News cinema

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As actuality cinema (AKI), in the GDR Zeitkino , also actuality light games (ALI), station light games (BALI) or, in Austria, weekly news cinema or non-stop cinema , cinemas were referred to, which were mostly in or near train stations or other highly frequented locations and showed in constant repetition a 50-minute compilation of contributions from various newsreels , one or two cultural films and a cartoon or slapstick film . This type of cinema existed from 1929 to 1999.

history

First foundations

First German weekly cinema in Berlin in 1931
Cinébref in Basel 1938

On November 2, 1929, the Embassy on Broadway in New York opened as the world's first contemporary cinema . First newsreel cinema in Germany opened in September 1931 in Berlin , the newsreel . The first contemporary cinema in Switzerland is the Cinébref (= short film) in Basel , which opened on November 4, 1937 and was converted into a feature film cinema in 1939 under the name Rex . In Bern there was the Grand Cinéma (later the Colosseum ) as early as 1915 , which called itself a cinema of topicalities, but was limited to pure war reporting. Motion picture theaters with a pure weekly program were successful in numerous countries in the period that followed. The public's need to receive news not only in printed form in newspapers or acoustically through the radio, but also visually in the form of moving images was satisfied. Newsreels were already known as the opening act for feature films.

Second World War

In Germany, during the Second World War, numerous pure weekly cinemas were established, showing productions by Ufa-Tonwoche , Deulig-Tonwoche , Die Deutsche Wochenschau , Bavaria-Wochenschau and Fox Tönende Wochenschau . After the end of the war, the programs of the weekly cinemas were enriched with documentaries beyond the pure news ; this also applied to the opening programs for feature films. The British and Americans initiated this as part of their re- education program . Only tested US and British documentary films and the British / US American newsreel Welt im Film were shown . The number of moviegoers, especially in the train station cinemas, was recorded precisely in order to know how many people were reached by the medium of re- education film . In one month in 1946, the Munich news cinema drew 76,000 viewers. At the beginning of August 1948, the compulsory showing of documentaries from US and British production, which were also used in 16 mm cine film format in school and extracurricular educational work, was lifted. At the same time, the Allies began to make funds available for film production in Stuttgart , Munich , Hamburg and Berlin . This development strongly favored the spread of contemporary cinemas that followed.

Boom

The public interest in films with news and news, serious and cheerful topics, sport, gossip and gossip , which remained unbroken even after the war, resulted in the founding of the AKI – Aktuell-Kino Aktiengesellschaft as the parent company and the AKI Aktuell -Kino -Betriebs- in June 1950 in Frankfurt am Main. GmbH & Co as the operating company that opened its first news cinema on April 25, 1951 in Frankfurt Central Station with the aim of reducing the waiting time for rail passengers to get to their train connection. Under the slogan Around the World in 50 Minutes, a 50-minute program was shown which was initially put together individually by the respective cinema director. Soon one case followed a fixed scheme: ". Aki will first display the latest from around the world with Ufa newsreel, look at the world, New German newsreel and Fox Tönende newsreel" The typical program began with the words Find Reviews of Fox sounding Newsreel followed a short commercial and a look into the world . A short cultural film was then shown, further news from the Neue Deutsche Wochenschau and a second cultural film. According to Welt im Bild, the program ended with a cartoon or slapstick film and started all over again after a few seconds' break.

This program ran from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and visitors could enter the cinema at any time and watch as long as they wanted. The entry price in 1953 was 50 pfennigs for all seats. The seats were arranged through intermediate aisles so that incoming and outgoing visitors did not disturb the remaining ones. To the right and left of the film screen, the visible part of which was adapted to the respective film format by means of black motorized curtains, there was an illuminated clock and an additional small screen on which special messages could be projected if necessary , for example information about train delays. "Expired" ticket numbers appeared on this board when the cinema was threatened with overcrowding.

In terms of their exterior and interior design, the contemporary cinemas looked modern and more sober at the time. They didn't show the lavish festivity of many other 1950s movie theaters. Entrance area, foyer and cinema hall were often by no means rectangular, but rather trapezoidal. The wall covering was light beige or light orange with fields set off in light blue and consisted of fabric sheets laid in folds . The variable in brightness lighting that was never switched off completely, consisted of linear luminaires at both sides hall a few decimeter formed above the gears mounted light bands.

Many contemporary cinemas were housed in major city train stations of the Deutsche Bundesbahn , with the entrances to the cinema being particularly conveniently located. This often stood in the way of strict building regulations, which made it necessary to move closer to the train station or city centers.

Heyday

BALI ticket in Solingen
Share over DM 100 in AKI-Aktuell-Kino AG in Hamburg from January 1951

After the Frankfurt AKI, further venues of the current cinema-Betriebs-GmbH were opened in 1951 in Hamburg , Hanover , Cologne and Munich . 1952 to 1954 followed, partly by other operators under the names ALI (actuality light games) and BALI (station light games), cinemas in Berlin (3), Nuremberg , Kassel , Dusseldorf , Aachen , Dortmund , Solingen , Stuttgart and again Cologne. Information about the total number of current cinemas in existence in 1954 is contradictory, as some were renamed during this period and thus counted twice or not at all. So after two years the BALI Hamburg became an AKI and the REX in Solingen a BALI. The contemporary cinema in Bern, which opened in 1954, was finally called ACTUALIS. The media scientist Knut Hickethier counts in his contribution The Federal German Cinema Public in the 1950s 18 contemporary cinemas in 1954.

The concept worked. In the 1950s there were not infrequently queues at the box office and at the hall entrance, as all seats were occupied, especially on Thursday, the day of the program change. At the cinemas near the train station, the audience initially consisted of 80 percent regular customers and 20 percent travelers, later this was put into perspective to around 50 to 50. Children in particular were part of the regular audience thanks to the low admission price. In 2005, a grandson of post-war Chancellor Konrad Adenauer reported to the press that as a young boy he regularly snuck into the AKI in Cologne Central Station to see his grandfather, who rarely appears at home, even if only on the screen.

In some contemporary cinemas, such as the ALI Aachen, there were live TV broadcasts on the big screen on special occasions thanks to a “TV projector” the size of a wardrobe. For broadcasts of “ Mainz, how it sings and laughs ” or prince weddings, you had to order tickets weeks in advance. The station bookseller in Cologne's main train station, Gerhard Ludwig, held the 40th of his total of 269 “Wednesday Talks” on September 19, 1951, not in the waiting room as usual, but as an exception in the newly opened AKI, as it was titled The Situation of German Post-War Films. In the course of this cultural-political-literary discussion, the film The Lost by Peter Lorre was premiered and sharply rejected by the audience.

On the film pages of the daily press, the cultural film part of the current cinema programs was also discussed critically, but generally favorably. Official announcements by the Film Industry Association called the contemporary cinemas the calling card of German cultural films . The Cologne Rundschau honored on June 11, 1960 to mark the tenth anniversary of the AKI-operating company the job actuality cinemas with the following article:

“ The German contemporary cinemas, mostly located in train stations, can look back on their tenth anniversary on June 10th. Unaffected by seasonal fluctuations, they have long since found their loyal regular audience, namely old, young and youngest visitors who prefer to watch cultural and documentary films, but also do not disdain a powerful American cartoon. The main attraction, however, is always the large cross-section of the current newsreels of the companies based in Germany, a newsreel that the normal movie theater cannot offer in this breadth. Despite the daily picture news on television, the influx of visitors has hardly slackened, a fact that can certainly be explained in part by the color exclusive reports on particularly outstanding events that have now become a tradition and are quickly thrown on the market. Contrary to the fears of the film industry that the Akis would one day switch to normal film programs, the character of the programs has been retained from the start. "

- Kölnische Rundschau

This should soon turn out to be a misjudgment.

Decline

The 1950s were undoubtedly the heyday of contemporary cinema. The development of the media landscape in the first half of the 1960s, when televisions were increasingly part of the equipment of the West German family, worked against an offer based largely on newsreel films. From 1963 onwards, the contemporary cinemas tried to take account of the changed needs by including more exotic and sensational topics and also short crime and western films in their programs, which inevitably extended this to 60 to 70 minutes. Now the cinema manager no longer put the program together individually. The film rolls rotated according to a set plan through the houses affiliated to an operating company.

From January 1, 1967, the AKI was the first contemporary cinema in Cologne's main train station to show only feature films that alternated between two days. This AKI was followed very quickly by all other topical cinema, the last one left the weekly newsreel in 1968. As the audience decline continued, lurid films were quickly relied on, and finally, since the late 1970s, sex and action films have been used entirely. The following program previews from the daily press for 1968, 1978 and 1981 speak for themselves.

Advertisement in Kölnische Rundschau, July 19, 1968:

AKI in the main station:
Today and tomorrow: Inspector X in the thriller Three Blue Panthers ,
Sunday and Monday: O. Kolle: Sexuality in Marriage, The Miracle of Love ,
Tuesday and Wednesday: Agents counter gangsters ... Agent 505 - Beirut death trap ,
Thursday: A Western of a special kind Western Jack

Advertisement in Kölnische Rundschau, July 6, 1978:

AKI Hbf:
Today and tomorrow: very young masseuses ,
Sunday and Monday: Shaolin - revenge with the hand of death

Advertisement from: 75 years Nuremberg Central Station 1981:

AKI Nürnberg, in the main station shows:
Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. Films for adults only
Sat - Sun 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Family and youth films, 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Action films of the special class from 18 years
Closed Zeitkino at Dresden Central Station in 2009

With the level of the films presented, the reputation of the topical cinema sank and by the end of the 1970s at the latest, the bad reputation had manifested itself. Station cinemas soon no longer fit into the concept of the Federal Railroad, which wanted to convert stations into department stores with siding . In 1990 six train station cinemas were still in operation. Attempts to convert the former contemporary cinemas into cineastes cinemas (there was even a film festival at AKI Frankfurt in 1990), almost all failed.

Only the BALI Berlin-Zehlendorf survived the time as a specialty cinema. The BALI in the main train station in Kassel has been used again since 1995 after many years of rest. In two cinemas, four films are shown daily with four to five screenings. “Normal” feature films will be shown, but also unusual films that meet the BALI's claim as a cultural cinema in the Kassel cultural station . In 2018, the BALI Kassel was awarded the "Sustainable Cinema" prize from the Hessian Ministry for Science and Art .

The non-stop cinema in Graz , which was originally preserved until 2010, was under monument protection and its operators tried at times quite successfully to run it as a combination of sex cinema and forum for cultural events. This ultimately failed because of the eviction action pursued by the ÖBB for years .

The insolvency proceedings were opened on April 12, 2000 about AKI Aktuellitätenkino-Betriebs-GmbH & Co. The shares of the AKI – Aktuell-Kino Aktiengesellschaft are now traded as historical securities , so that their liquidation can be assumed.

An overview of the latest news cinemas

List of news cinemas
Surname place Seats opening closure Remarks
Grand Cinéma Bern 1915 1918 converted into feature film cinema Colosseum
The newsreel Berlin 1931
Cinébref Basel 558 1937 1939 converted into Rex feature film until 1964, demolition
BALI Berlin 1946 1970 continued as art house cinema Bali-Kino Teltower Damm
BALI Hamburg 1949 1951 converted to AKI , reopened in 1952 until 1995
Zeitkino at the main train station Dresden 1950 1960 converted into a feature film theater at the main train station until December 2000
AKI Hbf Frankfurt am Main 1951 after 1990
AKI Hbf Cologne 325 1951 1990 1997 Demolition, the former location is now the Deutsche Bahn advisory center
AKI Hbf Munich 482 1951 January 2, 1996
AKI Hbf Hanover 1951 after 1990
ALI Dusseldorf 1952
AKI Stuttgart 1952
BALI Zehlendorf Berlin 100 1952 converted into division cinema and to Oscars expanded
AKI Neumarkt Cologne 1953 after 1967
AKI Hbf Nuremberg 585 1953 1999 1970s: Subdivision into three “box cinemas”
Lichtburg in the main station Mönchengladbach 1953 19 ?? converted into Vitus Center
Actualis Bern 42 1954 1969 converted into sex cinema Cosmos
BALI Dortmund 420 1952 before 1986 in the hall was the now closed discotheque Live Station
ALI Aachen 550 1955 1972 from 1968 fiction cinema, from 1970 sex cinema
AKI Bahnhof Zoo Berlin 19 ?? converted into porn cinema LUX intimate ; Building has since been demolished
AKI Neukölln Berlin 19 ??
BALI Solingen around 1950 1970 formerly Monopoly and Rex . Burned down shortly after 1970
BALI in the main station kassel 19 ?? 1990 Reopened in 1995 as a cultural cinema with two halls
Universum Hbf Rheydt 19 ?? 19 ?? converted into a feature film cinema with three halls, closed in summer 2008
AKI Dortmund 19 ?? 19 ?? was then UFA as Capitol 1 continues to operate
BALI Central Station Bochum 1957 converted into feature film cinema Metropolis Kino , today a multi-award-winning art house cinema
BALI Hagen 19 ?? 19 ?? converted into arthouse cinema Metropolis
BALI Bonn 19 ?? converted into feature film cinema 19 ??
AKI Gelsenkirchen 19 ?? 19 ?? Bahnhofstrasse
BALI Cuxhaven 19 ?? 19 ?? since 2003 feature film cinema with three halls as Bali-Kino-Center Holstenstraße
BALI Balingen 19 ?? 19 ?? Bahnhofstrasse, converted into a Bali-Kino-Palast with seven halls
BALI Alzey 196 1954 converted into feature film cinema Bali Filmtheater
BALI Munich 19 ?? 19 ?? converted into a porn cinema, Schillerstraße

literature

  • Hans Magnus Enzensberger : Outland. The anatomy of the newsreel. In: Hans Magnus Enzensberger: Details. Volume 1: Consciousness Industry (= Edition Suhrkamp . 63). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1964, pp. 106-133, (first in: Frankfurter Hefte . Vol. 12, H. 4, 1957, pp. 265-278).
  • Dieter Geißler: Film censorship in post-war Germany. Göttingen 1986 (Osnabrück, University, dissertation, 1986).
  • Kurt Gustmann: Composition and behavior of the movie theater audience in the big city. In: Walter Hagemann (ed.): Film studies. Contributions to the film seminar in the Institute for Journalism at the University of Münster. Volume 3. Lechte, Emsdetten 1957, pp. 1-12.
  • Hans-Jürgen Tast: Cinemas in the 1980s. Example: Berlin / West (= googly eyes. 35). Kulleraugen-Medienschriften, Schellerten 2008, ISBN 978-3-88842-035-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sebastian Milpetz: terminus for trash films ; in TV Today , issue 23/2015; Pp. 14-15
  2. ↑ WDR3 "lernzeit" 2006
  3. ↑ German Federal Archives, image 102-12285 / Georg Pahl
  4. ↑ Dream Cinema Basel
  5. ↑ g26.ch Bern-Info ( Memento from July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Political Education Brandenburg ( Memento from October 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ a b c d Joachim Biemann: Railway in the film - Rail Movies
  8. ↑ University of Konstanz 2002 ( Memento from July 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Wiesbadener Tageblatt 2005 ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ BALI Kassel: "About Us" ( Memento from July 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Hessian Ministry of Science and Art: “Sustainable Cinema” Prize 2018 goes to “BALI Kinos” in Kassel , press release from June 26, 2018.
  12. ↑ See the Graz daily press on September 20 and 21, 2010
  13. ↑ Insolvency proceedings FFM 2000 - Link no longer available
  14. ^ City wiki Dresden

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