External links
- Julius von Borsody at IMDb
- Julius von Borsody in Austria-Forum (in German) (at AEIOU)
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Julius von Borsody (8 April 1892 in Vienna – 18 January 1960, also in Vienna) was an Austrian film architect and one of the most employed set designers in the Austrian and German cinemas of the late silent and early sound film periods.[ citation needed ] His younger brother, Eduard von Borsody, was a film director in Austria and Germany. He is also the great-uncle of German actress Suzanne von Borsody.
Julius von Borsody attended the Munich Art Academy before he started in the film industry in 1917. He began his career with Sascha-Film in Vienna, but up to 1924 also worked with other film production companies. In 1920 he was the set designer for Paul Czinner's highly significant pre-Expressionist work, Inferno.[ citation needed ] Together with Emil Stepanek and Artur Berger he was also responsible in Vienna, on the epics of Michael Curtiz and Alexander Korda, for the most spectacular sets ever constructed for an Austrian film, in particular the gigantic Temple of Sodom in Sodom und Gomorrha (1922), which because of its sheer size had to be built in the open air, on the Laaer Berg. Other Sascha-Film epics on which he worked were Der junge Medardus (1923) and Harun al-Rashid (1924).
In 1925 Borsody moved to Berlin. There, for films about the history of Prussia, he was able to design more ambitious structures than in Vienna. He worked on Hans Behrendt's Potsdam, das Schicksal einer Residenz (1927) and Phil Jutzi' s Berlin-Alexanderplatz (1931), based on Alfred Döblin's book of the same name. Besides buildings he also created the façades and decorations of other productions with historical and costumed backgrounds, such as Danton (1931) and the Schubert biography Leise flehen meine Lieder (1933).
Shortly before the National Socialists took power in Germany, Borsody returned to Vienna, where for the next few years he worked on a number of films in the Wiener Film genre, light romantic musical comedies, the action of which was generally set in the late imperial period of about 1900: Hohe Schule (1934), Tales from the Vienna Woods (1934), The White Horse Inn (1935) and others.
After the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria to Germany in 1938) Borsody became principal architect of the Nazi-owned Wien-Film, but also occasionally worked on buildings for productions of Bavaria Film in Munich. He was employed on one of the last large-scale productions of the Third Reich - Shiva und die Galgenblume , filmed in early January 1945 with Hans Albers in the Barrandov Studios in Prague – and also on one of the first post-war Austrian films - Der weite Weg (1946).
From that time on, in the declining Austrian film industry, he only worked on unpretentious romances and comedies. His last set designs were for the undistinguished Skandal um Dodo (1958), directed by his brother Eduard.
The following is a list of selected films on which Julius von Borsody worked as film architect or set designer (director's name in brackets):
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Karl Farkas was an Austrian actor and cabaret performer.
Cinema of Austria refers to the film industry based in Austria. Austria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century when it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and that has continued to the present day. Producer Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky, producer-director-writer Luise Kolm and the Austro-Hungarian directors Michael Curtiz and Alexander Korda were among the pioneers of early Austrian cinema. Several Austrian directors pursued careers in Weimar Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, G. W. Pabst, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, and Otto Preminger.
Sascha-Film, in full Sascha-Filmindustrie AG and from 1933 Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG, was the largest Austrian film production company of the silent film and early sound film period.
Count Alexander "Sascha" Joseph von Kolowrat-Krakowsky was an Austrian film producer of Bohemian-Czech descent from the House of Kolowrat. A pioneer of Austrian cinema, he founded the first major film studio Sascha-Film in Vienna.
Sodom und Gomorrha: Die Legende von Sünde und Strafe is an Austrian silent epic film from 1922. It was shot on the Laaer Berg, Vienna, as the enormous backdrops specially designed and constructed for the film were too big for the Sievering Studios of the production company, Sascha-Film, in Sievering. The film is distinguished, not so much by the strands of its often opaque plot, as by its status as the largest and most expensive film production in Austrian film history. In the creation of the film between 3,000 and 14,000 performers, extras and crew were employed.
Eduard von Borsody was an Austrian cameraman, film editor, film director, and screenplay writer.
Young Medardus is a 1923 Austrian silent historical drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Victor Varconi, Egon von Jordan and Agnes Esterhazy. Based on a play with the same name by Arthur Schnitzler, it is set during the 1809 French occupation of Vienna during the Napoleonic Wars.
Willy Schmidt-Gentner was one of the most successful German composers of film music in the history of German-language cinema. He moved to Vienna in 1933. At his most productive, he scored up to 10 films a year, including numerous classics and masterpieces of the German and Austrian cinema.
Ernst Marischka was an Austrian screenwriter and film director. He wrote for more than 90 films between 1913 and 1962. He also directed 29 films between 1915 and 1962. He wrote and directed the Sissi trilogy - Sissi (1955), Sissi – The Young Empress (1956) and Sissi – Fateful Years of an Empress (1957). The films were based on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. He was the brother of Hubert Marischka. He was named for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1946, for A Song to Remember (1945).
Emil Stepanek was an Austrian set designer and film architect.
Artur Semyonovich Berger was an Austrian-Soviet film architect and set designer. He was active in Austria between 1920 and 1936, during which time he worked on about 30 feature films. In 1936 he emigrated to the Soviet Union, where he continued to work on films until the early 1970s.
Hermann Thimig was an Austrian stage and film actor. He appeared in 102 films between 1916 and 1967.
The Cossack and the Nightingale is a 1935 Austrian romantic thriller film directed by Phil Jutzi and starring Jarmila Novotna, Iván Petrovich and Gerda Maurus. The film's art direction was by Julius von Borsody.
Heaven on Earth is a 1935 Austrian musical comedy film directed by E. W. Emo and starring Lizzi Holzschuh, Ilona Massey, and Heinz Rühmann.
The Gentleman Without a Residence is a 1934 Austrian comedy film directed by E. W. Emo and starring Paul Hörbiger, Hilde von Stolz, and Hermann Thimig. The film's sets were designed by the art director Julius von Borsody.
Romance in Venice is a 1962 Austrian romance film directed by Eduard von Borsody and starring Ann Smyrner, Walther Reyer and Willy Birgel.
Rudolf Österreicher, also Rudolf Oesterreicher, was an Austrian writer, librettist, comedy author, author of cabaret texts and biographer. From 1945 to 1947 he was director of the Wiener Stadttheater.
Arlberg Express is a 1948 Austrian thriller film directed by Eduard von Borsody and starring Paul Hubschmid, Elfe Gerhart and Iván Petrovich.
Maresi is a 1948 Austrian period drama film directed by Hans Thimig and starring Attila Hörbiger, Maria Schell and Siegfried Breuer. It was one of the box offices successes of 1948.
