UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA, is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. The original UFA was established as Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft on December 18, 1917, as a direct response to foreign competition in film and propaganda. UFA was founded by a consortium headed by Emil Georg von Stauß, a former Deutsche Bank board member. In March 1927, Alfred Hugenberg, an influential German media entrepreneur and later Minister of the Economy and Minister of Agriculture and Nutrition in Adolf Hitler's cabinet, purchased UFA and transferred ownership of it to the Nazi Party in 1933.
Women Are Better Diplomats is a 1941 German musical comedy film from the Nazi era. Directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Marika Rökk, Willy Fritsch and Aribert Wäscher. It was based on a novel by Hans Flemming. The film was the first German feature film to be made in colour, and was one of the most expensive films produced during the Third Reich. The film met with a positive public response and was among the most popular German films of the early war years.
The Curtain Falls is a 1939 German crime film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Anneliese Uhlig, Elfie Mayerhofer and Hilde Sessak. It was based on a play by Paul van der Hurck and was made by UFA at the company's Babelsberg Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Erich Kettelhut.
Katharina Knie is a 1929 German silent drama film directed by Karl Grune and starring Eugen Klöpfer, Carmen Boni and Adele Sandrock. It is based on the 1928 play of the same title by Carl Zuckmayer. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin The film's art direction was by Robert Neppach and Erwin Scharf. It was distributed by the Munich-based Bavaria Film.
The Higher Command is a 1935 German historical film directed by Gerhard Lamprecht and starring Lil Dagover, Karl Ludwig Diehl and Heli Finkenzeller. Produced and distributed by UFA, it was shot at the company's Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Otto Erdmann and Hans Sohnle.
City of Anatol is a 1936 German drama film directed by Viktor Tourjansky and starring Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Horney and Fritz Kampers. It is based on a 1932 novel City of Anatol by Bernhard Kellermann. The film is set in a small city in the Balkans, where the discovery of oil leads to a major boom. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin with sets designed by the art directors Otto Hunte and Willy Schiller. A separate French language version Wells in Flames was made, also directed by Tourjansky but featuring a different cast.
The Mystery of Betty Bonn is a 1938 German adventure film directed by Robert A. Stemmle and starring Maria Andergast, Theodor Loos and Hans Nielsen. The film was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin with sets designed by the art directors Wilhelm Depenau and Ludwig Reiber. It was made by the leading German company UFA, based on a novel by Friedrich Lindemann.
The Life and Loves of Tschaikovsky or It Was a Lovely Night at the Ball is a 1939 German historical drama film directed by Carl Froelich and starring Zarah Leander, Aribert Wäscher and Hans Stüwe. The film portrays the fictional relationship between the Russian composer Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowsky and an aristocratic woman who, unhappily married, falls in love with him and decides to secretly support his work financially. It premiered on 13 August 1939 at the Venice Film Festival.
Ride to Freedom is a 1937 German historical war film directed by Karl Hartl and starring Willy Birgel, Viktor Staal and Hansi Knoteck. The film is set in the 1830s during Poland's November Uprising against the Russian Empire. It portrays the rehabilitation of a Polish cavalry officer whose initial reluctance to engage the enemy leads to the death of his comrades, but later dies fighting bravely.
Paganini or I Liked Kissing Women is a 1934 German operetta film directed by E. W. Emo and starring Iván Petrovich, Eliza Illiard, and Theo Lingen. It is an adaptation of Franz Lehár's 1925 operetta Paganini.
By a Silken Thread is a 1938 German drama film directed by Robert A. Stemmle and starring Willy Fritsch, Carl Kuhlmann and Käthe von Nagy. The film was intended to be an exposure of "crooked Jewish capitalists" in line with Nazi racial policy of the era. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios of UFA in Potsdam. The film's sets were designed by the art director Otto Hunte.
Donogoo Tonka is a 1936 German comedy film directed by Reinhold Schünzel and starring Anny Ondra, Viktor Staal and Will Dohm. It is based on a play of the same name by Jules Romains. A separate French-language version Donogoo was also made. The film was produced by UFA at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin, with sets designed by Otto Hunte and Willy Schiller.
The Yellow Flag is a 1937 German drama film directed by Gerhard Lamprecht and starring Hans Albers, Olga Chekhova and Dorothea Wieck. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ludwig Reiber. Location filming took place in Yugoslavia.
Savoy Hotel 217 is a 1936 German mystery drama film directed by Gustav Ucicky and starring Hans Albers, Brigitte Horney and Alexander Engel. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig. The costumes were by Herbert Ploberger. It premiered at Berlin's UFA-Palast am Zoo.
Make Me Happy is a 1935 German musical comedy film directed by Arthur Robison and starring Julia Serda, Albert Lieven and Richard Romanowsky. It was made by Germany's largest film company UFA. A separate French-language version Les époux célibataires was released, also directed by Robison. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Otto Hunte and Willy Schiller.
Three Days of Life and Death is a 1929 German silent war film directed by Heinz Paul and starring Carl de Vogt, Angelo Ferrari and Carl Walther Meyer. It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin and on location in Cartagena in Spain and around the Adriatic Sea. The film's sets were designed by the art director Karl Machus.
Alarm at Station III is a 1939 German crime film directed by Philipp Lothar Mayring and starring Gustav Fröhlich, Jutta Freybe and Kirsten Heiberg. It is set in a Scandinavian country with Prohibition.
The Green Emperor is a 1939 German crime film directed by Paul Mundorf and starring Gustav Diessl, Carola Höhn and René Deltgen. It was inspired by the real-life case of a Belgian financier who had gone missing during a flight across the English Channel.
Freight from Baltimore is a 1938 German drama film directed by Hans Hinrich and starring Hilde Weissner, Attila Hörbiger, and Hans Zesch-Ballot. Interiors were shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Carl Böhm and Erich Czerwonski. It was partly shot on location at the Port of Hamburg.
Love Me or Make Love to Me is a 1942 German musical comedy film directed by Harald Braun and starring Marika Rökk, Viktor Staal and Hans Brausewetter. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. The films sets were designed by the art director Ernst H. Albrecht. The film is a backstage musical about a showgirl aspiring to greater things while sorting out her financial and romantic problems, it was a major commercial success on its release.
