Terra film
The Berlin Terra Film was one of the largest German film production companies of the 1930s.
Companies
The company, initially founded as a GmbH at the end of 1919, was converted into a stock corporation in October 1920. On July 19, 1922, Terra acquired the studios and copying facilities of Eiko-Film GmbH in Berlin-Marienfelde.
For a few years Ullstein AG and IG Farbenindustrie AG were the main shareholders with 47% and 50% of the share capital, respectively. In 1928 the latter bought the Ullstein share and became almost the sole owner with 97%. In 1930 the Swiss Scotoni family - who owned the largest cinema in the country along with the Apollo in Zurich - took over Terra Film for 1.2 million Reichsmarks. Many of the 40 films from the era of Ralph Scotoni (who became a member of the NSDAP in 1933 ) were shaped by National Socialist ideas that were also transferred to Swiss subjects and settings ( Wilhelm Tell 1934, Der Springer von Pontresina 1934, Hermine and the seven upright people 1935 ). However, since the films did not even bring in the production costs, the Scotoni family sold their stake in Terra Film in 1935 and withdrew from the company.
In the course of the nationalization of the film industry, Terra was renamed Terra-Filmkunst GmbH in July 1937 and was now majority owned by the state-owned Cautio Treuhand GmbH . From then on she produced in the Tempelhof studios of Ufa-Filmkunst GmbH . In 1942 it was incorporated into the umbrella company Ufa-Film GmbH (UFI) and only retained formal independence.
From the early 1960s to the 1980s, West Berlin's Terra-Filmkunst GmbH appeared again as a producer and co-producer of more than 100 films.
Movies
The first film that Terra produced was Figaro's Wedding (1920, director: Max Mack ). Films like Christian Wahnschaffe ( Urban Gad , 1920/21), Bigamy ( Jaap Speyer , 1927) and Queen Luise ( Karl Grune , 1927/28) followed.
The Terra experienced its heyday after the switch to sound film and under National Socialism. Between 1933 and 1944 Terra produced 120 feature films, including propaganda films such as Die Reiter von Deutsch-Ostafrika (1934), Hermine and the seven upright ones (1935), Comrades at Sea (1938), Jud Süß (1940) and Fronttheater (1942), but also successful entertainment films such as Circus Renz (1943), Die Feuerzangenbowle (1944) and Große Freiheit No. 7 (1944).
Directors and Producers
Terra Film's in-house directors were Boleslaw Barlog , Géza von Bolváry , Peter Paul Brauer , Erich Engels , Kurt Hoffmann , Helmut Käutner , Wolfgang Liebeneiner , Roger von Norman , Rudolf van der Noss , Heinz Paul , Arthur Maria Rabenalt , Günther Rittau , Heinz Rühmann , Herbert Selpin , Hans Steinhoff and Helmut Weiss .
The producers who had their own “production groups” at Terra Film included Helmut Beck ( Mosel trip with Monika ), Gustaf Gründgens ( Friedemann Bach ), Eduard Kubat ( Dr. Crippen on board , Die goldene Spider ), Otto Lehmann ( Jud Süß , Fronttheater ), Heinz Rühmann ( Der Florentiner Hut , Quax, der Bruchpilot , I entrust you my wife , Quax in Africa , Die Feuerzangenbowle , the unfinished Tell the Truth ), Viktor von Struve ( Opera Ball , Rosen in Tirol , Andreas Schlüter , the bat ), EC Techow ( Rembrandt ), Hans Tost ( Hey, you do not know Korff? , we make music , Grosse Freiheit Nr. 7 ) and Walter Tost ( On behalf of the people , blood brothers , circus Renz ).
literature
- Thomas Kramer, Dominik Siegrist. Terra: A Swiss film company in the Third Reich. With an afterword by Hans-Ulrich Jost. Zurich: Chronos, 1991, ISBN 3-905278-73-1 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.cinegraph.de/etc/ateliers/eiko.html
- ↑ Berliner Börsen-Zeitung, February 14, 1929 evening edition, p. 6.
- ↑ Hervé Dumont. History of Swiss Film. Lausanne 1987. p. 137.
- ↑ Stepping into the "New Era": A Swiss film company in the Third Reich. Basler Zeitung of May 4, 1991
- ↑ http://www.cinegraph.de/etc/ateliers/tempelhof.html