Kurt Hoffmann (film director)

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Kurt Bertrand Paul Hoffmann (born November 12, 1910 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † June 25, 2001 in Munich ) was a German film director of German-language entertainment films as well as a producer and screenwriter .

Life

Hoffmann was the son of the cameraman Carl Hoffmann , who had made the silent films Nibelungen and Faust . He grew up in Berlin, where he graduated from high school. Soon afterwards, through his father's mediation, he became an assistant director for several film productions. After several short films of his own, he directed his first full-length film comedy in 1939 on the initiative of Heinz Rühmann , Paradies der Junggesellen . Rühmann was also the main actor in Hoffmann's most famous film during the Nazi era, Quax, the Bruchpilot (1941).

After being drafted briefly for military service, Hoffmann resumed his work as a director at the end of the war . In the 1950s he had his great cinematic career with varied, colorful entertainment films such as Fireworks , I often think of Piroschka and Das Wirtshaus im Spessart . Liselotte Pulver in particular proved to be an ideal leading actress for him. In 1951 Hoffmann made the feature film Fanfares of Love , which is hardly known today, the plot of which was based on the same story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan , How Some Like It Hot, by Billy Wilder . It is also worth mentioning Hoffmann's collaboration with Erich Kästner , who provided the script for several of his films. The novel of the same name by Hugo Hartung provided the template for his film Wir Wunderkinder (1958) with Johanna von Koczian , Hansjörg Felmy , Robert Graf , Wolfgang Neuss and Wolfgang Müller . This satirical account of German history from 1913 to around 1953 was one of Hoffmann's greatest successes. Hoffmann was also a co-producer of numerous films after 1950.

Hoffmann's fame faded in the 1960s and 1970s. In times of adventure, crime and sex movies , but also the author of films and the New German Cinema 's, the upscale light music seemed committed film comedies as hoax or: How I let my man ... disappear? and at seven in the morning the world is still in order , despite not insignificant successes, now antiquated. Since the medium of television did not appeal to him as a job, he withdrew into private life.

From 1938 Kurt Hoffmann was married to Betti Grimm († 1989), sister of the director Hans Grimm and the photographer Arthur Grimm . From this marriage came a son (* 1940) and a daughter (* 1949). His second wife was Luise Schneider from 1994 until his death.

When asked whether he had no objection to being referred to as an "expert in entertainment films", he replied in an interview:

“I don't mind at all. If you put the little word good in front of it, then I'll be satisfied. "

Kurt Hoffmann died on June 25, 2001 at the age of 90 in Munich. He is buried in Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland .

Filmography (as a director)

Awards

literature

  • Ingo Tornow: Piroschka and child prodigies or the compatibility of idyll and satire. The director Kurt Hoffmann. Filmland-Presse, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-88690-100-9 .
  • Michael Wenk: The master who fell from heaven. Kurt Hoffmann's films. and the cheerful in earnest. The film director Kurt Hoffmann in conversation with Michael Wenk. (Hoffmann's last interview from October 1993). In: Filmwärts , Hannover 1994, pp. 11-16 and pp. 17-19.
  • Susanne Marschall: [Article] Kurt Hoffmann. In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Film directors. Biographies, descriptions of works, filmographies. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2008 [1. Ed. 1999], ISBN 978-3-15-010662-4 , pp. 332-334.
  • Liselotte Pulver : I am indebted to him - Kurt Hoffmann, my discoverer, my sponsor, my director, in: dies .: What passes is not lost. Hamburg 2019. pp. 45–52.

Film documentaries

  • Humor is a serious thing - the film director Kurt Hoffmann . Portrait of Christian Bauer , Germany 1985, 45 minutes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beatrix Novy: Expert in light entertainment. In: Calendar sheet. November 12, 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME Hoffmann, Kurt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoffmann, Kurt Bertrand Paul (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film director
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg in Breisgau
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 2001
Place of death Munich