A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before sound motion pictures became commercially practical. Reliable synchronization was difficult to achieve with the early sound-on-disc systems, and amplification and recording quality were also inadequate. Innovations in sound-on-film led to the first commercial screening of short motion pictures using the technology, which took place in 1923. Before sound-on-film technology became viable, soundtracks for films were commonly played live with organs or pianos.
Max von Sydow was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television series in multiple languages. Capable in roles ranging from stolid, contemplative protagonists to sardonic artists and menacing, often gleeful villains, von Sydow received numerous accolades including honors from the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. He was nominated for two Academy Awards: for Best Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and for Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).
Ewald André Dupont was a German film director, one of the pioneers of the German film industry. He was often credited as E. A. Dupont.
Georg Wilhelm Pabst was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic.
Pandora's Box is a 1929 German silent drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and starring Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, and Francis Lederer. The film follows Lulu, a seductive young woman whose uninhibited nature brings ruin to herself and those who love her. It is based on Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora.
Veit Harlan was a German film director and actor. Harlan reached the highpoint of his career as a director in the Nazi era; most notably his antisemitic film Jud Süß (1940) makes him controversial. While viewed critically for his ideologies, a number of critics consider him a capable director on the grounds of such work as Opfergang (1944).
Richard Oswald was an Austrian film director, producer, screenwriter, and father of German-American film director Gerd Oswald.
Edgar Wallace (1875–1932) was a British novelist, playwright and screenwriter whose works have been adapted for the screen on many occasions. His films fall into two categories, British adaptations and the German "Krimi" films.
The Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system was developed from around 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl (1893–1942), Joseph Massolle (1889–1957), and Hans Vogt (1890–1979).
Fritz Maurischat was a German production designer. He made his film debut in 1924. Over the next 38 years, he worked on over 70 films, all of them in his native Germany.
Atlantic (1929) is an all-talking sound British drama film directed and produced by Ewald André Dupont and starring Franklin Dyall and Madeleine Carroll. Originally, two versions were made: the English and German-language version Atlantik were shot simultaneously. Subsequently, the production of a French version (Atlantis) began in spring 1930 using different footage and partially an altered storyline with a different director. The fourth version was released as a silent film. The story was taken from the West End play The Berg by Ernest Raymond. It was one of the most expensive films of 1929.
Carl August Hugo Froelich was a German film pioneer and film director. He was born and died in Berlin.
Frieda Ulricke "Henny" Porten was a German actress and film producer of the silent era, and Germany's first major film star. She appeared in more than 170 films between 1906 and 1955.
The Crimson Circle is a 1960 West German/Danish black and white crime film directed by Jürgen Roland and starring Renate Ewert, Klausjürgen Wussow and Karl-Georg Saebisch. It was an adaptation of the 1922 novel The Crimson Circle by the British writer Edgar Wallace.
The Crimson Circle is a 1929 British-German sound part-talkie crime film directed by Frederic Zelnik and starring Lya Mara, Fred Louis Lerch, and Stewart Rome. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The sound was recorded via the De Forest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. The film is an adaptation of the 1922 Edgar Wallace novel The Crimson Circle in which Scotland Yard detectives battle a gang of blackmailers. A previous UK version was filmed in 1922.
Operetta films are a genre of musical films associated with, but not exclusive to, German language cinema. The genre began in the late 1920s, but its roots stretch back into the tradition of nineteenth century Viennese operettas.
Land Without Women is a 1929 German drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Conrad Veidt, Elga Brink and Clifford McLaglen. It was based on the novel Die Braut Nr. 68 by Peter Bolt. The film is set amongst a community of gold diggers in Western Australia. It was shot at the Staaken and Templehof Studios in Berlin with sets designed by the art directors Hans Sohnle and Otto Erdmann. It was made by the small independent production company Felsom Film using the Tri-Ergon sound-on-film process, the first full-length German-speaking sound film to be released. It was followed a month later by the first all-talking film Atlantik, which had been made in Britain.
Atlantic is a 1929 British-made German language drama film directed by Ewald André Dupont and starring Fritz Kortner, Elsa Wagner and Heinrich Schroth. The film is a German language version of the 1929 film Atlantic made at Elstree Studios by British International Pictures. Following the introduction of sound films, leading film companies attempted to cater to different markets by producing multiple-language versions of their films. Atlantic was released in four versions: English, French, German and silent, for cinemas not yet converted to the new format. The German version was filmed at the same time as the British version, with each scene first being filmed in English for the British version, then the same scene being filmed in German by a German cast, using the same sets. The film was the first fully talking film to be released in Germany, where it was a major hit. It is based on the 1929 play The Berg by Ernest Raymond which itself was based on the Titanic disaster.
Aafa Film or Aafa-Film was a German film production and distribution company which operated during the 1920s and 1930s. Established in 1920 as Radio-Film the company was controlled by the producer Gabriel Levy and the director Rudolf Dworsky. The company was one of the leading producers of the Weimar Republic, and survived the transition from silent to sound film in 1929. It made the first German full sound film It's You I Have Loved that year. During the early 1930s Aafa produced a number of mountain films directed by Arnold Fanck. It also made a multi-language version musical Lieutenant, Were You Once a Hussar? (1930).
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