Theo Nischwitz

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Theo Nischwitz , born in Theodor Nischwitz (born April 27, 1913 in Berlin ; † July 14, 1994 in Grünwald ) was a German special effects artist and cameraman for special shots in film, next to Erwin Lange and Karl Baumgartner the most important representative of his field in German film history.

Live and act

Heinrich Lisson's son came into contact with cinematography for the first time through his father when he was less than three and a half years old when he appeared in the film Chains of Faith .

He started his professional career at the age of 17. In 1930 Nischwitz began an apprenticeship at the Afifa copier factory , and the following year he was taken over by the UFA's technical department . Although he worked almost continuously as an assistant for the entire decade, Nischwitz put together some remarkable and for the time unusually innovative film tricks, especially in such elaborate UFA productions as The Congress tanzt , FP1 does not answer , Gold , Amphitryon and City of Anatol .

During the Second World War he was recalled from the front for two militaristic productions of Karl Ritter , where he had served as a war correspondent. Born in Berlin, he also joined the team that was responsible for the numerous special effects for the UFA anniversary film Münchhausen in 1942 .

In 1948 Nischwitz went to Bavaria in Munich and became head of their trick department the following year. In the next decade and a half he worked for cinema productions, starting in 1963, starting with Michael Pflegehar's entertainment revue Do you love a show? , primarily for television for ten years. During this time, Nischwitz 'most extensive and best-known achievement, the special effects for the first German science fiction series Raumpatrouille was created .

His return to the cinema at the beginning of the 1970s went hand in hand with the cooperation with the director Hans-Jürgen Syberberg . In later years Nischwitz also worked on some international productions that were created in the Bavaria studios. In addition, he also took part in prestigious major projects. In 1979/80 he created the effects for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's much-discussed series Berlin Alexanderplatz , in 1980/81 the war drama Das Boot, which was extremely successful for Wolfgang Petersen, and from 1986 to 1988 the science fiction for Peter Fleischmanns in the Soviet provinces under the most difficult working conditions -Production It is not easy to be a god . Nischwitz was also involved in Otto Waalkes and Loriot's first hit comedies .

In later years Nischwitz also created the special effects for individual television films, for example in 1975 for the adaptation of the scenic cantata Carmina Burana , in 1980 for August Everding's staging of Hansel and Gretel , in 1983 for Ilse Hofmann's Das Gespinst and in 1985 for the stories from the Heimat episode Sun shower with Hardy Krüger . He was also involved in the 1984 television series The Riddle of the Sandbank . In the same year Nischwitz received the gold film tape for many years of excellent work in German film.

Theo Nischwitz was temporarily married to the film editor Gertrud Hinz . His last father-in-law was the film composer Mischa Spoliansky .

Filmography

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Nischwitz, Theo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nischwitz, Theodor (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German special effects artist, cameraman and pyrotechnician
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1994
Place of death Grünwald