Luis Trenker was a South Tyrolean film producer, director, writer, actor, architect, alpinist, and bobsledder.
Arnold Fanck was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre. He is best known for the extraordinary alpine footage he captured in such films as The Holy Mountain (1926), The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929), Storm over Mont Blanc (1930), The White Ecstasy (1931), and S.O.S. Eisberg (1933). Fanck was also instrumental in launching the careers of several filmmakers during the Weimar years in Germany, including Leni Riefenstahl, Luis Trenker, and cinematographers Sepp Allgeier, Richard Angst, Hans Schneeberger, and Walter Riml.
A mountain film is a film genre that focuses on mountaineering and especially the battle of human against nature. In addition to mere adventure, the protagonists who return from the mountain come back changed, usually gaining wisdom and enlightenment.
Annemarie Minna Renée Schwarzenbach was a Swiss writer, journalist and photographer. Her bisexual mother brought her up in a masculine style, and her androgynous image suited the bohemian Berlin society of the time, in which she indulged enthusiastically. Her anti-fascist campaigning forced her into exile, where she became close to the family of novelist Thomas Mann. She would live much of her life abroad as a photo-journalist, embarking on many lesbian relationships, and experiencing a growing morphine addiction. In America, the young Carson McCullers was infatuated with Schwarzenbach, to whom she dedicated Reflections in a Golden Eye. Schwarzenbach reported on the early events of World War II, but died of a head injury, following a fall.
Hans Ertl was a German mountaineer and Nazi propagandist. He is most known for being the father of Monika Ertl, the Communist guerrilla who assassinated Roberto Quintanilla Pereira, the man responsible for chopping off Che Guevara's hands.
Karl Adolf Kurt Werner Klingler was a German film director and actor. He directed 29 films between 1936 and 1968. He was born in Stuttgart and died in West Berlin, West Germany.
The Stars Shine is a 1938 German musical revue directed by Hans H. Zerlett and written by Zerlett and Hans Hannes.
Carla Rust was a German film actress. She appeared as a leading lady in a number of films during the Nazi era. She was married to the actor Sepp Rist.
The Rebel is a 1932 German historical drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt, Edwin H. Knopf, and Luis Trenker and starring Trenker, Luise Ullrich, and Victor Varconi. The film's art direction was by Fritz Maurischat. It was made by the German subsidiary of Universal Pictures, with location shooting in Austria and St. Moritz, and Zuoz, Switzerland. Interior scenes were filmed at the Tempelhof Studios. A separate English language version, The Rebel, was released the following year. The film is part of the mountain film genre.
The Great Leap is a 1927 German silent comedy film directed by Arnold Fanck and starring Leni Riefenstahl, Luis Trenker and Hans Schneeberger. A young Italian girl living in the Dolomites falls in love with a member of a tourist party skiing on the nearby mountains.
Mountains on Fire is a 1931 German war film directed by Karl Hartl and Luis Trenker and starring Trenker, Lissy Arna and Luigi Serventi. The film was based on Luis Trenker's novel of the same title, partly based on his own experiences. Separate French and English-language productions were also made.
Struggle for the Matterhorn is a 1928 German-Swiss silent drama film co-directed by Mario Bonnard and Nunzio Malasomma and starring Luis Trenker, Marcella Albani, and Alexandra Schmitt. The film is part of the popular cycle of mountain films of the 1920s and 1930s. Art direction was by Heinrich Richter. Trenker later remade the film as The Challenge in 1938.
Josef “Sepp” Allgeier was a German cinematographer who worked on around fifty features, documentaries and short films. He began his career as a cameraman in 1911 for the Expreß Film Co. of Freiburg im Breisgau. In 1913, he filmed newsreels in the Balkans. He then became an assistant to Arnold Fanck, a leading director of Mountain films. He worked frequently with Luis Trenker and Leni Riefenstahl, both closely associated with the genre. He was Riefenstahl's lead cameraman on her 1935 propaganda film Triumph of the Will. During the Second World War, Allgeier filmed material for newsreels. He later worked in West German television. His son is the cinematographer Hans-Jörg Allgeier.
The Great and the Little Love is a 1938 German comedy film directed by Josef von Báky and starring Jenny Jugo, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudi Godden. Jugo plays a stewardess working for Lufthansa. It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin with sets designed by the art directors Karl Weber and Erich Zander. It was filmed partly on location around Genoa in Italy.
The Deruga Case is a 1938 German crime drama film directed by Fritz Peter Buch and starring Willy Birgel, Geraldine Katt and Dagny Servaes. It is based on the 1917 novel of the same title by Ricarda Huch. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Wilhelm Depenau and Ludwig Reiber.
Erika von Thellmann (1902–1988) was an Austrian actress who appeared in more than a hundred films and television series during her career.
The Irresistible Man is a 1937 German romantic comedy film directed by Géza von Bolváry and starring Anny Ondra, Hans Söhnker, and Trude Hesterberg.
Klaus von Rautenfeld (1909–1982) was a cinematographer. Of Baltic German origin, he was born in Estonia which was then part of the Russian Empire. During the 1930s he worked as an assistant cameraman for Luis Trenker. Following the Second World War he was very active in West German commercial cinema working on a mixture of thrillers and comedies.
The Fire Devil is a 1940 German historical adventure film directed by and starring Luis Trenker. It also featured Judith Holzmeister, Bertl Schultes and Hilde von Stolz. The title is sometimes translated as The Arsonist.
Young Noszty and Mary Toth is a 1938 Hungarian-German romantic comedy film directed by Steve Sekely and starring Pál Jávor, Éva Szörényi and Erika von Thellmann. It is based on the 1909 novel of the same title by Kálmán Mikszáth. It was shot at the Hunnia Studios in Budapest. The film's sets were designed by the art director Márton Vincze. It was screened at the Venice Film Festival that year. A separate German-language version Ihr Leibhusar was also produced. The novel was later remade into a 1960 film Young Noszty and Mary Toth.
