Luise Fleck
Encyclopedia
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...
n 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:...
, and the second ever female film director in the world, after Alice Guy-Blaché
Alice Guy-Blaché
Alice Guy-Blaché was a French pioneer filmmaker who was the first female director in the motion picture industry and is considered to be one of the first directors of a fiction film.-Early years:...
. Her son, Walter Kolm-Veltée
Walter Kolm-Veltée
Walter Kolm-Veltée was an Austrian film director. He directed nine films between 1933 and 1959. He was the son of Austrian film director Luise Fleck from her first marriage....
, was also a noted film director.
Austria, Wiener Kunstfilm and Vita-Film: to 1926
Luise was 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...
, the daughter of Louis Veltée, proprietor of the city panopticon
Panopticon
The Panopticon is a type of building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe all inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether or not they are being watched...
, descended from a family originating in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, who had settled in Austria in the early 19th century. Her brother was Claudius Veltée, also later known as a film director.
Even in her childhood she helped her father in his business by working on the till. In January 1910, she and her first husband, Anton Kolm
Anton Kolm
Anton Kolm was an Austrian photographer who became one of the first film directors and film producers in the history of Austrian cinema....
, along with the cameraman Jacob Fleck
Jacob Fleck
Jacob Fleck was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, film producer and cameraman.-Biography:...
and her brother Claudius, set up the Erste österreichische Kinofilms-Industrie, the earliest significant film production company in Austria, with financial support from a number of sources, including Luise's father. It was renamed the Österreichisch-Ungarische Kinoindustrie GmbH a year later, and at the end of 1911, after a major financial reconstruction, was renamed the Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie.
The company's first productions were short documentary pieces made in Vienna and other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Competition was tough, as the new company was up against the very large international French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
film companies that dominated the Austria market at the time.
The French companies were expelled from Austria at the beginning 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...
, but there was new competition in the form of the extremely wealthy 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:...
company, also Austrian. During the war the two companies struggled for dominance in the newsreel and propaganda markets, but the superior financial resources of Sascha-Film saw them firmly in the leading position by 1918, and carried them through the economic and political collapse of Austria immediately following the end
of the war. Wiener Kunstfilm was obliged to dissolve, but Anton Kolm was able to re-structure its finances and relaunch the company as Vita-Film
Vita-Film
Vita-Film was founded in 1919 as the successor company to Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie by Anton and Luise Kolm.By 1923 Vita-Film had built the Rosenhügel Film Studios in the Vienna suburbs, which still stand and are still used for film production...
in 1919.
Work began immediately on prestigious new film studios at Rosenhügel in Mauer
Mauer, Vienna
Mauer is a former village of Lower Austria that since 1938 has been part of Vienna. Today it is part of the 23rd District of Vienna, Liesing. Its name literally means "wall".- History :...
, but in 1922, as a result of severe disagreements with their financial backers, Anton and Luise Kolm and Jacob Fleck severed their connection with Vita-Film. Anton died later in the same year. Luise and Fleck married in 1924 and left for 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...
in 1926.
Germany 1926-33; Austria 1933-40
In Germany Luise Fleck and her husband worked for Berlin production companies, particularly for Liddy Hegewald and UFAUniversum 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...
. During this period they made between 30 and 40 films, sometimes as many as nine in a single year. When Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
took power in 1933 they returned to Vienna, as Jacob Fleck was Jewish, but continued to produce for "Hegewald-Film" in Vienna and 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...
, while Luise's son Walter Kolm-Veltée, who had taken a qualification in sound production at Tobis-Tonbild-Syndikat, was nominally responsible for direction.
When in 1938 the National Socialists also took power in Austria in the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
, and control over the Austrian film industry passed virtually overnight into the hands of the Reichskulturkammer
Reichskulturkammer
The Reichskulturkammer was an institution of Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the Gleichschaltung process at the instigation of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels as a professional organization of all German creative artists...
, there was no more work for them.
Exile 1940-47
Jacob Fleck was interned in 1938 in Dachau Concentration Camp, but was released in 1940, when he and Luise went into exile in ShanghaiShanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. They co-operated with the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
director Fei Mu
Fei Mu
Fei Mu was a major Chinese film director from the pre-Communist era.-Biography:Born in Shanghai, China, Fei Mu is considered by many to be one of the major film directors prior to the communist revolution in 1949...
in the co-direction of the film Söhne und Töchter der Welt ("Sons and Daughters of the World"), which before the establishment of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
was the only collaboration between Chinese and foreign film makers. Its premiere took place on 4 October 1941 in the Yin Du Theatre in Shanghai.
Return to Austria 1947-50
In 1947, the same year in which Austria's first post-war film studio opened the Flecks returned to Vienna to plan their comeback, which however never materialised, although a few films were made under the name of a revived Neuer Wiener-Kunstfilm. Luise Fleck died in 1950, Jacob Fleck three years later.Works
In 1911 her first credited work as co-director was released: Die GlückspuppeDie Glückspuppe
Die Glückspuppe is a short 1911 Austrian film directed by Jakob and Luise Fleck.-Cast:*Mizzi Bittner ... Blumenverkäuferin Mizzi* Werzel ... Elly, ihr Kind*Max Bing ... Robert Sassen*Ernst Lunzer...
("Good Luck Doll"). Other dramas followed in the same year: Der Dorftrottel ("The Village Idiot"), Tragödie eines Fabriksmädels ("Tragedy of a Factory Girl") and Nur ein armer Knecht ("Just a Poor Fellow"). In 1913 were premiered her works as director and producer "Der Psychiater" ("The Psychiatrist") and Das Proletarierherz ("The Proletarian Heart").
During 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...
she directed the pro-Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
dramas Mit Herz und Hand fürs Vaterland ("With Hand and Heart for the Fatherland") (1915) and Mit Gott für Kaiser und Reich ("With God for Kaiser and Reich") (1916). In 1918 appeared Der Doppelselbstmord ("The Double Suicide").
She also made use of Austrian literature in Die Ahnfrau ("The Ancestress"), based on the play of the same name by Franz Grillparzer
Franz Grillparzer
Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who is chiefly known for his dramas. He also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral.-Biography:...
, and Lumpazivagabundus, both from 1919. From 1911 to 1922, the year in which her husband Anton died, Luise is known to have directed over 45 films, and the number may have been considerably higher.
Luise Kolm, as she was then called, was principally responsible for the studio's production of socially critical dramas that dealt with questions of class conflict and ideological questions, unlike the standard productions of other film studios of the time. The actor Eduard Sekler, who worked for Wiener Kunstfilm, described her in this way: "Luise Kolm was a brilliant all-round talent while her husband Kolm just looked after the money - she did everything, she cut and spliced the films, wrote the intertitle
Intertitle
In motion pictures, an intertitle is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action, at various points, generally to convey character dialogue, or descriptive narrative material related to, but not necessarily covered by, the material photographed.Intertitles...
s and helped her brother in the laboratory. Without her drive and initiative it's doubtful if the firm could have remained in existence."
Further works by her were the film adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler
Dr. Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.- Biography :Arthur Schnitzler, son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter , was born in Praterstraße 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian...
's middle-class tragedy Liebelei ("Flirtation") in 1927 and Wenn die Soldaten... ("when The Soldiers...") in 1931. Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld ("The Pastor of Kirchfeld") appeared in cinemas in 1937. It was Luise and Jacob Fleck's first sound film production, based on a well-known anti-clerical play of 1870 by Ludwig Anzengruber
Ludwig Anzengruber
Ludwig Anzengruber was an Austrian dramatist, novelist and poet. He was born and died in Vienna.- Origins:...
. It was intended as anti-Nazi and pro-Catholic "Austria propaganda", but was not perceived as such by the critics, who misinterpreted and discounted it.
Altogether Luise Fleck wrote at least 18 screenplays, directed 53 films and produced 129 films. Some sources assume far higher figures, allowing for her work being often uncredited.
Sources
- Nepf, Markus. Die Pionierarbeit von Anton Kolm, Louise Velteé/Kolm/Fleck und Jacob Fleck bis zu Beginn des 1. Weltkrieges. Thesis. Vienna 1991, 200 S. (ÖFA Wien)
- Teng; Guoqiang. Fluchtpunkt Shanghai. Luise und Jakob Fleck in China 1939-1946. In: Film-Exil SDK (4/1994)
- Dassanowsky, Robert von. Female Visions: Four Female Austrian Film Pioneers. In: Modern Austrian Literature. Vol. 32, No. 1, 1999