Continental-Kunstfilm

123 Chauseestraße, Berlin, Continental-Kunstfilm's first studio

Continental-Kunstfilm GmbH was a German film production company based in Berlin, formed in 1912 by Walter Schmidthässler and Max Rittberger.[1]

History

123 Chausseestraße

Walter Schmidthässler (also Schmidt-Häßler) was an actor who had worked with the Meiningen Ensemble at the Meiningen Court Theatre before turning author and scriptwriter. He formed Schmidthassler-Film GmbH in 1911, which became Continental-Kunstfilm the following year. Schmidthässler and Max Rittberger, an engineer and businessman, signed their partnership agreement on 5 February 1912, with a share capital of 150,000 marks.[2] On 12 February 1912 Continental-Kunstfilm moved into the old Deutsche Bioskop studio (Bioskop-Atelier) at 123 Chausseestraße, vacated when Jules Greenbaum's firm moved to 16 Friedrichstraße in 1911.

The building (fronted in red sandstone) was built in the colorful and decorative Jugendstil style.[note 1] Continental's main offices were located at 235 Friedrichstraße, Berlin.

However, Schmidthässler left Continental after only a few months in April 1912 and moved to Vitascope (the previous tenant of the building), going on to direct over 100 films.[1]

Memorial tablet to Heinrich Lautensack at his birthplace in Vilshofen an der Donau

Heinrich Lautensack (who had previously worked for Deutsche Bioskop) was engaged as script writer and head of advertising. He wrote the screenplays for at least five Continental films, mostly psychological melodramas:[3] Zwischen Himmel und Erde; Die Macht der Jugend; Zweimal gelebt (extant);[4] Der Mann in der Flasche; Das ist der Krieg; and Entsagungen.

Several of Continental's early releases were directed by Max Mack (who had previously made his mark with one of the first autorenfilms, Der Andere with Albert Bassermann): Lebensbilder; Die lieben Freunde; Die gelbe Rasse (The Yellow Peril); Blinde Liebe; Die Hochzeitsfackel, and Zweimal gelebt.

Poster for In Nacht und Eis, directed by Mime Misu

The Romanian-born mime artist and ballet-dancer Mime Misu (Mișu Rosescu) made three films for Continental in 1912:

Otto Rippert, who had acted in In Nacht und Eis, turned to directing in 1912 and made around ten films with Continental between November that year and August 1913. Rippert later directed Homunculus, an early science fiction film with a script by Fritz Lang. Before Harry Piel turned to acting he directed a handful of films for Continental in 1912-1913.

The popular 'Bumke' short comedies written, starring and directed by Gerhard Dammann as the eponymous hero appeared throughout 1913, sometimes at the rate of one a week.[8] At the end of 1913 Dammann left Continental, continuing his film career (possibly for contractual reasons) with the 'Luny' character: and Max Rittberger left the business in early 1914.[9]

May and Reicher

Joe May made ten films with Continental, the first (In der Tiefe des Schachtes) being released in November 1913. Paul Leni also worked on designing various films with May at Continental, including Ein Ausgestoßener and Das Panzergewölbe.[10]

May directed the first three of the 'Stuart Webbs' films, a popular series in which Ernst Reicher played a gentleman detective modelled on Sherlock Holmes: Die geheimnisvolle Villa; Der Mann im Keller; and Der Spuk im Haus des Professors.[11][note 2]

In an acrimonious and well-publicised split, May and Reicher fell out with the managers of Continental over the 'Stuart Webbs' films, and left Continental together.[12] Having formed their own production company, Stuart Webbs-Film GmbH, they made the next in the detective series, Das Panzergewölbe (The Armoured Vault) in June 1914, using Continental-Kunstfilm's studios for the filming.

Harry Piel in an acting role

Studio at 9 Franz Josef-Straße

In the summer of 1914 Continental-Kunstfilm built a new studio at 9 Franz Josef-Straße (now Max Liebermannstraße) in Weißensee, a north-eastern suburb of Berlin. It was next door to the double glasshouse studio at no. 5-7, built in 1913 by Vitascope and separated by the narrow site of no. 8.[13]

When the First World War broke out in August 1914, May had to return to his native Vienna to do his military service, and on his return to Berlin he and Reicher split up.[14] Reicher leased the studio from Continental and continued to make the 'Stuart Webbs' films with his Reicher & Reicher company until 1918.

May formed his own company, May-Film GmbH, continuing to make serious films with his wife Mia May, as well as producing the 'Joe Deebs' detective series with Harry Piel directing Max Landa and later Harry Liedtke in the title role. He was producer for one more film at Continental-Kunstfilm, Der geheimnisvolle Nachtschatten, directed by Harry Piel. May later rented the Jules Greenbaum's Vitascope studios at 5-7 Franz-Josef-Straße, almost next door to Continental.

Albert Paulig made three Albert films in 1915, but Continental-Kunstfilm produced far fewer films after this date. When in 1917 the German government quietly consolidated the larger German film production companies into a single conglomerate, Ufa, Continental-Kunstfilm was not included.

Lixie-Film

The studio premises at No. 9, Franz-Josef-Straße were bought in 1919/20 by Film-Atelier GmbH (Fag). The owner was Frau Cill-Gottscho of Philadelphia, USA, and the directors were Chaskel Eisenberg and Dr. Lucian Gottscho.[13][note 3] Fag enlarged the studio by building on the site of the old numbers 10-12 to create 9-12 Franz Josef Strasse. The studio was then leased by Lixie-Film in 1920. Fag apparently continued to share the same address as Lixie; Fag is listed in Berlin phonebooks as the owner of the property; furthermore, Lixie-Atelier is only mentioned in cinema address books. Lixie-Film-Atelier GmbH was also joint owner of Muto-Großateliers (Muto-Atelier) in Lankwitz in 1924/25[13][15] The studios were hired out to Decla-Bioscop who made The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari there from December 1919 to January 1920.[13]

In 1921 the studios were bought by Lixie-Film-Atelier-Weißensee GmbH. In 1928 the Weißensee housing association acquired the land for new residential buildings which were still standing as of 2012.[13]

Selected films made by Continental-Kunstfilm

References

Notes
  1. ↑ The inscription ERBAUT MDCCCXCVI (built 1906) appears on the building. Remarkably it survived WWII, and ended up on the East Berlin side of the Berlin Wall not far from the Chausseestraße Berlin border crossing after 1961. In number 121 next door (destroyed during the war), Karl Liebknecht founded Spartakusbund on 1 January 1916. See 'Spartacus Memorial' in Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (2002), retrieved 1 April 2015
  2. ↑ Reicher's first acting appearance in a Continental film was in Vorglühen des Balkanbrandes, (directed by May) in early 1914. In the same year he directed two films at Continental, Die Statue and Das Werk.
  3. ↑ Chaksel Eisenberg (his first name is the Yiddish version of Ezekiel) patented two shoe-making machines:
    • US patent, Eisenberg, Chaskel, "Machine for flanging uppers of boots or shoes", issued 1895-10-22
    • US patent 725233, Eisenberg, Chaskel, "Lasting Machine", issued 1903-04-14

    Lucian Gottscho is perhaps best known for his bayonet designs, the S14G1 and S14G2 and the S15G, manufactured during World War I and fitted to German rifles like the Gewehr 98 (source: Jackson 2012). His B. Phil. dissertation from the University of Freiburg was entitled Miscellen aus der Theorie der Curven und Flächen zweiter Ordnung unter Anwendung der Methode des Unendlich-Grossen (Miscellanea from second-order curves and surfaces, using the method of infinitesimals), Frankfurt a.M.: R. Baumbach, 1896. His books include Patentpraxis (Patent practice) (1903), and Wortzeichen-Register der Musikinstrumenten-Branche (1907) on musical instrument maker's marks and trademarks. He patented a design for a thermo-electric pile in 1900.
    • US patent 650062, Gottscho, Lucian, "Thermo-electric pile", issued 1900-05-22
Citations
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bock & Bergfelder 2009, p. 219.
  2. ↑ Wedel 1992, pp. 84-85.
  3. ↑ Kasten 1996, pp. 214, 218.
  4. ↑ Kasten 1996, pp. 213–220.
  5. ↑ There is an apparent paucity of reliable information about this film.
  6. ↑ Wedel 2004, p. 99.
  7. ↑ Cast and crew details at Cinefest.de, although Misu probably played the part of the radio operator, not Captain Smith.
  8. ↑ "A New Film-Personality". Lichtbild-Bühne no. 9, March 1, 1913 (hosted at filmportal.de).
  9. ↑ Abel 2005, pp. 219–220 This is apparently the only online source (as of 2012) to mention Theodor Mülleneisen as a new director of Continental; Anton (Toni) Mülleneisen was cameraman for Der geheimnisvolle Nachtschatten (1914). The same source says that Joe May also ran Continental, although May and Reicher together published full-page ads in the trade press mentioning "the managers at Continental".
  10. ↑ Bock & Bergfelder 2009, p. 281.
  11. ↑ Abel 2005, pp. 219–220.
  12. ↑ Licht-Bild-Bühne no. 34, 1914, p. 37, quoted in Hesse 1996, pp. 147–8 & p. 307, n30.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 "Lixie-Atelier". CineGraph - Lexikon zum deutschsprachigen Film (in German). Cinegraph.de. 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Hesse 1996, pp. 147–8.
  15. ↑ "Bioscope-Atelier". CineGraph - Lexikon zum deutschsprachigen Film. (in German). Cinegraph.de. 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
Sources

External links