Karl Werner (film producer)

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Karl Werner (* approx. 1880?; † after 1922) was a German film producer, founder of Karl Werner Film Berlin / Cologne and director during the silent film era.

Life

Karl Werner was one of the first Cologne entrepreneurs who tried to gain a foothold in the still new field of cinematography. After a successful start as a film distributor, he also got into film production after 1908.

He had previously had positive experiences with organizing boxing matches in town; Since such competitions met with lively interest from the cinema audience since the first sports reports were filmed, he organized a "Great International Wrestling Competition" in Cologne in 1912, which he had recorded and then sold in three parts ("courses") to the cinema owners. In the same year his “Karl Werner GmbH Cologne a.Rh.” also produced their first feature films with “Die Geisternacht” and “Die Dame in Schwarz”.

Between 1908 and 1921 Werner produced a total of 277 sound images , feature films and documentaries. In addition to his production office in Cologne at Waidmarkt 13-15, he ran a Karl Werner film atelier in Berlin-Friedrichshain at Grosse Frankfurter Str. 105.

As directors were Waldemar Hecker , Louis Ralph , Alfred Werner , Willy Zeyn and Rudolf del Zopp worked for him. Production designer Kurt Dürnhöfer and cameraman Georg Paezel worked for him . The actors Josef Coenen , Senta Eichstaedt and Louis Ralph performed several times with him .

In 1912 he produced the film "Two Sisters" for Rex Film GmbH Berlin.

In 1913 he took the film "Christmas Joy and Sorrow", also: "Peace on Earth", which Oskar Messter had produced, in his distribution.

His documentary recordings, shot in Cologne, are significant for the city's history today. B. his film of the "funeral celebrations of Cardinal Fischer in Cologne", who died on July 30, 1912.

Werner's company produced such popular crime series as “From the life of a multimillionaire” (I – VI), also: “From the life of the multimillionaire Lincoln”, with Oskar Fuchs in the title role, “Lepain” (I and II) , played by Louis Ralph, and "Nobody, the female detective" (I - III), played by Senta Eichstaedt.

He also directed twice himself: in 1914 for the film he produced, "Eva's Shirt", and in 1921 for the film "Liebes-Hintertreppen". At that time his company was already called “KWFilm Compagnie Berlin”.

After 1922 there are no more known films of him.

Web links

Individual references, comments

  1. ↑ exact life dates not known so far
  2. ↑ cf. Testimonials from Thorsten Schulz-Walden, Leichlingen City Archives, 2013 , Hans-Günter Borowski: Films flickered in the Apollo as early as 1905, in: Leverkusener Anzeiger from May 23, 2013.
  3. ↑ Already in 1908 the cinema entrepreneur Alfred Duske had made recordings of an "International Wrestling Competition" and marketed them under the title "Wrestlers in the Cinematograph: International Wrestling 1908", in which, according to GECD # 11985, the wrestlers [Simon] Antonitsch and Tom Belling could be seen were; a photo of Antonitsch (Antonić, born February 15, 1881, killed in the First World War) at genickbruch.com
  4. ^ "Gang III", for example, had the title: "The giant Antonitsch-Serbia vs. Tom Belling-Engl.", Cf. Cologne in Film (1900-1914)
  5. ↑ cf. Advertisement from Karl Werner GmbH Cologne a.Rh. for the film "Die Geisternacht" from: Der Kinematograph , Düsseldorf, No. 275
  6. ↑ These were early attempts with the needle tone that tried to connect the cinematograph and gramophone, cf. James zu Hüningen and Herbert Birett: Article Tonbild (1) in the Lexicon of Film Terms
  7. ↑ according to the list at GECD # 76
  8. ↑ cf. Christa Aretz, Irene Schoor: Cologne in the film. Film history (s) of a city. Verlag Emons, Cologne 2004, pp. 34–35 u. 366
  9. ↑ Original title: De To Søstre based on a model by H. v. Fich, shot with Danish actors, cf. GECD # 39300; There is also a Scandinavian folk ballad with the same title, cf. De to søstre in the Norwegian Wikipedia
  10. ↑ cf. filmportal.de
  11. ↑ cf. GECD # 37993  : "Production company: Messter (Film) Projektion, Berlin, distribution company: Werner, Karl, Berlin / Cologne No. 11 "
  12. ↑ cf. Cologne in Film (1900-1914)
personal data
SURNAME Werner, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film producer and director during the silent film era
DATE OF BIRTH around 1880
DATE OF DEATH after 1922