Erich Pommer
Encyclopedia
Erich Pommer was a German-born film producer and executive. He was involved in the German Expressionist
film movement during the silent
era as the head of production at Decla, Decla-Bioscop and from 1924 to 1926 at Ufa
responsible for many of the best known movies of the Weimar Republic
such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(1920), Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
(1922), Die Nibelungen
(1924), Michael
(1924), Der Letzte Mann / The Last Laugh (1924), Variety
(1925), Tartuffe (1926), Faust
(1926), Metropolis
(1927) and The Blue Angel
(1930). He later worked in American exile before returning to Germany for a time after the war.
, Province of Hanover
, to Gustav Pommer and his wife Anna. After a commercial practice with the Herrenkonfektion Machol & Lewin, Pommer began his film career in 1907, with the Berlin branch of the Gaumont
company, eventually taking over the Viennese branch in 1910. In 1912, Pommer concluded his military service and became a representative of the French Éclair
camera company in Vienna, where he was responsible for their business in Central and Eastern Europe. From 1913, he was Éclair general representative for Central Europe, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Poland, based in Berlin. In the same year, he married Gertrud Levy and became, together with Marcel Vandal, the director-general of the Viennese office of Éclair. Under Pommer's direction, the company began the production of feature films including Das Geheimnis der Lüfte / Le mystère de l'air (in English, the Mystery of the Air). Another five films followed in 1915.
With French capital from Éclair, and together with Fritz Holz, Pommer - while serving as an officer at the Western front - established in 1915 the Decla-Film-Gesellschaft-Holz & Co.(Decla Film Society Holz & Co.) in Berlin. The Decla ("German Eclair") produced adventure and detective films, drama, and society pieces, as well as short film series. Its own Decla rental business, led by Hermann Saklikower, also presented foreign films. Pommer served in the First World War at the West and Eastern fronts, but injuries suffered in action led him to return to Berlin in 1916, where he was responsible for teaching recruits and later worked for the Office for Film and Picture (Bufa) at the War Ministry.
After the 1919 merger of Decla with the Meinert-Film-Gesellschaft, Rudolf Meinert became head of production while Erich Pommer took charge of representation abroad. Decla's production became more ambitious. The brands "Decla Abenteuerklasse" (producing, among others, Fritz Lang
's Die Spinnen. 2. Teil: Die Brillantenschiff
(The Spiders, Part 2: The Diamond Ship, 1920) and "Decla Weltklasse" (including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(1919), under the direction of Robert Wiene
) were created.
Decla merged with German Bioskop AG to create the Decla Bioskop AG, thus becoming in 1920 the second largest German film company after Ufa
. Decla owned a studio in Neubabelsberg and a cinema chain. Two subsidiaries were formed: Uco-Film GmbH and Russo Films. The Uco Film GmbH, in whose establishment the Ullstein publishing house was involved, dedicated itself to filming serials from novels. Schloß Vogelöd / The Haunted Castle and Phantom
, under the direction of F. W. Murnau
, as well as Fritz Lang
's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
, were released. The adaptation of works of world literature was the focus of Russo Films. In an interview in 1922, Pommer stated the international success of the German films would have to be linked to the production of quality pictures.
Pommer gathered around him talented directors (Carl Froelich
and Fritz Wendhausen), script writers (Thea von Harbou
, Carl Mayer
, and Robert Liebmann), cameramen (Karl Freund
, Carl Hoffmann, and Willy Hameister), architects (Walter Roehrig and Robert Herlth), as well as actors and actresses. In November 1921, Decla-Bioskop was taken over by Ufa
, although it maintained a modicum of independence.
In early 1923, Erich Pommer joined the Ufa executive committee, to oversee the Decla-Bioskop operations. At the same time, he became the first chairman of the Central Organization of the German Film Industry (SPIO), which would shape German cinema during the Weimar Republic. The country's hyper inflation made expencive productions possible: in that time the work of several classical authors were adapted into movies, and internationally successful big budget films released like Der letzte Mann (The Last Laugh, 1924), Variety
(1925), Faust
(1926), and Manon Lescaut (1926). High production costs lead Ufa to a financial crisis. Finally, due to the enormous cost increase of Fritz Lang's Metropolis
(6 million marks, the most expensive to date) Pommer's contract was not extended and he left with his family for Hollywood.
Working for Paramount Pictures
, he produced two films starring Pola Negri
, Hotel Imperial
and Barbed Wire
(both 1927). Pommer was called back by the new management of Ufa (1927) that had been taken over by the right-wing press magnate Alfred Hugenberg
. From the USA, Pommer brought organizational and technical novelties, such as the use of turning plans or of camera crane cars.
As head of the "Erich-Pommer-Produktion der Ufa" (Erich Pommer production of the Ufa), he produced Heimkehr
(Homecoming) and Ungarische Rhapsodie
(Hungarian Rhapsody, both 1928). His last silent productions were Asphalt
directed by Joe May
and Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna starring Brigitte Helm
and Franz Lederer
Pommer was a pioneer of sound film in Germany and of multiple language versions (MLV) as a means to cope with selling big productions to different countries: Melodie des Herzens / Melody of the Heart, made at the end of 1929 in Berlin, was produced in an German, English, French, Hungarian as well as a silent version. The "Erich-Pommer-Produktion der Ufa" turned out several international box office hits in the following years, most notably Josef von Sternberg
's The Blue Angel
(1930), starring Marlene Dietrich
. Among his productions was a series of popular musical comedies such as Die Drei von der Tankstelle and Der Kongreß tanzt
/ Congress Dances
or the science fiction spectacle F.P.1
shot in three versions.
' On a volé un homme (1933) and Fritz Lang
's Liliom
(1934), an then went on to Hollywood again. In 1936, he worked in Britain for Alexander Korda
(Fire Over England
, 1937). In 1937 he formed a production company, the Mayflower Picture Corp., with actor Charles Laughton
. Their first film, Vessel of Wrath (1938 film)
(also known as The Beachcomber) was Pommer's only attempt at directing a film. In 1938, he produced St. Martin's Lane
directed by Tim Whelan
starring Laughton and Vivien Leigh
) and in 1939 Alfred Hitchcock
's Jamaica Inn
again with Laughton.
In 1939 he signed with RKO Radio Pictures, in Hollywood, for whom he produced two pictures. Becoming seriously ill in 1941 (the chain-smoker suffered a heart attack), his contract with RKO was not renewed. Pommer's financial difficulties forced him, and his wife, to work in a porcelain factory. Pommer became a naturalized American in 1944.
In 1946, Pommer returned to Germany, where he became the highest-ranking film officer of the American military Government OMGUS
responsible for the reorganisation of the German film industry overseeing the reconstruction of studios and assigning production licenses. After some controversy, in 1949 Pommer resigned his office and returned to the United States. He attempted to launch Signature Pictures to produce German-American films, an endeavor that failed.
In 1951 he started the "Intercontinental Film GmbH" in Munich, making a few movies: Nachts auf den Strassen (1951) and Kinder, Mütter und ein General (1955). However, restrictions forced on Pommer lead him to resettle in California. Physically badly shaken (Pommer used a wheelchair after the amputation of a leg) his career as a producer was ended.
Pommer died in Los Angeles, California, in 1966.
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
film movement during the silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era as the head of production at Decla, Decla-Bioscop and from 1924 to 1926 at Ufa
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
responsible for many of the best known movies of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. It is one of the most influential of German Expressionist films and is often considered one of the greatest horror movies of the silent era. This movie is cited as...
(1920), Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler is the first film in the Dr. Mabuse series, about the character Doctor Mabuse who featured in the novels of Norbert Jacques. It was directed by Fritz Lang and released in 1922. The film is silent and filmed mostly 16 frames per second. It would be followed by The Testament...
(1922), Die Nibelungen
Die Nibelungen
Die Nibelungen is a series of two silent fantasy films created by Austrian director Fritz Lang in 1924: Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge....
(1924), Michael
Michael (1924 film)
Michael was a silent film released in 1924, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, director of other notable silents such as The Passion of Joan of Arc , Master of the House , and Leaves from Satan's Book...
(1924), Der Letzte Mann / The Last Laugh (1924), Variety
Varieté
Variety is a 1925 silent drama film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont based on the novel Der Eid des Stephan Huller by . Jannings portrays "Boss Huller," an ex-trapeze artist who runs a seedy carnival with his wife and child...
(1925), Tartuffe (1926), Faust
Faust (1926 film)
Faust is a silent film produced in 1926 by UFA, directed by F.W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman as Faust, Emil Jannings as Mephisto, Camilla Horn as Gretchen/Marguerite, Frida Richard as her mother, Wilhelm Dieterle as her brother and Yvette Guilbert as Marthe Schwerdtlein, her aunt...
(1926), Metropolis
Metropolis (film)
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
(1927) and The Blue Angel
Der blaue Engel
The Blue Angel is a film directed by Josef von Sternberg in 1930, based on Heinrich Mann's novel Professor Unrat. The film is considered to be the first major German sound film and it brought world fame to actress Marlene Dietrich...
(1930). He later worked in American exile before returning to Germany for a time after the war.
Early life and career
Pommer was born in HildesheimHildesheim
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...
, Province of Hanover
Province of Hanover
The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation...
, to Gustav Pommer and his wife Anna. After a commercial practice with the Herrenkonfektion Machol & Lewin, Pommer began his film career in 1907, with the Berlin branch of the Gaumont
Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
company, eventually taking over the Viennese branch in 1910. In 1912, Pommer concluded his military service and became a representative of the French Éclair
Eclair (camera)
Éclair was a film production, film laboratory and movie camera manufacturing company established in Épinay-sur-Seine, France by Charles Jourjon in 1907....
camera company in Vienna, where he was responsible for their business in Central and Eastern Europe. From 1913, he was Éclair general representative for Central Europe, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Poland, based in Berlin. In the same year, he married Gertrud Levy and became, together with Marcel Vandal, the director-general of the Viennese office of Éclair. Under Pommer's direction, the company began the production of feature films including Das Geheimnis der Lüfte / Le mystère de l'air (in English, the Mystery of the Air). Another five films followed in 1915.
With French capital from Éclair, and together with Fritz Holz, Pommer - while serving as an officer at the Western front - established in 1915 the Decla-Film-Gesellschaft-Holz & Co.(Decla Film Society Holz & Co.) in Berlin. The Decla ("German Eclair") produced adventure and detective films, drama, and society pieces, as well as short film series. Its own Decla rental business, led by Hermann Saklikower, also presented foreign films. Pommer served in the First World War at the West and Eastern fronts, but injuries suffered in action led him to return to Berlin in 1916, where he was responsible for teaching recruits and later worked for the Office for Film and Picture (Bufa) at the War Ministry.
After the 1919 merger of Decla with the Meinert-Film-Gesellschaft, Rudolf Meinert became head of production while Erich Pommer took charge of representation abroad. Decla's production became more ambitious. The brands "Decla Abenteuerklasse" (producing, among others, Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's Die Spinnen. 2. Teil: Die Brillantenschiff
The Spiders (film)
The Spiders is a adventure film directed by Fritz Lang. It was released in two parts in 1919 and 1920.-Synopsis:In San Francisco, well-known sportsman Kay Hoog announces to a club that he has found a message in a bottle with a map drawn by a Harvard professor who has gone missing. The map tells of...
(The Spiders, Part 2: The Diamond Ship, 1920) and "Decla Weltklasse" (including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. It is one of the most influential of German Expressionist films and is often considered one of the greatest horror movies of the silent era. This movie is cited as...
(1919), under the direction of Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene was an important film director of the German silent cinema.Robert Wiene was born in Breslau, as the elder son of the successful theatre actor Carl Wiene. His younger brother Conrad also became an actor, but Robert Wiene at first studied law at the University of Berlin. In 1908 he also...
) were created.
Decla merged with German Bioskop AG to create the Decla Bioskop AG, thus becoming in 1920 the second largest German film company after Ufa
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
. Decla owned a studio in Neubabelsberg and a cinema chain. Two subsidiaries were formed: Uco-Film GmbH and Russo Films. The Uco Film GmbH, in whose establishment the Ullstein publishing house was involved, dedicated itself to filming serials from novels. Schloß Vogelöd / The Haunted Castle and Phantom
Phantom (1922 film)
Phantom is a silent film that was directed by F. W. Murnau the same year Murnau directed Nosferatu. It is an example of German Expressionist film and has a surreal, dreamlike quality.-Plot summary:The film is told in an extended flashback...
, under the direction of F. W. Murnau
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
Friedrich Wilhelm "F. W." Murnau was one of the most influential German film directors of the silent era, and a prominent figure in the expressionist movement in German cinema during the 1920s...
, as well as Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler is the first film in the Dr. Mabuse series, about the character Doctor Mabuse who featured in the novels of Norbert Jacques. It was directed by Fritz Lang and released in 1922. The film is silent and filmed mostly 16 frames per second. It would be followed by The Testament...
, were released. The adaptation of works of world literature was the focus of Russo Films. In an interview in 1922, Pommer stated the international success of the German films would have to be linked to the production of quality pictures.
Pommer gathered around him talented directors (Carl Froelich
Carl Froelich
Carl August Froelich was a German film pioneer and film director.-Apparatus builder and cameraman:...
and Fritz Wendhausen), script writers (Thea von Harbou
Thea von Harbou
Thea Gabriele von Harbou was a German actress, author and film director of Prussian aristocratic origin. She was born in Tauperlitz in the Kingdom of Bavaria.-Early work:...
, Carl Mayer
Carl Mayer
Carl Mayer was an Austrian screenplay writer who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Haunted Castle , Der Letzte Mann , Tartuffe , Sunrise and 4 Devils , the last five being films directed by F. W...
, and Robert Liebmann), cameramen (Karl Freund
Karl Freund
Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. was a cinematographer and film director most noted for photographing Metropolis , Dracula , and television's I Love Lucy .-Early life:...
, Carl Hoffmann, and Willy Hameister), architects (Walter Roehrig and Robert Herlth), as well as actors and actresses. In November 1921, Decla-Bioskop was taken over by Ufa
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
, although it maintained a modicum of independence.
In early 1923, Erich Pommer joined the Ufa executive committee, to oversee the Decla-Bioskop operations. At the same time, he became the first chairman of the Central Organization of the German Film Industry (SPIO), which would shape German cinema during the Weimar Republic. The country's hyper inflation made expencive productions possible: in that time the work of several classical authors were adapted into movies, and internationally successful big budget films released like Der letzte Mann (The Last Laugh, 1924), Variety
Varieté
Variety is a 1925 silent drama film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont based on the novel Der Eid des Stephan Huller by . Jannings portrays "Boss Huller," an ex-trapeze artist who runs a seedy carnival with his wife and child...
(1925), Faust
Faust (1926 film)
Faust is a silent film produced in 1926 by UFA, directed by F.W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman as Faust, Emil Jannings as Mephisto, Camilla Horn as Gretchen/Marguerite, Frida Richard as her mother, Wilhelm Dieterle as her brother and Yvette Guilbert as Marthe Schwerdtlein, her aunt...
(1926), and Manon Lescaut (1926). High production costs lead Ufa to a financial crisis. Finally, due to the enormous cost increase of Fritz Lang's Metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
(6 million marks, the most expensive to date) Pommer's contract was not extended and he left with his family for Hollywood.
Working for Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, he produced two films starring Pola Negri
Pola Negri
Pola Negri was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She...
, Hotel Imperial
Hotel Imperial
The Hotel Imperial, also known as Imperial, Wien or simply The Imperial, is a five-star luxury hotel in Vienna, Austria. It is located at Kärntner Ring on the Ringstraße....
and Barbed Wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
(both 1927). Pommer was called back by the new management of Ufa (1927) that had been taken over by the right-wing press magnate Alfred Hugenberg
Alfred Hugenberg
Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg was an influential German businessman and politician. Hugenberg, a leading figure within nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, became the country's leading media proprietor within the inter-war period...
. From the USA, Pommer brought organizational and technical novelties, such as the use of turning plans or of camera crane cars.
As head of the "Erich-Pommer-Produktion der Ufa" (Erich Pommer production of the Ufa), he produced Heimkehr
Heimkehr
Heimkehr is a 1941 German anti-Polish propaganda film directed by Gustav Ucicky.It received the rare honor "Film of the Nation," bestowed on films considered to have made an outstanding contribution to the national cause...
(Homecoming) and Ungarische Rhapsodie
Ungarische Rhapsodie
Ungarische Rhapsodie is a 1928 German drama film directed by Hanns Schwarz and starring Lil Dagover, Willy Fritsch and Dita Parlo. It depicts the life of an impoverished Hungarian aristocrat.-Cast:* Lil Dagover ... Camilla...
(Hungarian Rhapsody, both 1928). His last silent productions were Asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
directed by Joe May
Joe May
Joe May , born Julius Otto Mandl, was a film director and film producer born in Austria and one of the pioneers of German cinema....
and Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna starring Brigitte Helm
Brigitte Helm
Brigitte Helm was a German actress, best remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double, the Maschinenmensch, in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis.-Career:...
and Franz Lederer
Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer was a film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States.-Europe:...
Pommer was a pioneer of sound film in Germany and of multiple language versions (MLV) as a means to cope with selling big productions to different countries: Melodie des Herzens / Melody of the Heart, made at the end of 1929 in Berlin, was produced in an German, English, French, Hungarian as well as a silent version. The "Erich-Pommer-Produktion der Ufa" turned out several international box office hits in the following years, most notably Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg — born Jonas Sternberg — was an Austrian-American film director. He is particularly noted for his distinctive mise en scène, use of lighting and soft lens, and seven-film collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich.-Youth:Von Sternberg was born Jonas Sternberg to a Jewish...
's The Blue Angel
Der blaue Engel
The Blue Angel is a film directed by Josef von Sternberg in 1930, based on Heinrich Mann's novel Professor Unrat. The film is considered to be the first major German sound film and it brought world fame to actress Marlene Dietrich...
(1930), starring Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
. Among his productions was a series of popular musical comedies such as Die Drei von der Tankstelle and Der Kongreß tanzt
Der Kongreß tanzt
Der Kongress tanzt is a Germany musical comedy film produced in 1931 by Ufa, directed by Erik Charell, starring Lilian Harvey as Christel Weinzinger, the glove seller, Willy Fritsch as Tsar Alexander I of Russia and his doppelgänger, Uralsky, Otto Wallburg as Bibikoff, his Adjutant, Conrad Veidt...
/ Congress Dances
Congress Dances
Congress Dances is a 1932 German comedy film directed by Erik Charell and starring Lilian Harvey, Conrad Veidt and Henri Garat. It was an English-language version of the German film Der Kongreß tanzt. A separate French-language version Le congrès s'amuse was also made...
or the science fiction spectacle F.P.1
F.P.1
F.P.1 antwortet nicht, or F.P.1 Doesn't Respond was the name of a novel written by noted science fiction and fantasy writer/director Kurt Siodmak, best known as the creator of The Wolf Man....
shot in three versions.
Exile and eventual return
After the Nazi came to power early in 1933, Ufa rescinded Pommer's contract and he picked up an offer of Fox Film Corporation to built Fox Europa as its European arm in Paris, where he produces Max OphülsMax Ophüls
Maximillian Oppenheimer — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German-born film director who worked in Germany , France , the United States , and France again...
' On a volé un homme (1933) and Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's Liliom
Liliom (1934 film)
Liliom is a 1934 French fantasy film directed by Fritz Lang based on the Hungarian stage play of the same name by Ferenc Molnár. The film stars Charles Boyer as Liliom , a carousel barker who is fired his job after falling in love with the chambermaid Julie...
(1934), an then went on to Hollywood again. In 1936, he worked in Britain for Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
(Fire Over England
Fire Over England
Fire Over England is a 1937 London Film Productions film drama, notable for providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. It was directed by William K. Howard and written by Clemence Dane from the novel Fire Over England by A. E. W. Mason. Leigh's performance in the movie...
, 1937). In 1937 he formed a production company, the Mayflower Picture Corp., with actor Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
. Their first film, Vessel of Wrath (1938 film)
Vessel of Wrath (1938 film)
Vessel of Wrath is a 1938 British film directed by Erich Pommer.The film is also known as The Beachcomber in the USA.- Cast :*Charles Laughton*Elsa Lanchester*Robert Newton*Tyrone Guthrie*Eliot Makeham*Dolly Mollinger*D.A. Ward...
(also known as The Beachcomber) was Pommer's only attempt at directing a film. In 1938, he produced St. Martin's Lane
Sidewalks of London
Sidewalks of London, also known as St. Martin's Lane, is a 1938 British, black-and-white, comedy drama starring Charles Laughton as a busker or street entertainer who teams up with a talented pickpocket, played by Vivien Leigh. It also stars Ronald Shiner as the Barman...
directed by Tim Whelan
Tim Whelan
Tim Whelan was an American film director, writer, producer and actor.-Selected filmography:* Adam's Apple * When Knights Were Bold * It's a Boy * Aunt Sally...
starring Laughton and Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
) and in 1939 Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Jamaica Inn
Jamaica Inn (film)
Jamaica Inn is a 1939 film made by Alfred Hitchcock adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name, the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted ....
again with Laughton.
In 1939 he signed with RKO Radio Pictures, in Hollywood, for whom he produced two pictures. Becoming seriously ill in 1941 (the chain-smoker suffered a heart attack), his contract with RKO was not renewed. Pommer's financial difficulties forced him, and his wife, to work in a porcelain factory. Pommer became a naturalized American in 1944.
In 1946, Pommer returned to Germany, where he became the highest-ranking film officer of the American military Government OMGUS
Office of Military Government, United States
The Office of Military Government, United States was the United States military-established government created shortly after the end of hostilities in occupied Germany in World War II. Under General Lucius D...
responsible for the reorganisation of the German film industry overseeing the reconstruction of studios and assigning production licenses. After some controversy, in 1949 Pommer resigned his office and returned to the United States. He attempted to launch Signature Pictures to produce German-American films, an endeavor that failed.
In 1951 he started the "Intercontinental Film GmbH" in Munich, making a few movies: Nachts auf den Strassen (1951) and Kinder, Mütter und ein General (1955). However, restrictions forced on Pommer lead him to resettle in California. Physically badly shaken (Pommer used a wheelchair after the amputation of a leg) his career as a producer was ended.
Pommer died in Los Angeles, California, in 1966.
Awards
- 1953 German Film Award for "Nachts auf den Strassen".
- 1955 Golden Globe Award for Best Picture for "Kinder, Mütter, und ein General".
- 1956 Gran-Prix de l'Union de la Critique de Cinéma (UCC) for "Kinder, Mütter, und ein General".