Saturn movie
The Saturn-Film was the first Austrian film production company . It was founded by the photographer Johann Schwarzer in Vienna and existed from 1906 to 1911.
The company's program consisted exclusively of erotic short films that were sold internationally via catalog. A total of 52 films, 26 of which have been preserved, can be clearly assigned to the production of Saturn-Film.
history
In 1906, the trained photographer and chemist Johann Schwarzer opened a photo studio at Fasangasse 49 in Vienna- Landstrasse at the age of 26 . In the autumn of the same year, due to the great demand for erotic film recordings, he decided to make such recordings himself. On November 3, 1906, he advertised his “highly piquant gentlemen's evening films” for the first time with an advertisement in a film magazine. Since up to this year only films made abroad or by foreign producers were shown in Austria, Saturn-Film is considered the first Austrian film production company .
At the end of 1908, Johann Schwarzer moved his studio to Arenbergring 15, where he was able to expand production and subsequently offer his productions 25 percent cheaper, as he announced in an advertisement. He also sent his film selection catalogs abroad and was entitled “Saturn-Atelier pour films piquants” . The “spicy men's evening films” quickly enjoyed international popularity, as is indicated by finds in film archives and collections scattered around the world.
Each of the 20 films offered in the catalog had a detailed description and a photo - this was how Schwarzer had copied it from the large French production companies such as the Pathé Frères . Billing was based on the length of the film. For example, the 110-meter-long strip “A modern marriage” (1906) cost 198 crowns . Other films in the catalog had titles such as “Am Sklavenmarkt” , “Das Sandbad” and “Female Wrestlers” . Later catalogs are not known. It is possible that after the first catalog was circulated, demand was high enough even without another catalog. Newspaper advertisements did the rest. Business ended in 1911 when the police seized the film material. At that time Austria was still very restrictive when it came to bare skin. One year later, the painter Egon Schiele was imprisoned for 24 days for "pornographic depictions" .
program
Saturn-Film exclusively produced erotic films, all of which had a playing length of around 10 minutes each, which was customary at the time. The recordings always show one or more women who are undressed or undressing. The plot ranges from everyday scenes with voyeuristic potential, such as undressing or changing clothes in the bathroom, on the beach or at the doctor, to short stories in which, for example, the sculptures of a sculptor come to life ( The Sculptor's Dream , 1907) or one modern marriage (1907), in which both spouses are not so strict about fidelity. Subjects with exotic titles such as Im Harem (1907) or Faun and Nixen (1907) and the subject of slavery, which is featured in a number of films, are also popular. Conceivably, the titles rarely gave more than the background and setting of the plot, which always consisted of exposing naked women in various activities. In terms of freedom of movement, the films were in the middle of the field compared to productions by other film companies of the time, as the actresses were always seen naked, but never in pornographic acts. The catalog drew attention to this, which described this incident as follows: "At this point we would like to draw your attention to the fact that our films are of a purely artistic tendency and that we painstakingly avoid damaging their beauty through lack of taste" .
The films were black-and-white, yellow or brown with a virus , mute, some with subtitles and in 16 or 35 mm format . The film material was the celluloid film made of nitrocellulose, which was customary at the time , the main properties of which are that it is easily inflammable and decomposable. Nevertheless, the length of some of the productions that have been found have been largely preserved and are kept by the Austrian Film Archive .
Movies
50 films as well as two compilations of several films from them, which were listed by Saturn-Film under their own titles in the catalog, can clearly be assigned to Saturn-Film. The source for this was the in-house catalogs, the directory created during the seizure by the police, newspaper advertisements for Saturn-Film and, in individual cases, the technical and stylistic comparison with the other productions, of which there is therefore no original title, but an archive title determined by the Austrian Film Archive has been.
Since production dates for the films are not known, they are sorted by the source in which they were first mentioned. Those films that were not mentioned in the first catalog from 1907 must therefore have been made between 1908 and 1910. If available and known, foreign-language titles and other information are also given:
Catalog of the Saturn film from 1907, original order:
- bathing forbidden
- The hunter's dream
- The restless model
- The sand bath (preserved length: 29 meters)
- Swing
- Diana in the bath
- Veil dance
- Youth games (compilation of cricket and tire game and jumping cord and amazons )
- Cricket and tire game
- Jump cord and amazons
- Fate of slaves (French: sort d'une esclave , Italian: destino di schiavi )
- Bad case
- The fisherman
- Slave robbery
- At the slave market (preserved length: 50 meters)
- Youth games III
- Faun and mermaids
- Female wrestlers
- The sculptor's dream (original length: 95 meters; preserved length: 79 meters)
- In the harem
- Slavery in the Orient (compilation from slave robbery , slave market and in the harem )
- Slave fate
- An exciting hunt
- In the cloakroom (French: dans la garde-robe , Italian: nella guardaroba )
- A modern marriage (original length: 110 meters; preserved length: 107 meters; German subtitles)
- At the hotel
Publication of the films confiscated in 1911 in the official gazette of the Wiener Zeitung :
- In the bath
- A great prank
- Room for rent
- Exciting read
- The power of hypnosis (preserved length: 131 meters)
- Living marble
- Female advice
- In the studio
- Like the master, like the servant
- The family doctor
- With Madame Juliette
- The art patron
- Pfänderspiele
- The uncle
- Adultery or not
- The living marble pictures
Note in Austrian Comet No. 283:
- Morning toilet of a life lady
- Ladies variety
- Models
- He doesn't understand her
Recordings that have not been mentioned so far and can be assigned to the Saturn film in the Deutsche Kinemathek Foundation :
- The vain maid
- At the photographer's (archive title)
- Two men in bed is one too many (archive title)
- Eroticism of the footwear (archive title)
- Three Funny Girls (archive title)
- A funny story (Elena Dagrada)
- Untitled
literature
- Michael Achenbach, Paolo Caneppele, Ernst Kieninger: Projections of Sehnsucht: Saturn, the erotic beginnings of Austrian cinematography. Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3901932046 .
- Walter Fritz : I experience the world in the cinema: 100 years of cinema and film in Austria. Brandstätter, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3854476612 .
- Walter Fritz: Cinema in Austria 1896–1930. The silent film. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-215-04429-3 .
- Ernst Kieninger: The classic traveling cinema 1896-1914. Thesis. Vienna 1992, p. 306ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Achenbach, Paolo Caneppele, Ernst Kieninger: Projections of Sehnsucht. Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, 2nd edition, Vienna 2000, p. 140 and p. 103ff.
- ↑ Achenbach, Caneppele, Kieninger, p. 78
- ↑ The Comet. No. 1128, November 3, 1906. In: Achenbach, Caneppele, Kieninger, p. 76
- ↑ The Comet. No. 1149, March 30, 1907. In: Achenbach, Caneppele, Kieninger, p. 77
- ↑ a b catalog of the Saturn film, 1907. In: Achenbach, Caneppele, Kieninger, p. 147ff.
- ^ Official Journal for Wiener Zeitung and Central Gazette for Trade and Industry. No. 55, March 8, 1911, p. 299 . In: Achenbach, Caneppele, Kieninger, p. 90
- ↑ a b Achenbach, Caneppele, Kieninger, pp. 139 and 140