Ralph Baum

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Ralph Baum (born October 4, 1908 in Wiesbaden , † October 1, 1987 in Le Chesnay , France ) was a German-born, French film producer , film director and screenwriter .

Live and act

Nothing is currently known about Baum's origins and career. Ralph Baum, who came from a Jewish family, joined the film in 1927 and until 1933 assisted central directors such as Wilhelm Dieterle , Fritz Lang , GW Pabst and Georg Jacoby . In the first years of sound film, he was also employed as a production manager for French versions of German films such as Salto Mortale (1931) and Kiki (1932). The takeover of power by the National Socialists in 1933 forced him and his brother Henri Baum , who was only ten months younger and who had also started his career as an assistant director and later also worked as a film producer, to flee in the same year.

Both brothers settled in Paris, where they continued their film work in initially subordinate roles for German directors: Ralph Baum as assistant director to Max Ophüls (for Eine Diva für alle, Divine and Yoshiwara ), whose French version of Liebelei , Histoire d ' amour , he edited for the French premiere in 1934, and brother Heinz, who from then on called himself Henri Baum, as assistant director and production manager for Robert Siodmak . During the Second World War, the Jewish brothers had to go into hiding during the German occupation (1940–1944) and finally joined the Resistance .

After 1945, the Baum brothers, side by side, initially resumed their work for French film: while Ralph was directing ( Nuits de Paris, Traumschöne Nacht, Paris, Palace Hotel ), Henri took over the production. At the same time, however, Ralph Baum also oversaw the last four productions by Ophüls, which are among the most important French films of the 1950s. But then the brothers separated for good, and each of the two Baums concentrated on film production. In doing so, Ralph Baum focused on mostly highly commercial films in a wide variety of genres and worked, as production manager several times under the patronage of Raymond Danon , with screen greats such as Jean Gabin , Jean-Paul Belmondo , Louis de Funès , Yves Montand , Alain Delon , Simone Signoret , Catherine Deneuve and Romy Schneider together. Ralph Baum ended his production activities in the mid-1980s with one of the first films to deal with AIDS .

Filmography

as a production manager or producer of theatrical films, unless otherwise stated

literature

  • Johann Caspar Glenzdorf: Glenzdorf's international film lexicon. Biographical manual for the entire film industry. Volume 1: A-Heck. Prominent-Filmverlag, Bad Münder 1960, DNB 451560736 , p. 77.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tree, Ralph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-born, French film producer, film director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH 4th October 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH 1st October 1987
Place of death La Chesnay , France