Fritz Arno Wagner
Encyclopedia
Fritz Arno Wagner is considered one of the most acclaimed German cinematographer
s from the 1920s to the 1950s. He played a key role in the Expressionist
film movement during the Weimar
period and is perhaps best known for excelling in "in the portrayal of horror" according to noted film critic Lotte H. Eisner
.
, Germany
, Wagner received his training at the Académie des Beaux-Arts
in Paris
. In 1910, while still attending the University of Leipzig
, he managed to secure a job as a clerk
at the Pathé film company. In 1912, he became both secretary
and chef
at the Pathé offices in Vienna
and later in Berlin
.
Interested in cinematography he became a newsreel cameraman in 1913 and was stationed in New York
for Pathé Weekly where he reported on the Mexican Revolution
. At the outbreak of World War I
in 1914, he returned to Germany to enlist in his country's elite Hussar
cavalry whilst still filming war reports. However, after being wounded, he decided to take the job of stills photographer and then 2nd cameraman at Projektions-AG Union [PAGU]. In 1919, he went to work as a primary cameraman for Decla-Bioscop.
Along with Karl Freund
, Wagner became Germany's leading cinematographer of the 20's and 30's, a master of the dark, moody lighting that characterized the expressionist movement. He worked with some of Germany most prominent directors, including Ernst Lubitsch
on Madame Du Barry (1919), F. W. Murnau on The Haunted Castle (1921), The Burning Soil (1922) and his classic Nosferatu (1922), and G.W. Pabst
on four features, The Love of Jeanne Ney
(1927), Westfront 1918
(1930), Comradeship
(1931) and The Threepenny Opera
(1931) based on the Bertolt Brecht
and Kurt Weill
musical. He also collaborated with Fritz Lang
on four films, Destiny (1921), Spies (1928), M
(1931) and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
(1932).
After the Nazis took over in 1933, causing many of the country's leading film directors to flee Germany for the U.S. (including his main collaborators: Murnau, Pabst and Lang) Wagner's career began to decline. To make ends meet he abandoned his unique style and turned to making glossy costume epics and musicals for The Ministry of Propaganda
at Universum Film AG [Ufa
] where he had once worked under Erich Pommer
. After WWII, he worked for a couple of years as a director of photography of documentaries and newsreels before returning to feature films at the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft [DEFA
] production company at Studio Babelsberg.
in a tragic automobile accident (as his colleague Murnau had 27 years earlier) whilst shooting the comedy, Ohne Mutter geht es nicht (It Doesn't Work Without a Mother) for director Erik Ode
. He is buried at the Waldfriedhof Dahlem am Hüttenweg cemetery
in Berlin.
, a fictional film about the making of Nosferatu, Wagner is portrayed by Cary Elwes
.
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
s from the 1920s to the 1950s. He played a key role in the Expressionist
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 Weimar
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...
period and is perhaps best known for excelling in "in the portrayal of horror" according to noted film critic Lotte H. Eisner
Lotte H. Eisner
Lotte H. Eisner was a French-German film critic, historian, writer and poet.She was born Lotte Henriette Eisner in Berlin as a daughter of a Jewish merchant...
.
Background
Born in Schmiedefeld am RennsteigSchmiedefeld am Rennsteig
Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig is a municipality in the district Ilm-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany....
, Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, Wagner received his training at the Académie des Beaux-Arts
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. In 1910, while still attending the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
, he managed to secure a job as a clerk
Clerk
Clerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. It is also occasionally used to refer to third-year medical students completing a medical clerkship. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record...
at the Pathé film company. In 1912, he became both secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
and chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
at the Pathé offices in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and later in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Career as Cinematographer
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for Pathé Weekly where he reported on the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
. At the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914, he returned to Germany to enlist in his country's elite Hussar
Hussar
Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
cavalry whilst still filming war reports. However, after being wounded, he decided to take the job of stills photographer and then 2nd cameraman at Projektions-AG Union [PAGU]. In 1919, he went to work as a primary cameraman for Decla-Bioscop.
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:...
, Wagner became Germany's leading cinematographer of the 20's and 30's, a master of the dark, moody lighting that characterized the expressionist movement. He worked with some of Germany most prominent directors, including Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
on Madame Du Barry (1919), F. W. Murnau on The Haunted Castle (1921), The Burning Soil (1922) and his classic Nosferatu (1922), and G.W. Pabst
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
-Biography:Pabst was born in Raudnitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary , the son of a railroad employee.Returning from the United States, he was in France when World War I began...
on four features, The Love of Jeanne Ney
The Love of Jeanne Ney
The Love of Jeanne Ney is a 1927 silent German drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst.-Cast:* Édith Jéhanne - Jeanne Ney* Uno Henning - Andreas Labov* Fritz Rasp - Khalibiev* Brigitte Helm - Gabrielle* Adolf E...
(1927), Westfront 1918
Westfront 1918
Westfront 1918 is a German film, set mostly in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I. It was directed in 1930 by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, from the novel Vier von der Infanterie by Ernst Johannsen, and deals with the impact of the war on a group of infantrymen...
(1930), Comradeship
Kameradschaft
Comradeship is a dramatic film with socialist overtones directed by German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst. The French-German co-production drama is noted for combining expressionism and realism ....
(1931) and The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera (1931 film)
The Threepenny Opera is a 1931 German musical film directed by G. W. Pabst. It was produced by Seymour Nebenzal's Nero-Film for Tonbild-Syndikat AG , Berlin and Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH, Berlin. The film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht...
(1931) based on the Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
and Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
musical. He also collaborated with 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...
on four films, Destiny (1921), Spies (1928), M
M (1931 film)
M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
(1931) and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is a 1933 German crime film directed by Fritz Lang. The movie is a sequel to Lang's silent film Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and features many cast and crew members from Lang's previous films. The film features Rudolf Klein-Rogge as Dr. Mabuse who is in an insane asylum...
(1932).
After the Nazis took over in 1933, causing many of the country's leading film directors to flee Germany for the U.S. (including his main collaborators: Murnau, Pabst and Lang) Wagner's career began to decline. To make ends meet he abandoned his unique style and turned to making glossy costume epics and musicals for The Ministry of Propaganda
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was Nazi Germany's ministry that enforced Nazi Party ideology in Germany and regulated its culture and society. Founded on March 13, 1933, by Adolf Hitler's new National Socialist government, the Ministry was headed by Dr...
at Universum Film AG [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...
] where he had once worked under Erich Pommer
Erich Pommer
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...
. After WWII, he worked for a couple of years as a director of photography of documentaries and newsreels before returning to feature films at the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft [DEFA
Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft
Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft, better known as DEFA, was the public-owned film studio in East Germany throughout that country's history.-History:...
] production company at Studio Babelsberg.
Death
On August 18, 1958, Wagner died in GöttingenGöttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
in a tragic automobile accident (as his colleague Murnau had 27 years earlier) whilst shooting the comedy, Ohne Mutter geht es nicht (It Doesn't Work Without a Mother) for director Erik Ode
Erik Ode
Erik Ode was a German actor who was most famous for playing Kommissar Herbert Keller in the German television drama Der Kommissar . He married Hilde Volk in 1942.-External links:** * *...
. He is buried at the Waldfriedhof Dahlem am Hüttenweg cemetery
Waldfriedhof Dahlem
The Waldfriedhof Dahlem is a cemetery in Berlin, in the district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf on the edge of the Grunewald forest at Hüttenweg 47. Densely planted with conifers and designed between 1931 and 1933 after the plans of Albert Brodersen, it is one of Berlin's more recent cemeteries...
in Berlin.
Portrayals
In Shadow of the VampireShadow of the Vampire
Shadow of the Vampire is a 2000 horror film directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, and Udo Kier. The film is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W....
, a fictional film about the making of Nosferatu, Wagner is portrayed by Cary Elwes
Cary Elwes
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
.
Partial filmography
- As a cinematographer
- Destiny (1921)
- The Haunted Castle (1921)
- Nosferatu (1922)
- The Burning Soil (1922)
- Warning Shadows (1922)
- The Love of Jeanne NeyThe Love of Jeanne NeyThe Love of Jeanne Ney is a 1927 silent German drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst.-Cast:* Édith Jéhanne - Jeanne Ney* Uno Henning - Andreas Labov* Fritz Rasp - Khalibiev* Brigitte Helm - Gabrielle* Adolf E...
(1927) - SpiesSpioneSpione is a German silent espionage thriller written and directed by Fritz Lang in 1928. Lang's wife, Thea von Harbou, worked as a co-writer. The film was Lang's penultimate silent film, and the first for his own production company; Fritz Lang-film GmbH. As in Lang's Mabuse films, such as Dr...
(1928) - Diary of a Lost GirlDiary of a Lost GirlDiary of a Lost Girl is a 1929 silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and starring the American silent star Louise Brooks. It is shot in black and white, and various versions of the film range from 79 minutes to 116 minutes in length. This was Brooks' second and last film with Pabst, and...
(1929) - Westfront 1918Westfront 1918Westfront 1918 is a German film, set mostly in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I. It was directed in 1930 by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, from the novel Vier von der Infanterie by Ernst Johannsen, and deals with the impact of the war on a group of infantrymen...
(1930) - ComradeshipKameradschaftComradeship is a dramatic film with socialist overtones directed by German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst. The French-German co-production drama is noted for combining expressionism and realism ....
(1931) - MM (1931 film)M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
(1931) - The Threepenny OperaThe Threepenny Opera (1931 film)The Threepenny Opera is a 1931 German musical film directed by G. W. Pabst. It was produced by Seymour Nebenzal's Nero-Film for Tonbild-Syndikat AG , Berlin and Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH, Berlin. The film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht...
(1931) - The Testament of Dr. MabuseThe Testament of Dr. MabuseThe Testament of Dr. Mabuse is a 1933 German crime film directed by Fritz Lang. The movie is a sequel to Lang's silent film Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and features many cast and crew members from Lang's previous films. The film features Rudolf Klein-Rogge as Dr. Mabuse who is in an insane asylum...
(1933) - The Man Who Was Sherlock HolmesThe Man Who Was Sherlock HolmesThe Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes is a German mystery comedy of 1937, directed by Karl Hartl.- Plot :Hans Albers plays the detective Morris Flynn, and Heinz Rühmann his assistant Macky McMacpherson...
(1937)