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Walter Hasenclever


1890 - 1940

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The author Walter Hasenclever was also active in the film business of the 20s for a brief time both as an actor and screenwriter.

He already began to write during his years of study and he published "Nirwana" (09) and the poetry book "Städte, Nächte und Menschen" (10).

He managed his breakthrough as a writer four years later with "Der Sohn" (14) which established him as an expressionistic author.

Afterwards his artistic career became interrupted by World War I for which he volunteered. But in the next years he was confronted with the hard reality and he decided to leave he army in 1917 because for health reasons.

In the next years he became established as a writer and he published "Die Mörder sitzen in der Oper" (17) "Tod und Auferstehung" (17), "Antigone" (17), "Die Menschen" (18), "Die Entscheidung" (19), "Jenseits" (20), "Gosbeck" (22), "Mord" (26), "Ein besserer Herr" (26) and "Ehen werden im Himmel geschlossen" (28).

On the high of his career as an author he got in touch with the film business.
He imerpsonated the role of a companion in the movie "Brüder" (23) with Alfred Habel and Julius Arnfeld, it followed the as the secretary of the consul in "Tagebuch einer Kokotte" (29) at the side of Fee Malten, Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur, Fred Döderlein, Paul Henckels, Mary Kid, Mathias Wieman and Ida Wüst folgte.

Beside it he also wrote the screenplays for "Ein besserer Herr" (28) and "L'amour chante" (30).
Moreover he wrote the German dialogue for the production "Anna Christie" (30) with Greta Garbo.
 
Walter Hasenclever could only publish few more books in the 30s. His works were classified as forbidden by the National Socialists.
His last books were "Christoph Kolumbus oder die Entdeckung Amerikas" (32), "Münchhausen" (34) and "Konflikt in Assyrien" (38).

Walter Hasenclever fled to Paris where he lived and even got married. But as a German he was detained twice but released again.
When Germany occupied France he got suicide by an overdose of barbiturates in order to evade the National Socialists.

Some of Walter Hasenclevers books were also filmed, sometimes several times.
To these movies belong "Ein besserer Herr" (63) with Viktor de Kowa, Ernst Fritz Fürbringer and Blandine Ebinger, "Münchhausen" (66) with Richard Münch, Heinz Weiss and Ella Büchi, Helmut Käutner's "Christoph Kolumbus oder Die Entdeckung Amerikas" (69) with Karl Michael Vogler, Udo Vioff, Joseph Offenbach, Klaus Schwarzkopf, Margot Trooger, Theo Lingen, Hans Clarin and Hannelore Elsner, "Ein besserer Herr" (73) directed by Boy Gobert with Ulrich Matschoss, Jan Niklas, Boy Gobert, Manfred Steffen and Ursela Monn, "Münchhausens letzte Liebe" (88) with Christian Berkel, Hans Helmut Dickow, Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff and Gunnar Möller and "Ein besserer Herr" (88) with Detlef Giess and Heide Kipp.

 
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