Reginald Puhl

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Reginald Puhl (born July 5, 1931 in Hamburg , Germany ; † May 2017 ) was a German film producer , film director and screenwriter .

Live and act

Film work

Puhl was said to have already performed as a concert pianist at the age of four before turning to film as a young adult and starting his career as a producer at the age of 21. With his small production company, Reginald Puhl-Filmproduktion, based in Hamburg's Isestraße , he began to make short documentaries about his hometown. These strips, between 300 and 350 meters long, with titles such as Zwischenstation Hamburg and Die Alster, Perle der Großstadt , were also staged by Reginald Puhl. Puhl's clients in this early period were companies such as HEW, Otto Versand and Hamburger Hochbahn. He had previously learned the craft of directing from the feature film veteran Géza von Cziffra, who was then working in the Hamburg Real Studios in Hamburg-Tonndorf .

Puhl remained loyal to documentary film for the rest of the decade and only made tentative attempts to get into feature film in the 1960s. When the genre of the sex film established itself in the course of the Oswalt Kolle films in the late 1960s , Puhl had already made a (little-noticed) attempt in this direction years earlier with his first full-length documentary What Men Don't Know . As it is said in “The German Films 1963/64”, the pseudo-documentary film, which comes up with a few bare facts and staged again by Puhl, allows “a glimpse into the intimate sphere of women”.

In the case of Puhl productions that were not only supposed to show bare skin, but also sexual acts, the film manufacturer had to struggle with censorship requirements several times, as stated in a letter from the deputy chairman of the FSK on August 21, 1968 on the occasion of the presentation of Puhl's first classic “educational film “ You - intermediate signs of sexuality emerge. This Puhl production, which cost 650,000 DM, was scientifically accompanied and commented on by Wolfgang Hochheimer and, thanks to simulated scenes from the brothel and a female masturbation, caused a scandal at its premiere, even if the bourgeois press otherwise liked the film "Objectivity" (according to the FAZ ) and "Honesty" (according to Die Zeit ) attested. The great commercial success of this flick in the wake of the sex film wave temporarily enabled Puhl to produce not only other documentaries but also feature films. But none of these films, some of which were prominently cast and staged by veteran directors such as Alfred Weidenmann and Arthur Maria Rabenalt , was a box-office hit. A few attempts by Puhl to make feature films under his own direction with his favorite actress and partner, the Australian Janie Murray, were barely noticed or followed with much malice. So it was said about Love Affair that the film was a "bland dime-book story" and about Sarah that this was an "indisputable film".

In later years Reginald Puhl struggled with financial problems and retrospectively tried to transform his past as a “sex filmmaker” into sounding money (“ Hurray, we are being enlightened ”). As managing director of both Hamburg and Beverly Hills (California) based production company Nova Entertainment, he had to take the oath of disclosure in 1998 , the press spoke of a mountain of debt of 461,766 DM. A good 10 years later, Puhl set about creating a DVD compilation for his Sex film excursions under the title "Sexy Sixties" are a renewed attempt to profit from long-forgotten box office successes. Shortly before, at the beginning of the new millennium, Puhl and his production company Kalima Productions GmbH & Co. KG had briefly worked on the production (co-financing or co-production) of some Hollywood productions such as The Bourne Identity , Spy, with moderate results Game - The final countdown , The Scorpion King and In the sign of the dragonfly involved. Subsequent projects, such as a film about the life of James Last or a film about the grouse video game, have so far not got beyond the announcement stage.

Reginald Puhl died in May 2017 at the age of 85, his production company was deleted from the commercial register on September 20, 2017.

Animal welfare

Reginald Puhl has repeatedly campaigned for animal welfare between his film activities. In 2006 he produced a television documentary on behalf of NDR under the title Ware Tier , which was nominated for the Grimme Prize in 2007. On January 28, 2008, the Hamburger Abendblatt announced that Puhl would stand for the office of chairman of the Hamburg animal welfare association after the previous chairman Wolfgang Poggendorf had resigned due to irregularities .

Movies

as a feature film producer, unless otherwise stated

  • 1952: Stopover in Hamburg (short documentary film, also director)
  • 1953: The Alster, pearl of the big city (documentary short film, also director)
  • 1954: Invisible Power Electricity (documentary short film, also director)
  • 1955: Behind switch and socket (short documentary film, also director)
  • 1956: Off the beaten track (short documentary film)
  • 1958: Das deutsche Wunder (short documentary film, also director)
  • 1958: Hamburg - Report on a restless city (short documentary film, also director)
  • 1959: The silent companions (short documentary film)
  • 1963: What men don't need to know (documentary, also director)
  • 1967: In the shine of their crowns (documentary, also director)
  • 1968: You - Intermediate Signs of Sexuality (Documentary)
  • 1969: Freedom for Love (documentary)
  • 1969: Elbow games
  • 1969: Under the roofs of St. Pauli
  • 1970: Darling, don't be silly
  • 1970: Sharks on board
  • 1972: The Sexual Desires of Germans (documentary, also director)
  • 1973: That can't be true! (also script and direction)
  • 1974: Love Affair
  • 1976: Hitler - The Path to General / Victory or Dying (documentary, also director)
  • 1986: Sarah (also screenplay and director)
  • 1989: Hurray, we are enlightened! (Compilation film, also screenplay, direction and editing)
  • 2006: Ware Tier (TV documentary)
  • 2009: Sexy Sixties (DVD compilation film)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hamburg film producer Reginald Puhl died on promionline.blogspot on May 24, 2017
  2. ↑ “ His films used to be a scandal! ” ; Puhl on bild.de
  3. ↑ The German Films 1963/64. Jan. 1, 1963-30. June 1964, hrgg. vd Central Organization of the German Film Industry eV, p. 206
  4. ↑ “ From“ Open your pants ”had to be censored ”. Puhl on welt.de
  5. ↑ Der Spiegel from August 19, 1968
  6. ↑ “ Shock Required ”. Puhl in Der Spiegel on August 19, 1968
  7. ^ "Love Affair" in the Lexicon of International Films
  8. ^ "Sarah" in the Lexicon of International Films
  9. ^ The private bankruptcy of Mogul Puhl on mopo.de from July 2, 1998
  10. ^ Report of the Hamburger Abendblatt from November 7, 2012
  11. ↑ Report in picture from September 20, 2011

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Puhl, Reginald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film producer, film director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH May 2017