Gustav Ucicky
Encyclopedia
Gustav Ucicky was an acclaimed Austrian
film director
, screenwriter
and cinematographer
. He was one of the more successful and acclaimed directors in Austria
and Germany
from the 1930s through to the early 1960s. His work covered a wide variety of genres, but he most acclaimed for his work in romantic drama and drama films.
, Ucicky is often stated to have been the illegitimate son of painter Gustav Klimt
for whom his mother Maria Učicky from Prague
worked and modelled, although this paternity is unconfirmed. He had begun an apprenticeship as a graphic designer, when he entered the film industry at the age of 17. One day in 1916, he and his friend Karl Hartl
turned up at the Sascha-Film
studios of Count Alexander Kolowrat
looking for work and were hired. Ucicky was initially employed as a mere camera assistant, eventually becoming a camera operator and gained experience working in documentaries before shooting his first feature in 1919. Over the next five years, he worked on some of the studio's most acclaimed movies, including Sodom und Gomorrha (1922), and worked with some of the top directors of the period, including Michael Curtiz
.
In 1927, Ucicky moved into directorship on a series of productions after the release of Die Pratermizzi
and Café Elektric
(starring Marlene Dietrich
and Willi Forst
) in 1927, when the death of the studio's founder Kolowrat and the subsequent bankruptcy of the company forced him to relocate his career to Germany
. In 1929, he was hired by the Ufa Film Company
in Berlin
and was part of the first wave of directors there to embrace sound film. After directing Hokuspokus/The Temporary Widow
in 1930, he quickly moved into the front rank of young directors, generating a string of popular, successful films, like Morgenrot
. His 1933 drama Flüchtlinge
was a major success in Germany, in addition to being well received in America, despite it being a propaganda film
about a German official (Hans Albers
) who helps to rescue a group of his countrymen from the brutality of the Soviet Union
and return them to their homeland. Ucicky was one of the leading directors at Ufa throughout the mid- and late '30s, working with major stars, including Emil Jannings
(in Der zerbrochene Krug, 1937).
After the German occupation of Austria
in 1938, Ucicky returned to Vienna and became a key figure of Wien-Film
, the government-sponsored production company that was intended to shoot propaganda movies on behalf of the Third Reich. Ucicky achieved acclaim for Der Postmeister
(aka The Stationmaster, 1940), which won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign film at the Venice Film Festival
, and among his subsequent movies, Heimkehr
(1941) was also honored at the Venice festival. The author Elfriede Jelinek
states that Heimkehr is “the worst propaganda feature of the Nazis at all”.
As late as 1940, he was still a respected name among American critics in New York
, with his drama Mutterliebe ("Mother Love") receiving high praise for his direction. Like most of his colleagues, his career came to a standstill in the years immediately after the war, as economic conditions and the four-power occupation of Vienna made production extremely difficult. It was not until 1948 that Ucicky re-emerged with a film entitled, Nach dem Sturm ("After the Storm"). He continued making successful films, including many that were released internationally, such as Die Hexe ("The Witch"), 1954, up until his death from a heart attack in 1961.
Ucicky's last finished film was Das Erbe von Björndal ("The Inheritance of Bjorndal"). At the time of his death, he was preparing a film entitled Das Letzte Kapitel ("The Last Chapter"), which was completed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner
.
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and cinematographer
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...
. He was one of the more successful and acclaimed directors in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
from the 1930s through to the early 1960s. His work covered a wide variety of genres, but he most acclaimed for his work in romantic drama and drama films.
Biography
Born in ViennaVienna
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...
, Ucicky is often stated to have been the illegitimate son of painter Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
for whom his mother Maria Učicky from Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
worked and modelled, although this paternity is unconfirmed. He had begun an apprenticeship as a graphic designer, when he entered the film industry at the age of 17. One day in 1916, he and his friend Karl Hartl
Karl Hartl
Karl Hartl was an Austrian film director.-Life:Born in Vienna, Hartl began his film career at the Austrian Sascha-Film company of Alexander Kolowrat and from 1919 was assistant to the Hungarian director Alexander Korda...
turned up at the Sascha-Film
Sascha-Film
Sascha-Film, in full Sascha-Filmindustrie AG and from 1933 Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG, was the largest Austrian film production company of the silent film and early sound film period.-History:...
studios of Count Alexander Kolowrat
Alexander Kolowrat
Count Alexander Joseph von Kolowrat-Krakowsky , better known as "Sascha", was an Austrian film producer of Bohemian descent...
looking for work and were hired. Ucicky was initially employed as a mere camera assistant, eventually becoming a camera operator and gained experience working in documentaries before shooting his first feature in 1919. Over the next five years, he worked on some of the studio's most acclaimed movies, including Sodom und Gomorrha (1922), and worked with some of the top directors of the period, including Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
.
In 1927, Ucicky moved into directorship on a series of productions after the release of Die Pratermizzi
Die Pratermizzi
Die Pratermizzi is an Austrian silent drama film made by Gustav Ucicky in 1926, released in January 1927, which was long believed lost until its rediscovery in 2005.-Plot:...
and Café Elektric
Café Elektric
Café Elektric is an Austrian film directed by Gustav Ucicky.- Plot outline :The daughter of a wealthy industrialist falls for a pickpocket .- Cast :* Willi Forst ... Fredl* Marlene Dietrich ... Erni Göttlinger...
(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...
and Willi Forst
Willi Forst
Willi Forst, born Wilhelm Anton Frohs was an Austrian actor, screenwriter, film director, film producer and singer...
) in 1927, when the death of the studio's founder Kolowrat and the subsequent bankruptcy of the company forced him to relocate his career to Germany
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...
. In 1929, he was hired by the Ufa Film Company
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...
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...
and was part of the first wave of directors there to embrace sound film. After directing Hokuspokus/The Temporary Widow
The Temporary Widow
The Temporary Widow is a 1930 British-German comedy film by the Austrian director Gustav Ucicky, starring Laurence Olivier in his first film role, Lilian Harvey and Athole Stewart....
in 1930, he quickly moved into the front rank of young directors, generating a string of popular, successful films, like Morgenrot
Morgenrot
Morgenrot is a 1933 German submarine film set during World War I.Released three days after Adolf Hitler became Reichskanzler, it was the first film to have its screening in Nazi Germany. It became a symbol of the new times touted by the Nazi regime...
. His 1933 drama Flüchtlinge
Flüchtlinge
Flüchtlinge is a 1933 German film depicting Volga German refugees persecuted by the Bolsheviks on the Sino-Russian border in Manchuria in 1928.The film was directed by Gustav Ucicky and starred Hans Albers, Käthe von Nagy and Eugen Klopfer...
was a major success in Germany, in addition to being well received in America, despite it being a propaganda film
Propaganda film
The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...
about a German official (Hans Albers
Hans Albers
Hans Philipp August Albers was a German actor and singer. He was the single biggest male movie star in Germany between 1930 and 1945 and one of the most popular German actors of the twentieth century.- Life and work :...
) who helps to rescue a group of his countrymen from the brutality of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and return them to their homeland. Ucicky was one of the leading directors at Ufa throughout the mid- and late '30s, working with major stars, including Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings was a German actor. He was not only the first actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, but also the first person to be presented an Oscar...
(in Der zerbrochene Krug, 1937).
After the German occupation of Austria
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
in 1938, Ucicky returned to Vienna and became a key figure of Wien-Film
Wien-Film
Wien-Film GmbH was a large Austrian film company, which in 1938 succeeded the Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG and lasted until 1985...
, the government-sponsored production company that was intended to shoot propaganda movies on behalf of the Third Reich. Ucicky achieved acclaim for Der Postmeister
Der Postmeister
Der Postmeister was a 1941 German film directed by Gustav Ucicky. Released during the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it depicts Russians in a sympathetic light, unlike their depiction in such films as Friesennot before or GPU after.At the Venice Film Festival, it won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign...
(aka The Stationmaster, 1940), which won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign film at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
, and among his subsequent movies, 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...
(1941) was also honored at the Venice festival. The author Elfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004 for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that, with extraordinary linguistic zeal, reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power."-...
states that Heimkehr is “the worst propaganda feature of the Nazis at all”.
As late as 1940, he was still a respected name among American critics in New York
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...
, with his drama Mutterliebe ("Mother Love") receiving high praise for his direction. Like most of his colleagues, his career came to a standstill in the years immediately after the war, as economic conditions and the four-power occupation of Vienna made production extremely difficult. It was not until 1948 that Ucicky re-emerged with a film entitled, Nach dem Sturm ("After the Storm"). He continued making successful films, including many that were released internationally, such as Die Hexe ("The Witch"), 1954, up until his death from a heart attack in 1961.
Ucicky's last finished film was Das Erbe von Björndal ("The Inheritance of Bjorndal"). At the time of his death, he was preparing a film entitled Das Letzte Kapitel ("The Last Chapter"), which was completed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner
Wolfgang Liebeneiner
Wolfgang Georg Louis Liebeneiner was a German actor, film director and theater director.He was born in Liebau in Prussian Silesia. In 1928, he was taught by Otto Falckenberg, the director of the Munich Kammerspiele, in acting and directing...
.
Filmography
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The Broken Jug The Broken Jug is a comedy written by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. Kleist first conceived the idea for the play in 1801, upon looking at a copper engraving in Heinrich Zschokke's house entitled "Le juge, ou la cruche cassée." In 1803, challenged over his ability to write comedy,... Der Postmeister Der Postmeister was a 1941 German film directed by Gustav Ucicky. Released during the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it depicts Russians in a sympathetic light, unlike their depiction in such films as Friesennot before or GPU after.At the Venice Film Festival, it won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign... 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... |
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