Wilhelm Székely

Wilhelm Székely , also William Szekely (born May 7, 1897 in Pőkete , Austria-Hungary ; † October 23, 1966 in Rome , Italy ) was a Hungarian-American production manager and film producer .

Life

Szekely began his professional career in Germany during the Weimar Republic with several Berlin film production companies. For the Allianz-Tonfilm GmbH of the producer Arnold Pressburger he worked as an authorized signatory . As production manager, he was responsible for the production of some Allianz productions at the beginning of the 1930s. Among his most significant films of those years are Hans Behrendt's revolutionary drama Danton and Berlin - Alexanderplatz , Piel Jutzi's adaptation of the novel of the same name by Alfred Döblin .

In 1934 the Jew Székely left Germany and produced films in Italy and Austria . In Vienna he founded the short-lived companies Gloria-Film and Intergloria-Film in quick succession. His most successful films of these years were operetta-like material in which the married couple Jan Kiepura and Marta Eggerth also participated. He was also the godfather of Zarah Leander's German-language debut premiere . The Anschluss of Austria in March 1938 ended Székely's Austrian interlude. Wilhelm Székely then fled to Italy.

With the Italian producer Carlo Roncoroni he founded the production company Intercine in Rome in 1938. The Italian racial laws introduced by Benito Mussolini and Roncoroni's death that same year thwarted Székely's production plans. Székely then went to the United States in autumn 1939 via France , where he produced Serenade with Lilian Harvey . There he called himself William Szekely and continued his production activities at the end of 1940 with a production by Reinhold Schünzel .

In 1943, Szekely produced the film Seeds of Freedom , largely composed of scenes from Sergej Eisenstein's armored cruiser Potemkin , which was intended to promote the American-Soviet brotherhood in arms. A frame story filmed in the USA was added to the film. A US citizen since 1946, Szekely returned to Rome, where he continued his production activities. In 1953 he went into retirement.

Filmography

• 1930: Tonight: possibly
• 1930: Danton
• 1931: My cousin from Warsaw
• 1931: You don't need money
• 1931: Berlin - Alexanderplatz
• 1932: rag cavaliers
• 1933: Your Highness, the saleswoman
• 1934: My heart calls for you
• 1935: Casta Diva
• 1935: The Emperor's candlesticks
• 1936: confetti
• 1936: In the Sunshine (Opernring)
• 1937: premiere
• 1937: the magic of bohemia
• 1937: The Restless Girls (Finale)
• 1939: Serenade (Sérénade)
• 1941: The Unfinished (New Wine)
• 1943: Seeds of Freedom
• 1947: The Lady of the Camellias (La signora delle camelie)
• 1847: Your Wonderful Lie (Addio Mimi)
• 1948: La Bohème
• 1948: La leggenda di Faust
• 1950: Shadows over Naples (also Italian version: Amore e sangue )
• 1952: Boccaccio's great love (Decameron Nights)

literature

• Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 497.

Web links

• Wilhelm Székely in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Wilhelm Székely at filmportal.de