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THE
GERMAN
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| Paul
Wegener
1874 - 1948 |
.
.  Paul Wegener was a man who was interested in the art of the Far East
and the world literature. Especially the mystery could fascinate him very
much. To his favorite writers belong authors like Edgar Allan Poe and E.T.A.
Hoffmann.
This could be one reasen that he looked at the movie in his starting time as a future element of the society. Therefore it wasn't a surprise that he amazed the audience with his first picture called "Der Student von Prag" (13), where he played a double role. The picture was directed in a remarkable effective double exposure and set new stress. The story had been written by the famous Hanns Heinz Ewers, who was called the successor of Edgar Allan Poe. This picture went down in history as first movie with artistic demanding in Germany together with Max Macks movie "Der Andere" (12). Paul Wegener didn't look like a typical German. His face looked like it was created from stone and his sticking out cheekbones and narrow eyes let him seem Far Eastern like a Mongolian. As most of his colleagues of this time he won his spurs at the theater. There he worked since 1895 and remained true to this profession till his death. In 1914 he shot "Der Golem"; with this movie he started a trilogy - probably the first one in film history - and it followed "Der Golem und die Tänzerin" (17) and "Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam" (20). With last one he achieved the first worldwide success for a German movie. His first movies dealt with the "twilight zone" and created nearly fairytale lines. To this movies count "Rübezahls Hochzeit" (16),"Der Yoghi" (16) and "Der Rattenfänger" (18). In the 20's he concentrated more and more on the play-acting, his direction work became rare. Predestined because of his appearance he played most of the time twilight characters, so in "Svengali" (27), "Alraune" (27) and "Unheimliche Geschichten" (32) - Paul Wegenerss first sound film. In the 30's he returned to the direction and captured movies like "Ein Mann will nach Deutschland" (34) and "Unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit" (37) on the screen. After the wartime he turned more towards the theater. He had his last
film part in the movie "Der grosse Mandarin" (48).
Paul Wegener did more for the German film than anybody, above all he
was the first who saw for what you could use the medium film. He was the
pioneer of the Sciencefiction film, of the fantastic film, of the special
effects.
Other movies with Paul Wegener (Actor,
Director, Writer):
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