History of the early Austrian sound film

The early Austrian sound film begins with the production of the first sound film "G'schichten aus der Steiermark" in 1929. Austrian comedy and music films developed well into the 1950s and spawned a number of new film stars. The so-called “ Viennese film ” discovered audience favorites like Peter Alexander and was often successfully distributed internationally by directors like Franz Antel and Gustav Ucicky .

The 1930s

The 1930s brought the Austrian film industry into another serious crisis - after the fall in inflation between 1923 and 1926 destroyed the export advantages and the Hollywood film industry established its supremacy in Europe - both together resulted in the bankruptcy of most Austrian film producers. After silent film production had recovered from 1926 onwards, it experienced another crisis with the international introduction of talkies, which coincided roughly with the Great Depression of 1929. The reasons for this were above all the high costs of converting silent film studios and recording technology to sound film production, combined with the withdrawal of most banks from the film business and the rise in credit costs as a result of the global economic crisis. In addition, various sound film systems competed for their worldwide establishment, which unsettled both film manufacturers and cinemas as to which system they should switch to.

The “invention” of Viennese film brought a way out of the crisis - a musical-comedic genre with a historical, transfigured Viennese background, which quickly enjoyed international popularity and made export revenues from Austrian films soar, which in turn spurred domestic film production. Depending on the historians' opinion, the starting shot of this "film fashion" was either the Wiener Stoff Liebelei , staged in Germany by Max Ophüls after Arthur Schnitzler in 1932 , or the works Leise flehen meine Lieder (1933) and Masquerade (1934) created in Vienna from 1933 . In any case, the latter achieved world fame and were decisive for a new production boom in the Viennese film industry.

The transition from silent to sound film

Austrian sound film production full-length feature films ( depending on the performance year in Austria)
year	number
1929	1 (+ 23 mute)
1930	3 (+ 24 mute)
1931	8 (+ 16 mute)
1932	10
1933	17th
1934	14th
1935	27
1936	23
1937	15th

Until 1930 mainly silent films were made, as both cinemas and film producers first had to convert what some film production companies and cinemas could not do for cost reasons and therefore had to close. In addition, the procurement of capital became more and more difficult, as loans became more and more expensive due to the global economic crisis that started in 1929. The first short sound films of foreign production reached Austria on June 8, 1928, where they were shown with great success in the Vienna Urania . These films were shown using the Tri-Ergon method developed by the inventors Massolle , Vogt and Engl using a German optical tone method .

The first full-length sound film reached Austria on January 21, 1929 - in Vienna's Central Cinema on Taborstrasse. It was Alan Croslands " The Jazz Singer " , which premiered in the USA on 23 October 1927 and in Austria under the title "The Jazz Singer" was running. The sound was played synchronously with the film on a record (see needle tone method ).

The first attempts at sound film production in Austria were carried out in the summer of 1929 using the Selenophon optical sound system. The prerequisites for this sound system were developed by the Viennese Selenium Study Society in the mid-1920s . The "Selenophon-Licht- und Tonbildgesellschaft", which had existed since 1929, applied for a number of patents for sound film production and reproduction over the next few years.

The premiere of the first Austrian sound film - " Stories from Styria " - took place on August 23, 1929 in Graz. However, the Ottoton needle tone process by director Hans Otto Löwenstein was used . A large part of the first Austrian short sound films of this year was limited to the onset of clumsy noise and music effects. The first sound film to be produced using the optical sound process was made by Sascha-Film in 1930 and was called Money on the Street . However, the film had its premiere on the outskirts of Vienna and caused little stir. This was followed by cabaret sketches such as "In der Theateragentur" from 1930, for which the selenophone method was used.

The switch from film production to sound film not only entailed large investment costs, it also tripled the cost of making each film. Austrian film production therefore experienced another crisis after the mid-1920s, from which it had only just recovered. The largest film producer, Sascha-Film, slipped into equilibrium in 1931 and never recovered from it.

The Sascha film industry in Vienna got into a serious crisis in the course of the changeover of film production from silent to sound film, which in 1930 led to an adjustment. After the completion of the first full-length sound film, Sascha-Film 1930 (“Money on the Road”) , the company was to be liquidated. But a new consortium agreed to continue running the company. In 1932 the company was taken over by the Pilzer brothers, and a little later, after the German Tobis Tonbild-Syndikat AG joined the company , the production company was renamed "Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG".

After only four sound films were made in 1930, while the total film production declined, for the first time in 1931 with nine sound films, more sound than silent films were made. The poor financial resources of the film production companies that remained after the great crisis in the mid-1920s favored numerous co-productions with Hungary , Czechoslovakia , Great Britain , France and Germany . Only the film distributors did good business in the sound film era. They now specialized in adding subtitles to imported foreign-language films.

Beginning of the sound film era

With the establishment of sound film production in Austria from 1931, various genres were tried out and production practices from the silent film era were adapted. The peculiarities and strengths of the Austrian language, especially the Viennese dialect, could be played out in comedies for the first time. The days of many silent film stars, however, were over because they could not shine in speaking roles. The presentation also changed from exaggerated gestures in silent films to more realistic behaviors in talkies. Some careers ended, but many actors really came into their own through the sound film. The best-known example of this is probably Hans Moser , whose hectic, mumbling, deeply Viennese-style way of speaking became his trademark and was a guarantee of success.

Even Attila Hörbiger , who in 1930 alongside his brother Paul Hörbiger in The Immortal Lump debuted, celebrated with the sound film the start of a successful career in Austrian comedies and the Vienna Film . The popular conférencier des Simpls , Karl Farkas , was able to prove his acting skills in the sound film in the justice machine and Unter den Dächern von Wien , which was modeled on the French production Unter den Dächern von Paris .

The high unemployment rate of the 1930s also influenced filmmaking. In 1932, both Max Neufeld's Sehnsucht 202 and Hans Steinhoff's Scampolo focused on the unemployed. In Scampolo worked Dolly Haas and Paul Hörbiger as a leading actor. Billy Wilder wrote the script. Besides Madame wishes no children from 1933, it was the only script that Billy Wilder wrote for an Austrian film.

The political parties also knew how to use the possibilities of the sound film. The Social Democratic Party had two films made: “Mr. Pim's Notebook” , in the course of which a conservative American was convinced of “ Red Vienna ” and “Die vom 17er Haus” by Artur Berger , a socially utopian film that was made for the state elections 1932 was produced. This was also the last film by the SPÖ before it was banned in the corporate state . The sound system used was the Selenophon system and the buildings - you can see St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna in 2032, surrounded by dozens of glazed skyscrapers - were designed by Emil Stepanek . The film ends with the appeal “Be clever! Red Vienna wins! Vote social democratic! ” . Director Artur Berger, who also wrote the screenplay with Siegfried Bernfeld , was also involved in the municipal building program of the City of Vienna.

With " The Witcher " (1932) based on Edgar Wallace with Paul Richter as an inspector and " Invisible Opponents " (1933) with the actors Raoul Aslan , Paul Hartmann , Oskar Homolka and Peter Lorre , two successful crime and spy film productions of early talkies are also in Called Austria. Both films were directed by Rudolf Katscher , who later made a career in Great Britain as R. Cartier .

In Germany, too, Austrians shaped the sound film scene as before the silent film scene. In 1930 Billy Wilder worked on the screenplay for Menschen am Sonntag and in 1931 adapted the screenplay for the first filming of Erich Kästner's Emil and the Detectives - one of the first real children's feature films with sound. Also in 1931, the South Tyrolean Luis Trenker played the lead role in the Ufa film Mountains in Flames , which in turn was directed by the Austrian director Karl Hartl . Peter Lorre , who comes from Pressburg , also celebrated his breakthrough as an actor in 1931 as the main actor in the German crime film masterpiece M - A City Seeks a Murderer . And Otto Preminger also finished his first film in Berlin and in the same year: The great love . Wilder, Lorre and Preminger emigrated to the seizure of power by the Nazis in Germany in 1933 in the United States , where they came to world fame.

In 1933 the “Institute for Sound Film Art ” was founded in the Farmer's Market - where the Viennese art film company once had studios - in Vienna's 1st district . From then on, greats of Austrian film such as Artur Berger , Karl Farkas , Heinz Hanus , Franz Herterich , Fritz Klingenbeck , Hans Theyer and others acted as teachers . Of the 833 cinemas that existed in Austria in 1934, 177 were in Vienna.

The Viennese film - the height of the Austrian sound film

In 1919 the French journalist and author Zo d'Axa took the view that comedy films had to be dramatic , like the Irish or the American. In the case of the Viennese film comedy, however, he stated: “The Viennese funny seems to me to be in the spoken and sung word, if at all, so something that makes the Viennese laugh on stage can only be a material glimmer of a comedy in the film . ” The first actor who, according to this observation, made the Viennese laugh by speaking and singing was Hans Moser , who got his first roles in the 1920s, but only became his real ones with the sound film that produced Viennese film Abilities could bring to bear.

The Viennese film was characterized by Viennese abuse and the moderate Viennese dialect and, not least of all, enjoyed great popularity in German-speaking countries, as they came up with romantic, but also glorified subjects from Vienna during the imperial era. The films continued to do this even when the economic crisis, mass unemployment and, most recently, Austrofascism dominated everyday life in Austria. In addition, the unique characters and comedians of the Viennese cabaret and theater could for the first time come into their own in the sound film - the pun and the language of expression always played a bigger role than the facial expressions and gestures.

Some of the stars of Viennese film were Paula Wessely , Attila Hörbiger , Rudolf Carl , Fritz Imhoff , Leo Slezak , Magda Schneider and Willi Forst , who was important both as an actor and as a director. The best-known representatives of the comedian film were the opposing Hans Moser and Szöke Szakall . While Hans Moser often played his fellow actors against the wall through his linguistically and mimic unique, natural appearance, Szöke Sakall shone with an intellectually biting to sadistic-aggressive humor. With Richard Romanowsky , a graduate of the Max Reinhardt Seminar, another comedian was found among the great actors in early talkies.

The first Viennese films were made in 1933 with the film adaptation of Schubert - operetta My songs beckon softly and 1934 with Masquerade - both of Willi Forst , who became a star director of the Vienna film. The genre went around the world from Vienna. Quietly begging my songs was re-shot in 1934 as The Unfinished Symphony for the English-speaking market with a slightly different line-up, since dubbing was not technically possible at that time (see “ Version films ”). Masquerade was re-filmed in 1935 as Escapade in Hollywood. The first possibility of synchronization (" dubbing ") was only introduced in Vienna in 1937 by the Selenophon.

The cost of film productions increased after it had risen from 1.4 to around 5 million schillings between 1930 and 1933, to 16 to 18 million schillings in 1936. The trade balance for films turned after losses of one to five million schillings annually in 1933 for the first time in the plus. As a result, the trade surplus rose to five to six and a half million schillings annually between 1935 and 1937 - while the import level remained unchanged at four and a half to six million schillings - due to income from abroad and license revenues from new films Distance followed by the USA. This also made Austria susceptible to blackmail attempts by the National Socialists who, after they came to power in 1933, which triggered a wave of Jews and regime critics to emigrate to Austria in part, tried to prevent these people from participating in Austrian films by threatening import bans. The Austrian film industry gradually submitted to the German demands, which from 1937 onwards, due to restrictions in film production and the emigration of many filmmakers from Austria, also led to the end of Viennese films and Austrian filmmaking as a whole. (See sections on German Emigrant Films in Austria and Anticipated “Anschluss” of Austrian Films ).

Walter Reisch achieved a particularly outstanding achievement in 1935 . With Episode he created one of the most outstanding examples of Viennese film . Few other productions, such as the style of poetic realism staged masterpiece by paul fejos , Sunbeam (1933), Willi Forst's globally successful Masquerade (1934) and Werner Hochbaum suburban vaudeville (1935), one of the strongest Austrian films ever can keep up with it . Episode is not only characterized by the fact that the atmosphere of Vienna at the time of the economic crisis could be translated into a coherent psychogram of Viennese ambiguity thanks to Paula Wessely as a poor arts and crafts student, but also by the fact that the film is the only Austrian production after the Nazis came to power in Germany Received special permission from the Reichsfilmkammer for showing in the Third Reich.

The Viennese film, which prevailed against all other genres, was also criticized from various sides. Friedrich Schreyvogel challenged poets to the film front, as this would bring more personality and inspiration into filmmaking, and Dr Volkmar Iro said in 1936: “With the real Austrian milieu alone, the possibilities of Austrian film are far from exhausted, and it does would be a certain danger for the further development of Austrian film production if one saw the artistic tasks of Austrian film primarily in processing only Austrian film material or an Austrian milieu. Because, as mentioned earlier, one cannot overexploit a limited environment with impunity. ” In the 1930s, all films were made in the various studios of Tobis-Sascha or the Selenophon Light and Sound Image Society . The largest clients and film distributors, apart from the in-house Sascha-Filmverleih, who sold the in-house productions, were Hugo Engel, Robert Müller, Allianz, Lux, Kiba, Lyra-Film, Mondial and Universal.

Music and operetta films

From the beginning of the 1930s, after the first attempts at using the new possibilities of the sound film, real singing and music films were made with well-known singers of that time. In 1933, adventure at the Lido by director Richard Oswald appeared with the singers Alfred Piccaver , Nora Gregor and the comedian Szöke Szakall in the leading roles. The Austrian music film , as it was continued in numerous musical comedies after the Second World War , was born in these years. Although this sealed the fate of the cinema musicians, the film composer was a new profession. Of these, the German Willy Schmidt-Gentner was a sought-after representative, for whom Vienna became a second home.

A distinction between music and operetta films as well as “Viennese film” is not always possible. These genres often overlap. Operetta-like vocal interludes, however, are not an integral part of “Viennese films”.

The very busy domestic and foreign film composers in Austria included: Frank Fox , Hans J. Salter , Franz Lehár , Paul Abraham , Jara Beneš , Artur Guttmann , Hans May , Giuseppe Becce , Anton Profes , Eduard Künneke , Ralph Benatzky , Max Niederberger , Peter Kreuder , Michael Jary , August Pepöck , Heinz Sandauer , Hans Lang , Robert Katscher and Robert Stolz , Bronislau Kaper and Walter Jurmann, who later became successful in Hollywood . Some of them came from the operetta field , which had come into crisis in the 1930s. However, operetta films were still made for a while, such as "Frasquita" under the direction of Franz Lehár, "Im Weiße Rössl" , "Ball im Savoy" and "Spring Donation" . It featured opera stars like Piccaver, Jeritza and Jarmila Novotná , great actors like Franziska Gaal , Christl Mardayn , Hans Jaray and Hermann Thimig , as well as great comedians like Hans Moser , Heinz Rühmann and Rudolf Carl . In “Today is the most beautiful day in my life” sang Joseph Schmidt , who had become undesirable in Germany, under the direction of Richard Oswald, who moved to Hollywood a little later. The popular operetta composer Paul Abraham was responsible for the music in the films " Das Tagebuch der Geliebten " , "Ball in the Savoy" and "The Abducted Bride" directed by Henry Koster .

The wine-blissful and singing-happy tradition of “ Old Viennese ” suburban clubs continued in the sound film. There were productions with titles such as “Das Lercherl vom Wienerwald” (1931), “Wiener Zauberklänge” (1931), “Lang ist her” and “Das Glück von Grinzing”, some of which speak for themselves .

In 1933 the Viennese director Wilhelm Thiele , who had become known in 1930 with “ Die Drei von der Gasstelle ” , returned from Berlin. For “ Grand Duchess Alexandra ” he was able to win over the operetta star Maria Jeritza for her only film role. Opera singer Leo Slezak , who is just beginning his second career as a comedian and character actor, played the male supporting part. Franz Lehár composed the film music. In the same year a co-production with France appeared with “ König Pausole ” - with Emil Jannings in the leading role - and a co-production with Hungary: “Rakoczimarsch” . This year Karl Ehmann acted as "Our Emperor" alongside Hansi Niese as the wife of a chief forester. Directed by Jakob and Luise Fleck .

In 1933 and 1934 other successful music film productions appeared with “Opernring” with singer Jan Kiepura , “Carnival of Love” with Hans Moser and Hermann Thimig and “ Burgtheater ” by Willi Forst. In “Zauber der Bohème” from 1937 Jan Kiepura played at the side of his wife Marta Eggerth , who also demonstrated her acting skills in 1933 in “Leise flehen Meine Lieder” and in 1938 in “Immer, Wenn ich bin Glück” . In “Premiere” , the Swede Zarah Leander, who sings successfully at the Theater an der Wien, starred in a film for the first time. In 1934 the director Henry Koster , then still known as Hermann Kosterlitz, shot the two films "Peter" and " Katharina, die last " with the Hungarian actress Franziska Gaal .

Filmmaking in the Austrian corporate state

Only a little after the Nazi coup in Germany, an authoritarian system was also set up in Austria. The politically unstable situation in the young Republic of Austria led to a putsch by Engelbert Dollfuss in 1933 and culminated in the Austrian Civil War in 1934 , in which Dollfuss was able to consolidate his position. Under his authoritarian leadership, freedom of expression was severely restricted and censorship was introduced in many areas. Some of the filmmakers who had previously immigrated now continue to emigrate - the rest around 1936, but at the latest in 1938. This time is also characterized by the increasing influence and pressure exerted by the National Socialists on the Austrian state and its institutions - including cultural ones.

As a reaction to the political situation, the proportion of films made in the Prater increased further in the 1930s . Because the societal fractures, which officially do not exist in the corporate state , could still be addressed in the Prater, which young and old from all social classes visited. This is how the film “Prater” was made here in 1936 , which, in contrast to the majority of local and music film productions, did not come up with elaborate costumes or alpine costume, but was equipped with simple everyday clothes from contemporary Austria.

In 1933 the Viennese actress Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler caused a scandal with a ten-minute nude scene and a love scene in the film " Ecstasy " . The Viennese armaments industrialist Fritz Mandl , whom she married in the same year, forbade her to act, whereupon she emigrated to the United States in 1937 and made a career as Hedy Lamarr at MGM .

At the end of 1933, the Rosenhügel studios were acquired by what is now Tobis-Sascha-Film and newly adapted. Her penultimate film was made there in 1934 with “ Masquerade ” , which was to become the figurehead of “Viennese Film”. In “Masquerade”, the successful theater actress and later grande dame of German acting Paula Wessely got her first role at the side of Adolf Wohlbrück , Hans Moser and Olga Chekhova and achieved international fame. At the Venice Film Festival, the film directed by Willi Forst received an award for the best screenplay. After “ Hohe Schule ” (1934) the studios were only rented out and Tobis-Sascha concentrated on the distribution of films.

The film pioneers Jakob and Luise Fleck had also returned to Vienna from Berlin in 1933 . Here in 1935 they staged “Czárdás” (also “Csardas” ) together with a Czech production company . In 1937 the two re-staged “Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld” with Hans Jaray in the leading role. The film, which can be classified as Austria propaganda, was criticized by the church, however, because the forbidden love of a pastor for a woman was discussed.

In 1934, 13 production companies were based in Vienna. Of the 300 films that screened that year, most were of American origin, followed by German productions. Only 27 films were produced in Austria. Including the two advertising films for Austria “Stories from the Vienna Woods” , based on a template by Maria Stephan with the popular actors and actresses Magda Schneider and Wolf Albach-Retty , and “ Singing Youth ” with the Vienna Boys' Choir in the mountains of Tyrol his newly built Grossglockner High Alpine Road . The latter, in line with Austria's application and its cultural assets, found high visitor numbers abroad, especially in England, France and the Czech Republic, where the film was even voted the best foreign film of 1936.

These films, which were specifically produced abroad to achieve a positive image for Austria, also include “Carneval in Vienna” (1935), “How a Frenchman sees Vienna” (1937) and “Wiener Mode” (1937). "Eva" (1935), "Sylvia and her Chauffeur" (1935), "Rendezvous in Vienna" (1936) and "Silhouettes" (1936) should also serve to portray Vienna as the "City of Love" . Together with the Heimatfilms produced in the Alps, they were intended to attract tourists and entrepreneurs from English and French-speaking countries during the economically difficult and politically unstable times, as the vital flow of tourists from Germany was hindered.

In 1936 the Austrian film conference was introduced. It should promote cooperation between the state and the film industry as well as Austrian film production. A film academy to promote young talent and a film archive were planned. In the same year Paula Wessely was in "Harvest" , which emphasizes the "importance" of the Catholic Church, for the first time together with her future husband and multiple film partner Attila Hörbiger in front of the camera. Several other films were made, some with Paula Wessely in one of the leading roles, which flattered the Catholic Church and the Catholic federal government of the Austrian corporate state.

German emigrant film in Austria

When the National Socialists came to power in Germany and the first incendiary speeches , around 2,000 German filmmakers fled abroad - some of them, especially those who had come from Austria, initially to Vienna. For example the cameraman Franz Planer , the actor Karl Paryla or the (film) composer Robert Stolz . But also for a short time Peter Lorre , Sam Spiegel , Billy Wilder and others.

Their first films made in Austria could also be shown in Germany. At the beginning of 1934, the ban on showing films with Jewish participation had already been enforced, which also had an impact on Austrian production, whose most important market was Germany. On the one hand, it began to lay off Jewish employees - which was difficult in the Jewish-dominated Austrian film industry - or to let them work under pseudonyms. On the other hand, Jewish emigrants from Germany founded their own film companies in order to produce independently of the German market. For example Wiener Film KG Erich Morawsky - a Vienna subsidiary of the US American Universal , which produced in Vienna and Budapest under the direction of Joe Pasternak . In this way, 12 films were made between 1933 and 1936. Among others, the directors Kurt Gerron , Fritz Schulz , Richard Oswald , Hermann Kosterlitz , Max Neufeld , Jakob and Luise Fleck , the actors Conrad Veidt , Franziska Gaal , Hans Jaray and Rosy Barsony worked , Otto Wallburg , Szöke Szakall , Felix Bressart , Joseph Schmidt and Albert Bassermann as well as the cameraman Willy Goldberger , the screenwriter Felix Joachimson and the composer Hans May . Hermann Kosterlitz achieved clever combinations of German comedy with American screwball comedy with the universal films Peter (1934), Kleine Mutti (1935) and Katharina, die last (1936) .

Some non-Jewish filmmakers also fled to Austria because they had to struggle with performance bans or censorship in Germany. Only a few therefore dared to film topics that were critical of society or the regime. Werner Hochbaum and Erich Engel , who came to Austria between 1933 and 1935, were among these few . With their films, some of them provided clear statements against false political authority and militarism, which is why these were mostly not shown in Germany and some were also censored in Austria.

In 1935, the Styria film “Vorstadtvarieté” was the most important of the four contributions to Viennese film by the northern German director Werner Hochbaum, who was unpopular in the German Reich . Luise Ullrich , Mathias Wieman , Oskar Sima and Hans Moser played Prussian or Austrian characters, whose outlook on life clashed in a love drama shortly before the First World War . The film, based on the play “Der Gemeine” by Felix Salten , was partially censored because of its blunt reference to reality and its anti-militarism.

Also in 1935, Erich Engel directed “ … only a comedian ” with Rudolf Forster in a double role and Christl Mardayn , Hilde von Stolz and Paul Wegener in other roles. Despite its anti-authoritarian action, the anti-fascism film escaped both Austrian and German censorship, presumably due to the fact that the film was set in the Rococo period . In the film, for example, there is a sequence in which the Minister of State requests the captain to shoot the 70 dissatisfied and rebellious subjects. In this scene depicting the conflict between dictatorship and humanity, the following dialogue takes place after the Minister of State asked the captain to shoot into the crowd:

Captain: I can't!
Minister of State: What do you mean? Captain, you heard my order!
Captain: I'm not a murderer, I'm an officer!
Minister of State: You were an officer!

Anticipated "connection" of Austrian film

With the handover of power to the National Socialists in Germany in 1933, the situation worsened for the Austrian film industry, which is dependent on the neighboring country for sound films. Until 1936, Austrian film producers had to gradually give in to the ever more extensive demands from Germany in order not to lose access to this country's market. Since the Austrian film producers and distributors were almost entirely or partially owned by Jews, and many of the greats in Austrian film were Jews, an almost insoluble situation arose. Many productions could no longer be performed in Germany, which led to increased advertising for other markets, but also to the production of productions without Jewish filmmakers, or directors and scriptwriters to work under pseudonyms or anonymous.

Since many German filmmakers had emigrated to Austria in 1933, thereby circumventing Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels ' prohibition on the participation of Jews in the German film industry, Germany was constantly looking for methods to disrupt the Austrian film industry. The bilateral film trade quota - which is less favorable for Austria - had to be renegotiated every year. And since taking over the Sascha film through the holding of Nazi Cautio fiduciary located Tobis had in 1934. Germany, another pressure medium to impede the free movement of filmmaking in Austria in his hand.

Since the continued filmmaking of emigrated Germans in Austria made the decisions of the Reichsfilmkammer ineffective, in 1934 they reacted with the threat of an import ban for Austrian productions if Jews were to continue to participate in them. This threat was averted by concessions from Oskar Pilzer , in the role of President of the Vienna Film Producers Association. In 1936, the National Socialists were still able to get their way with the pressure of an import ban on Austrian films. In Berlin, on April 20, an agreement was reached between the Reich Chamber of Film Culture and the Federation of Austrian Film Industries. The writer Joseph Roth , who emigrated to Paris, described this in the New Paris Diary as nothing more than the "perfect 'connection' of Austrian film production to German". He quoted from the agreement: “Austrian actors can play unhindered in Germany - but they must be of Aryan origin […] Finally, the Austrian film producers undertake not to support any productions whose content and ensemble could appear tendentious or somehow hurtful in Germany. “ Protests by other filmmakers, for example from Richard Oswald , who feared such a development as early as 1934, or from Max Neufeld , who ultimately had to apply unsuccessfully for a special permit to continue working in Austria, did not help.

This agreement carried out the new version of the German Reichslichtspielgesetz for Austria, which was tightened in 1934. From now on, Jewish employees were also banned in the Austrian film industry. Although the Austrian film industry had bowed to the German demands, the National Socialists issued in the same year that proceeds generated in Germany could no longer be returned to Austria. As a result, Austrian film companies had money in Germany, but were close to bankruptcy in Austria. This resulted in a standstill in Austrian film production. Oskar Pilzer had to sell the Tobis Sascha film industry in 1937. As the only prospective buyer who found Creditanstalt , which never paid the takeover sum and the company owned by the Nazi Cautio fiduciary located AG Tobis resold. The Tobis-Sascha was dissolved and 1938 Wien-Film GmbH refounded.

Now, not only Jewish filmmakers who had not yet left Austria in 1937 demanded an independent Austrian film, but also Austrian national circles. The late recognition, however, found less and less attention in the politically influential bodies. German propaganda productions, " which portray the Third Reich as paradise ", were spreading more and more in Austria without Austria being able to counter this. On the contrary, Austrian productions were increasingly shaped by the same ideological style.

Emigration in the 1930s

The second big wave of emigration by Austrian filmmakers began with the onset of Austrofascism and reached its peak between 1936 and 1938, when the National Socialists also seized power in Austria. Apart from these large waves of emigration, Austria, which has been small since 1918, has always recorded brisk international fluctuation among filmmakers, but never again to such a large extent within a short period of time as in the mid-1930s.

Until 1933, Berlin was still the preferred destination for Austrian emigrants. From around 1920 this was the “film capital of Europe” - the counterpart to the incomparably fast growing film industry in Hollywood . The influx did not come to an end until the National Socialists came to power in Germany in 1933. Jewish believers, critical filmmakers and foreign-language filmmakers were now undesirable, and emigration began in Germany too. Austria was initially one of the goals.

But by 1936 at the latest, when free filmmaking was no longer possible in Austria either, all filmmakers who were not wanted by the National Socialists emigrated to other countries if they were financially able to do so. Some went to France and England , but the majority emigrated to Hollywood in the United States. Efforts have been made there since the late 1920s to poach talent from German-language film. These included, for example, the directors Otto Preminger , Reginald Le Borg , William Thiele , Edgar G. Ulmer and the Kohner family, consisting of Paul , Friedrich and Walter .

From the film producers Joe Pasternak , Arnold Pressburger and Sam Spiegel went to Hollywood in those years . Likewise the actors Paul Henreid , Helmut Dantine , Francis Lederer , Leon Askin , Peter Lorre , Oskar Homolka , Hedy Lamarr , Carl Esmond , Alexander Granach and Walter Slezak . But also screenwriters were among those who emigrated to Hollywood: Salka Viertel , Vicki Baum , Walter Reisch , George Froeschel , Jan Lustig and Billy Wilder , who soon advanced to become a director and achieved world fame with his films. As film composers , Max Steiner ( King Kong and the white woman 1933, Gone with the Wind 1939, Casablanca 1943), Erich Korngold Walter Jurmann and Frederick Loewe ( My Fair Lady , 1964) found their happiness in California - as did the film architect Harry Horner and der Cameraman Karl Freund . A total of around 400 Austrian filmmakers emigrated as a result of the “ Anschluss ” in 1938.

Some of them were able to achieve great success there in the following years. For example Otto Preminger, who established himself as a producer and director in the 1940s and 1950s, and produced the US film Angel Face in 1952 and starred in Billy Wilder's important US post-war film Stalag 17 as a German camp commandant in 1953 . He also discovered the film talent Paul Henreid in the early 1930s. Also fled to the United States, he became a successful actor - he played one of the leading roles in the cult film Casablanca  - and director.

Director Leopold Lindtberg, on the other hand, first moved to Berlin and in 1933 to Switzerland, where he had a major impact on early Swiss film history and also campaigned for human rights in some of his films. Only those filmmakers of non-Jewish descent mostly stayed behind in Austria or Germany. These then came to terms with the National Socialist film industry.

During National Socialism, 1938 to 1945

See also: National Socialist Film Policy

After the connection of Austria to Germany , the film industry suffered due to massive curtailment of freedom of expression and the introduction of a strict censorship another setback. The expulsion and killing of Jewish, foreign and regime-critical citizens began, and only supporters or willingness to adapt remained.

Filmmaking in Austria at the time of National Socialism was characterized by the production of so-called cultural and homeland films. These reported from nature and rural life. Sixty such films were made between 1939 and 1944, when the last such production was made. This contrasted with the production of around 50 feature films. These were seemingly ordinary comedies or period films from old Vienna and its musical world. However, these conveyed, partly subliminally, partly obviously, National Socialist ideas with them. These films not only strengthened anti-Semitic prejudices, but also mocked democracy, other peoples, and often also the Habsburg monarchy , for which there were numerous occasions in the many films that played in the last years of the Danube monarchy.

Only a few classic propaganda films were produced in Vienna, as the Berlin motto for the film production was Strength through Joy . In addition to Wien-Film, there were only a few, small production companies, all of which, however, were closely linked by contract with Wien-Film. Free, independent filmmaking no longer existed. The import ban on foreign films also meant that the entire film system in the German Reich, as efficient and clearly structured as it was, was highly profitable.

First consequences of the "connection"

A referendum was held on April 10 to approve the annexation of Austria to Germany that had already been completed . In the run-up, an all-encompassing advertising campaign was carried out, for which purpose film stars like Paul Hörbiger were called in, who advertised a “yes” out of “personal conviction”. Film magazines such as the popular “Mein Film” magazine justified the affiliation on the grounds that Austrian films were German, and have always been German.

The first prisoner transport to Dachau also included the fighter for the valuable film, Dr. Viktor Matejka . The cultural historian, critic and actor Egon Friedell , however, committed in 1938 on 16 March suicide .

On October 30, 1939, the ordinance on safety films was issued, as the films until then still consisted of the easily inflammable nitrate film material . From April 1, 1940, film copies could only be made on security film. Due to the war, however, this could not be implemented, which is why the productions of Wien-Film were only preserved on the easily decomposable nitrate film, and it was only up to the year 2000 that the Filmarchiv Austria could largely copy them onto security film.

At the beginning of 1942, extensive internal restructuring was carried out in the UFA. The central distribution of the films was in Berlin, and the other areas, such as the cinemas, were completely concentrated on Berlin economically and organizationally. The shortage of personnel and materials also required extreme economy, which the public was not allowed to find out about. Films could not be longer than 2500 meters and cost no more than one million Reichsmarks. The previously enormously high fees for filmmakers have also been reduced.

The actor Curd Jürgens reported on the political situation and emigration in an interview in 1970 about his engagement with director Willi Forst for “Wiener Mädeln” : “He (Willi Forst) said in 1941: 'Curd, just don't make a film in the to show a political situation. You will have to give an answer one day. ' There were many more or less mature or young people who continuously toyed with the idea of ​​emigrating. It wasn't that easy. You know, crossing the Swiss border on foot is also a thing that you have to do with a good dose of courage. And besides, it was good that we were allowed to live, of course - if you want - propaganda, but it was a very good form of survival and I believe that these small cells that stayed in Austria and Germany, even if they weren't I don't know how things would have been in post-war Germany. Because you know that emigration is a terrible thing. "

In February 1943, filmmakers received a warning not to spread false reports about the state of the war. Prison and death sentences were threatened. A month later, an ordinance was passed that only pay minimum salaries.

Function of Vienna Film

As a result of the productions of Tobis-Sascha-Film, which is now appearing as Vienna-Film , Vienna became the main production site for propaganda films alongside Berlin and Munich . The Berlin Reichsfilmkammer , which supervised the Austrian film industry, set up its branch in the Siebensterngasse in Neubau . On June 18, the German Reich Chamber of Culture legislation came into effect in Austria.

The production of films, directed by the Reich Ministry of Propaganda, was essentially limited to the production of comedies and homeland films with “Ostmark” reference, because the motto for film production from Berlin for the film production was “Strength through Joy”. The look back into the operetta world offered a welcome opportunity for the directors not to have to make clumsy propaganda films, which, however, did not rule out anti-Semitism and other political messages in the films. The entertaining productions were also suitable for export.

A Vienna film specialty to escape from the present was also the processing of the fates of Viennese musicians and poets. As a continuation of the Viennese film of the 1930s, Willi Forst and colleagues staged comedies and music films from 300 years of Viennese cultural history.

Feature films

Even before the restructuring of the Austrian film industry was completed, the recognized director EW Emo was allowed to produce two films in his own production. The Emo film brought the fall of 1938, the two comedies "The Optimist" with Victor de Kowa and " Thirteen Chairs " with the comic duo Heinz Rühmann and Hans Moser out. E. W. Emo directed the first Vienna film production, which appeared in March 1939: “Immortal Waltz” was created in the Rosenhügel studios and acted in the best Viennese music film tradition by Johann Strauss .

The production “Hotel Sacher” directed by Erich Engel, filmed by “Mondial Film” in the Rosenhügel studios in 1938/1939 and directed by Erich Engel , was released before the first Vienna film was shown . The content was a love story and an espionage affair in 1913 and 1914. Hedwig Bleibtreu played “Frau Sacher”, and through an uncle, the only 16-year-old Oskar Werner got a small speaking role as an extra. As rare guests in Vienna, Sybille Schmitz and Willy Birgel also played in this by no means apolitical film - after all, it does "coming to terms with the past" with a National Socialist accent.

In 1939 Marte Harell from Vienna also got into film through her husband, the Vienna Film Director, Karl Hartl . She begins her career with a leading role - in the film adaptation of the Opera Ball from 1939. The actress , who always speaks the Viennese dialect , delivers her star role in the 1944 Viennese love film " Schrammeln " . Gustav Ucicky's first film at Wien-Film was called “ Mutterliebe ” and appeared in cinemas in 1939. The main actress was Käthe Dorsch , who was to create a monument to the ideal of the “German mother”.

In 1940 Ernst Marischka wrote the screenplay for "Viennese Stories" . The film was directed by Géza von Bolváry . The lyrics to the two well-known songs from this film, “Yes, that's just Viennese stories” and “The Viennese need his regular pub” were written by Ernst Marischka. In the former there is also a stanza that shows a rare and hidden criticism of the National Socialists: “The Munich resident drinks a liter of beer when he has Zurn, the Berliner screams loudly, you can almost hear it from here! The Viennese go to his café in a bad mood, and when you first get brown you laugh. "

In 1941, a circular was issued to filmmakers at Wien-Film regarding representations in films:

Was prohibited: people who smoke Caricature of a teacher Habsburgs kuk uniforms childless marriages Berlin from the negative side People speaking Berlin dialect Film in film illegitimate children Disasters

What was undesirable: Accumulation of coincidences Espionage by members of the armed forces Names like Lehmann, Schulze, Müller, Meier, Krause, Anna, Emma, ​​Berta, Marlies, August, Emil, Gustav What was desired, however: positive portrayal of a teacher large families good-sounding, beautiful names

Only occasionally succeeded in creating further masterpieces, such as Willi Forst , whose “ Wiener Blut ” from 1942 struck astonishingly anti-German tones that could not only be read retrospectively as a commentary on the political situation. It was one of only four films he made for Wien-Film, and it was also the most successful, and it was also widely visited abroad. Among the four productions there was also a color film with “ Wiener Mädeln ” , produced between 1944 and 1949 . “ Operetta ” from 1940 with the actors Maria Holst , Leo Slezak , Paul Hörbiger , Edmund Schellhammer , Viktor Heim , Curd Jürgens and Willi Forst himself was also very successful and met the audience's taste . Paul Hörbiger played Alexander Girardi after being in "Immortal waltz" already Johann Strauss father had played. In “Brüderlein fein” (1942) and “Der liebe Augustin” (1941) he portrayed Franz Grillparzer .

The most important cameraman of those years was responsible for the camera at “Operetta” : Hans Schneeberger . He became known through mountain and sports films, which he made together with his teacher Arnold Fanck . In studio recordings, his achievement was to make the best possible use of the lighting effects. When shooting outdoors, he became one of the most important representatives of the Impressionist camera style in German-language film.

In 1942, Vienna Film Production Manager Karl Hartl also made his only film for Vienna Film: “Who the Gods Love” - a film adaptation of Mozart's life. Accordingly, the premiere took place on December 5, 1942 in the Salzburg Festival Hall. The busiest screenwriter at Wien-Film was Gerhard Menzel . He wrote the scripts for "Frau im Strom" (1939), " Mutterliebe " (1939), "Ein Leben lang" (1940), " Der Postmeister " (1940), Schicksal (1942), " Späte Liebe " (1943) , “A look back” (1944), “The heart must be silent” (1944), “Friends” (1945) and “ At the end of the world ” (1947). With the thematization of willingness to make sacrifices, blind obedience and loyalty in various milieus, these films all showed a strong party-political orientation. Menzel invented the most unlikely situations and coincidences simply to show "exemplary" people in the sense of the National Socialists. With the exception of “Der Postmeister” , these films with their often unrealistic storylines could only convince through the performance of their actors Heinrich George , Hilde Krahl , Hans Holt , Siegfried Breuer , Käthe Dorsch , Paula Wessely , Attila Hörbiger , Ferdinand Marian and Rudolf Forster .

In 1942, Ferdinand Raimund's work was also used in film in “Brüderlein fein” . The film portrayed theater life in Vienna during the Biedermeier period. Marte Harell and Hermann Thimig played the leading roles. The director was his brother Hans Thimig .

The film "The Postmaster" , based on a novella by the Russian writer Alexander Sergejewitsch Pushkin , was also an extraordinary production because the Soviet Union was suddenly presented positively and Russians were for once not presented as "hated Bolsheviks " but as ordinary people. This special case was just as politically motivated as all the other productions of the National Socialists. Because in 1940 the German-Soviet non-aggression pact still existed . When the German Reich nevertheless embarked on the Russian campaign , the screening of the film was immediately banned.

Hans Moser, the most popular comedian of the time, was featured in numerous films. For " Anton The Last " (1939) was moved to the shooting because of him even to Salzburg, as Moser there because of rehearsals for the Salzburg Festival was staying. His Jewish wife Blanka also survived National Socialism and was deported to Budapest , where she was allowed to visit Hans Moser occasionally. In “Seven Years of Bad luck” (1940) by Styria-Film , directed by Ernst Marischka , Hans Moser sang the famous song “I must have been phylloxera in my previous life”. The film was so successful that in 1942 a sequel, "Seven Years of Happiness" , was made. The best Moser film of these years, however, was “My daughter lives in Vienna” , directed by EW Emo, who came up with a comic scene like the Commedia dell'arte . He played here for the first time together with the also very popular Paul Hörbiger.

Culture and homeland films

In Austria, too, there were some cultural film cinemas which, apart from newsreels, only showed cultural films . Some of these were also colored and showed recordings under names such as “Evening at the Lake” or “Blossoms and Fruits” - two films by Otto Trippel , who was commissioned by Wien-Film. Other contractual partners of Wien-Film were Herbert Dreyer , Adi Mayer , and Max Zehenthofer for Kulturfilmen . Ernst Holub , Ulrich Kayser , Constantin von Landau , Peter Steigerwald and Karl von Ziegelmayer were active as authors and game leaders .

The film was shot in the entire "Ostmark" as well as in the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube Delta in cooperation with the Romanian Propaganda Ministry . In 1942, for example, “Encounter with Pelicans” was created together with the Romanian film company ONC . “Karpatenmelodie” (1943) and “Dragus, a Romanian Carpathian village” (1943) were also created in Romania . Cooperations were also planned with Bulgaria and Greece.

In 1939 and 1940, the later head of the film department in the Propaganda Ministry, Dr. Fritz Hippler , the two documentaries " Campaign in Poland " and " The Eternal Jew " .

In 1944 he made films about Heimat (Heimat am Steilhang) , “A day in the Wachau” and “Peter Rosegger's Waldheimat” . "Hof ohne Mann" (1942), "Der Landtierarzt" (1943) and "The Last Dugout Tree" (1944) told stories from rural life . Mountain films were, for example, “Der Bergbach” (1943), “Bergnot” (1943) and “Salt of the Mountains” (1944). Psychology was also part of the cultural film theme. In 1943, “The big world of children's eyes” was created in this regard .

At least in Vienna, most of the cultural film cinemas were sold out every day from morning to night, which was not the rule for feature films. There was a special section on cultural film at the Reichsfilmintendanz . In 1944, the last cultural films were completed at Wien-Film. Since 1939 there had been around 60.

Propaganda films

The last years of the Danube Monarchy were generally a popular period when the films were set during the Nazi era. Here, the "inability of the monarchy" was mocked in every respect - be it inept officialdom or the "doomed" multinationalism.

The only four massive propaganda films, the Wien-Film, played at this time. 1939 appeared with " linen from Ireland ," a film that strong similarities to the rotated in Berlin propaganda film " Jud Suess " was obtained. Only the time - the film took place in 1909 - and the milieu were different. Directed by Heinz Helbig . The original script for a comedy by Stefan von Kamare was rewritten by Harald Bratt into an anti-Semitic propaganda script. The film was premiered in Berlin with the title “politically and artistically valuable”. The production cost 744,000 Reichsmarks , which were brought in twice within two years.

In 1941, Hans Moser played a customs officer in “Liebe ist Zollfrei” (Love is Customs Free), who managed it all by himself and unintentionally to shake the First Republic . The “non-functioning” First Republic and its “helpless chancellor”, played by Oskar Sima , should be dealt with with mockery and scorn . In addition, people made fun of the English language , the Swiss German , and democratic systems themselves. However, some film researchers, such as the then Vienna Film Production Manager Karl Hartl retrospectively, do not count this film among the propaganda films, but among the usual comedies of Vienna films during the Nazi era.

Also in 1941, “ Heimkehr ” was filmed in East Prussia with elaborate set-ups and exterior shots, directed by Gustav Ucicky . The film takes place before the attack on Poland by the Wehrmacht . It shows the fate of a German minority that is oppressed, abused and almost exterminated by the bestially portrayed Poles. However, thanks to Hitler's intervention, their survival can be ensured. The attack on Poland, which started the Second World War, is presented in this film as a relief operation and justified as a struggle for fate. The main roles played well-known actors with strong characters such as Paula Wessely , Attila Hörbiger , Peter Petersen , Carl Raddatz , Ruth Hellberg , Elsa Wagner , Otto Wernicke , Gerhild Weber and Eduard Köck . In keeping with official politics, the audience should be given the impression that the destruction of “sub-humanity” in the East would be a downright moral duty to the world. For this reason, the film was released in theaters after the German troops attacked the Soviet Union. The film cost 3.7 million Reichsmarks and was thus the most expensive production of the Wien-Film. However, at 4.9 million he made a significant surplus.

The last known propaganda film from Wien-Film was called "Wien 1910" and was made in 1943. It was about the popular and anti-Semitic former mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger , whom Hitler had already described with admiring words in his book " Mein Kampf ". Lueger was played by Rudolf Forster , who had specially returned from the USA. The film presented a distorted perspective on what was then Vienna. Judaism and social democracy were united in the role of Victor Adler - portrayed by Herbert Huebner - who feared and fought against the mayor because of his anti-Semitic acts. On the other hand, the German Nationals were under the leadership of Georg Ritter von Schönerer - portrayed by Heinrich George - who was also longingly awaiting the death of the seriously ill Lueger, because he wanted to preserve the Habsburg Empire and could not be enthusiastic about a Greater German Empire . For the year 1943, however, the film was drawn too popular for the decision-makers in Berlin and too pale for Schönerer. Therefore, the film, which had cost almost 2.5 million Reichsmarks, was banned for the "Ostmark".

Filmmaking towards the end of the war

Towards the end of the war, after the declaration of “ total war ”, the paternalism of the population by the film intensified. The films were more than ever adapted to current needs. In 1944, for example, the film “ Das Herz muss Schweigen ” ( The Heart Must Be Silent ) was released on X-ray research, which emphasized the services and importance of doctors.

On October 5, 1943, “ The White Dream ” was premiered in the Vienna film theater “Scala” . This was one of the first "Eisrevue" films and at the same time one of the most famous productions of the Vienna Film. By the end of 1944, the film about the main actors and award-winning ice skaters Karl Schäfer and Olly Holzmann had around 25 million visitors. Other Hans Moser films were also released in 1943 with “Travel Acquaintance” , “Holiday Child” and the Styria film “Adventure in the Grand Hotel” . EW Emo had been working in the Barrandow studios in Prague since 1943 on “Friends” - a film whose production was dragging on due to ongoing censorship measures. The film was therefore only released in cinemas in Vienna after the end of the war, in August 1945.

In March 1944, the story of the musical Viennese brothers Johann and Josef Schrammel was filmed based on a script by Ernst Marischka and Hans Gustl Kernmayr . Directed by Géza von Bolvary, the " Schrammeln " were played by Paul Hörbiger and Hans Holt. Hans Moser played the guitarist Anton Strohmayer and the clarinetist Georg Dänzer played Fritz Imhoff. In this film, rare, hidden, swipes were once again incorporated. For example, when the “Fiakermilli” asked Josef Schrammel: “Why are they so brown, I mean so burned, your garden is really shady?”

In 1944 Wien-Film produced one of the few films set in a peasant setting: “Ulli and Marei” . The film was set in Tyrol, which is why some ensemble members from the well-known Innsbruck Exl stage took part: Ludwig and Leonhard Auer , Mimi Gstötter-Auer and Anna Exl . The last director of this stage, Ilse Exl , also took on the main female role of "Marei". Attila Hörbiger played “Ulli”. Directed by Leopold Hainisch , who also starred in the film.

Until 1944, the actors' dialect language was omnipresent in Viennese films. Only then were the German critics noticed, for example about Hans Moser's Viennese language : “This is how you can let Hans Moser speak on the stage in Vienna. But a film should be shown and understood everywhere, in Flensburg as in Königsberg, in Düsseldorf as in Berlin. ” Wien-Film had to react, and so on May 24, 1944, the directors Willi Forst, Gustav Ucicky, Hans Thimig , Leopold Hainisch and Géza von Cziffra the following circular: “I am advised by our superior authorities to take special care that the Viennese dialect or the dialect of the Danube and Alpenreichsgaue are coordinated in our films so that our films match the German Audiences of all tribes remain understandable. "

At the end of 1944, the director Hans Thimig was asked to shoot a tendentious film in Berlin. Karl Hartl advised Thimig, however, to "just run away", which he then did. He withdrew to the Wildalpen and was covered by Karl Hartl, who reported him sick.

In 1944 Géza von Cziffra directed the comedy " Hundstage " with the couple Olly Holzmann and Wolf Albach-Retty . In August 1944, the new Reich Film Director Hans Hinkel , who had been new since March of that year, reported to Joseph Goebbels that he wanted to free 5,300 of the 10,200 members of the feature film production for the armed forces and armaments. For example, sewing rooms were set up in the up-and-coming studio at the farmers' market. Film production was severely affected. Vienna film director Franz Hirt tried to defend himself against these measures, but was unsuccessful. As of January 31, 1945, 414 of the 1,453 employees of Wien-Film had either enlisted or were drafted into the Volkssturm .

In February 1945 Paul Hörbiger was interrogated by the Gestapo for alleged connections to a resistance group in Vienna , and the payment of his salary (6000 Reichsmarks per month) was suspended. However, Wien-Film did not dare to actually resist. There were swipes at the Nazi regime in several film productions and tentative attempts to defy the orders from Berlin.

In the last weeks of the war, many filmmakers moved from the “Danube meadows” to the “Alpengaue”. So does Dr. Prohaska, the personnel officer of the Wien-Film, who shortly before the invasion of the Red Army received the order to blow up the facilities of the Wien-Film on the Rosenhügel. However, Karl Hartl and his followers were able to prevent this (see Austrian film history # TV film on the subject ).

literature

German-language literature

• Helmut G. Asper: "Something better than death--": Filmexile in Hollywood; Portraits, films, documents. Schüren, Marburg 2002, ISBN 3-89472-362-9 .
• Walter Fritz : The Viennese Film in the Third Reich. Austrian Film Archive, Vienna 1988.
• Walter Fritz: in the film in 1938, before / after. Austrian Film Archive, Vienna 1989.
• Walter Fritz: Cinema in Austria 1929–1945. The sound film. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1991.
• Isabella Palfy: Cinema and film in the First Austrian Republic - the film journalism of the sound film era from 1929 to 1938. Dissertation. Vienna 1993.

Foreign language literature

• Doris Angst-Nowik, Jane Sloan, Cornelius Schnauber : One-way ticket to Hollywood: film artists of Austrian and German origin in Los Angeles (emigration 1884–1945): an exhibition. The Library, Los Angeles, Calif. 1986. (English)
• Robert von Dassanowsky : Austrian cinema - a history. McFarland, Jefferson (North Carolina) and London 2005, ISBN 0-7864-2078-2 . (English)
• Gernot Heiss, Ivan Klimes: Obrazy casu: ceský a rakouský film 30 (Pictures of the time: Czech and Austrian film of the 1930s). Národní filmový archive, Prague 2003, ISBN 80-7004-107-2 . (Czech)
• Richard Traubner: "Operetta": The German and Austrian musical film . Dissertation. New York University, 1996. (English)

See also

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

Individual evidence

1. ^ Armin Loacker: Connection in 3/4 Time - Film Production and Film Policy in Austria 1930–1938. Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, Trier 1999, ISBN 3-88476-312-1 , p. 12 f.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Loacker, p. 3 f.
3. ↑ Loacker, pp. 6-9.
4. ^ The Austrian filmmaker. 1937, No. 1, p. 3.
5. ↑ The good movie. 1936, fl. 195, p. 4.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Armin Loacker: The forgotten names of the cinema. In: Joachim Riedl: Vienna, City of Jews. Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-552-05315-8 , p. 226.
7. ^ Joseph Roth: Connection in the film. In: New Daily Book. Paris, March 23, 1935.
8. ↑ Monika Kaczek: A tiny piece of homecoming. In: Eleonore Lappin (Ed.): Jews and film - Juden und Film. Mandelbaum Verlag, Vienna 2004, p. 58.
9. ↑ My film . No. 639, March 25, 1938, p. 6.
10. ^ Walter Fritz: In the cinema I experience the world - 100 years of cinema and film in Austria. Vienna 1996, p. 185.
11. ↑ Georg Herzberg on Hans Mosers in "Love is duty-free" in "Filmkurier" No. 3, January 7, 1941, p. 2.