and the usual distribution system, some young film newcomers also tried to make films in the 1960s. Since, for financial reasons - the productions were financed with own funds and occasionally also with subsidies from the municipality and the federal government - most of the productions were made in the 8 mm or 16 mm format, they had little chance of getting into the cinemas. As a result, they were only shown at special screenings, in cinematic libraries and at domestic and foreign film festivals. These independent filmmakers included Herbert Holba , Karl Kases , Franz Novotny , Franz Josef Fallenberg and Michael Pilz .

Among other things, Ferry Radax made several documentary films for television that had hitherto little known artists and their work on the subject: "Hundertwasser" (1966), "HC Artmann" (1967), "Forum Dichter Graz" (1967) , "Trigon Graz" (1967), "NDF-Report" (1967, about the " New German Film "), "Konrad Bayer" (1969), "Wiener Fantastische Realisten" (1970) and others. In 1968 he presented his utopian political film satire “Testament” in the Vienna Metro Cinema . The film, which is about a megalomaniac dictator who is fought and eliminated by the "counter-revolt of the litarians" and the apolitical hero "James", represents a contribution to the year of international youth revolts. There were other avant-garde and underground filmmakers of the 1960s Kurt Kren , Marc Adrian , Ernst Schmid jr., Otto Muehl , Peter Weibel , Valie Export , Hans Scheugl , Otmar Bauer , Gottfried Schlemmer , Günter Brus , the group “Red-Green-Blue” and others.

Of all these, Valie Export gained greater fame and presented itself as a walking cinema in 1968 on the occasion of the “maraisiade” of the “young film” only with a wooden box. This wooden box had two holes for the hands of the "moviegoers". She called the project "Tapp- und Tastkino". You and co-initiator Peter Weibel caused difficulties with the authorities. In the same year a group of avant-garde filmmakers founded the “Austrian Filmmakers Cooperative”. The purpose of this association was to broker the films of its members to organizers. The German magazine “Film” counted Hans Scheugl's “ZZZ Hamburg Special” among the ten best films of the year in its special edition “Film 1968” . This is all the more remarkable since it wasn't actually a movie. Instead of a film tape, a thread was played on the roll of film - a line appeared on the canvas. The line could be moved by activating the projectionist, which the audience could not know, and therefore had to wonder whether it was a film or whether the thread was actually pulled through the projector. This is what happened during the screening of the “film” at the Hamburg Film Show . Aside from this one-off campaign, some filmmakers also experimented with incorporating positive films into their productions.

During these years Peter Kubelka produced, among other things, “Adebar” (1957), “Schwechater” (1958), “Arnulf Rainer” (1960) and “Our trip to Africa” (1966). In 1981 he received the “ Great Austrian State Prize for Film Art ”. The film "The Vulnerable" about urban youth, made by Leo Tichat in 1964, was only released in cinemas in 1967 .

“Memento mori” (1968) and “Reflexion” (1970) by the visual artists Edith Hirsch and Sepp Jahn were celebrated as special achievements in alternative cinema . Jan Svankmayer and Peter Puluj emerged in 1965 with “Spiel mit Steinen” , which was produced in “Studio a” in Linz. Walter Baumert shot “Maria Walddorf” (1967), “Die Wienerin” (1968) and “Die Landstreicher” (1968). With the support of ORF and the Ministry of Education, " Moos auf den Steinen " was created in 1968 by Georg Lhotsky with the actors Erika Pluhar , Heinz Trixner and Wilfried Zeller-Zellberg . In this film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Gerhard Fritsch , the Austrian mentality is depicted alternately in color and black and white: one cannot find a future because of the past. The film is considered to be one of the first approaches to the “New Austrian Film”.

In 1972, in an interview for the television film “Filmgeschichten aus Österreich”, Peter Weibel summed up the previous work of the “Red-Green-Blue” group, of which he was a member: “What we didn't manage: to get into official business. While the movements of the other cinema in Germany could migrate to television or to the cinema and the arts, we did not succeed here in Austria. Because we got no money and no support, neither from the state, nor from television, nor from the film industry, we had to realize that perhaps our ideas, or at least we ourselves, are not powerful enough to change the Austrian cinema situation. "

literature

German-language literature

• Armin Loacker (Ed.): Adventure in Vienna. Series: Edition Film und Text, 7th DVD and accompanying volume: Identities Filmarchiv Austria , Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-901932-69-0 .
• The fairy tale of happiness: Austrian film during the occupation. Böhlau, Vienna 2002.
• Franz Marischka: Always smile: stories and anecdotes from theater and film. Amalthea, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85002-442-3 .
• Karin Moser: Occupied Pictures: Film, Culture and Propaganda in Austria, 1945–1955. Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-901932-66-6 .
• Verena Pawlowsky: World in Film: Newsreel in Austria, 1945–1949. Austrian Society for Film Studies, Communication and Media Research, Vienna 1991.
• Alexander Horwath : Avant-garde film - Austria. 1950 until today. Waspennest, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-85458-508-X .

Foreign language literature

• L'avant-garde autrichienne au cinéma: 1955–1993. Center Georges Pompidou, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85850-885-2 . (French)
• Steve Anker: Austrian avant-garde cinema, 1955–1993: a film series. San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco; Sixpackfilm , Vienna 1994. (English)
• Robert von Dassanowsky : Austrian cinema - a history. McFarland, Jefferson (North Carolina) and London 2005, ISBN 0-7864-2078-2 . (English)
• Maria Fritsche: Homemade Men in Postwar Austrian Cinema. Nationhood, Genre and Masculinity. Berghahn, New York and Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-85745-945-9 . (English)

See also

• Cinema and film in Austria - review article
• List of Austrian sound films

Individual evidence

1. ↑ J. Schuchnig: GW Pabst. Dissertation, Vienna, 1976, p. 33
2. ↑ My film. No. 23, June 6, 1947, p. 8
3. ↑ Funk and Film . No. 32, August 7, 1954, p. 2
4. ↑ from W. Höfig: Der deutsche Heimatfilm 1947–1960. Stuttgart, 1973. p. 73
5. ^ Obituary by Walter Fritz. In: The furrow. No. 17, April 29, 1981, p. 15
6. ^ Walter Fritz: In the cinema I experience the world - 100 years of cinema and film in Austria. Vienna 1996, p. 244
7. ↑ New on the CDs Kabarettisten singen Klassiker (1988) and Schall-Plattl vor'm Mund (1989) published by Preiser Records.
8. ^ Wolfgang Gersch: Film with Brecht. Munich 1975, p. 295 f.