Robert Wiene German ˈviːnə 27 April 1873 17 July 1938 was a German film director screenwriter and producer active during

Robert Wiene (German: [ˈviːnə]; 27 April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was a German film director, screenwriter and producer, active during the silent era. He is widely-known for directing the landmark 1920 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and a succession of other expressionist films. Wiene also directed a variety of other films of varying styles and genres. Following the Nazi rise to power in Germany, Wiene, who was of Jewish descent, fled into exile.

Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene in the early 1930s
Born	(1873-04-27)27 April 1873 Breslau, Silesia, German Empire (present-day Wrocław, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland)
Died	17 July 1938(1938-07-17) (aged 65) Paris, France
Occupations	Film director screenwriter
Years active	1913–1938
Relatives	Conrad Wiene (brother)

Biography

Early life

Robert Wiene was born in Breslau, in the German Province of Silesia (now the city of Wrocław in Poland), as the elder son of the successful theatre actor Karl Wiene. His younger brother Conrad also became an actor. Wiene spent his childhood in various cities throughout Central and Western Europe, including Vienna, Stuttgart, Dresden and Prague.

Prior to his directing career, Wiene at studied law at the University of Berlin^{[citation needed]} and, from 1895, at the University of Vienna. He practiced law in Weimar until 1908, when he moved back to Vienna to manage a theatre company. During this time, he also acted, in small parts on the stage.

Career in Austria and Germany

His first involvement with film was in 1912, writing and (possibly) directing Die Waffen der Jugend.^{[citation needed]} In 1919, he co-founded with Heinz Hanus the Filmbund (Film Union), a professional association of Austrian filmmakers and one of the first organizations of its kind in Europe.

His most memorable feature films are the horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Raskolnikow (1923), an adaptation of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, both of which had a deep influence on the German cinema of that time.^{[citation needed]}

Exile and death

Four months after the Nazis took power, Wiene's latest film, Taifun, was banned on 3 May 1933. A Hungarian film company had been inviting German directors to come to Budapest to make films in simultaneous German/Hungarian versions, and given his uncertain career prospects under the new German regime Wiene took up that offer in September to direct "One Night in Venice" (1934). Wiene went later to London, and finally to Paris where together with Jean Cocteau he tried to produce a sound remake of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Wiene never returned to Germany, although the reason is unclear. Although one German obituary identified him as a Jew, he had identified himself as a Protestant in Viennese university and residence records from 1894 through 1925. In addition, Wiene had adapted from a novel and directed the 1923 silent religious film I.N.R.I., depicting in a conventional way the events preceding the crucifixion of Christ.^{[citation needed]}

Wiene died in Paris ten days before the end of production of a spy film, Ultimatum, after having suffered from cancer. The film was finished by Wiene's friend Robert Siodmak.^{[citation needed]}

Selected filmography

Only about 20 of the more than 90 movies in which Robert Wiene collaborated still exist:

Director

1912Die Waffen der Jugend (The Weapons of Youth) {probably co-director of }
1914Er rechts, sie links (He This Way, She That Way)
1915Die Konservenbraut (The Canned Bride)
1915Der springende Hirsch oder Die Diebe von Günsterburg (The Leaping Stag) (directed together with )
1916Höhen und Tiefen (Highs and Lows) {Short film}
1916Frau Eva (Mrs. Eva)
1916Der Liebesbrief der Königin (The Queen's Love Letter)
1916Der Sekretär der Königin (The Queen's Secretary)
1916Das wandernde Licht (The Wandering Light)
1916Die Räuberbraut (The Robber Bride)
1916Der Mann im Spiegel (The Man in the Mirror)
1916Lehmanns Brautfahrt (Lehmann's Honeymoon)
1917Das Leben ein Traum (Life Is a Dream)
1917Der standhafte Benjamin (Steadfast Benjamin)
1917Veilchen Nr. 4 (Violet no. 4) {probably director}
1917Furcht (Fear)
1920Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
1920Die drei Tänze der Mary Wilford (The Three Dances of Mary Wilford)
1920Genuine (Genuine)
1920Die Nacht der Königin Isabeau (The Night of Queen Isabeau)
1920Der Schrecken im Hause Ardon (Panic in the House of Ardon)
1921Die Rache einer Frau (A Woman's Revenge)
1922Die höllische Macht (The Infernal Power)
1923Raskolnikow (Raskolnikow)
1923Der Puppenmacher von Kiang-Ning (The Doll Maker of Kiang-Ning)
1923I.N.R.I. (I.N.R.I.)
1924Orlac's Hände (The Hands of Orlac)
1924Pension Groonen (Boarding House Groonen)
1925Der Leibgardist (= Der Gardeoffizier) (The Guardsman)
1926Der Rosenkavalier (Der Rosenkavalier)
1926Die Königin vom Moulin Rouge (The Queen of Moulin Rouge)
1927Die Geliebte (The Mistress)
1927Die berühmte Frau (The Famous Woman)
1928Die Frau auf der Folter (The Woman on the Rack)
1928Leontines Ehemänner (Leontine's Husbands)
1928Die grosse Abenteuerin (The Great Adventuress)
1928Unfug der Liebe (Folly of Love)
1930Der Andere (The Other)
1930Le procureur Hallers (The Prosecutor Hallers)
1931Nuits de Venise (co-director Pierre Billon)
1931Der Liebesexpress (The Love Express)
1931Panik in Chicago (Panic in Chicago)
1933Polizeiakte 909 (= Taifun) (Typhoon)
1934Eine Nacht in Venedig (One Night in Venice)
1938Ultimatum (Ultimatum) (finished after his death by Robert Siodmak)

Writer

The Weapons of Youth (1913)
The Marriage of Luise Rohrbach (1917)
Frank Hansen's Fortune (1917)
Imprisoned Soul (1917)
The Princess of Neutralia (1917)
Countess Kitchenmaid (1918)
The Blue Lantern (1918)
The Ringwall Family (1918)
Put to the Test (1918)
Precious Stones (1918)
The Lady, the Devil and the Model (1918)
Agnes Arnau and Her Three Suitors (1918)
The Homecoming of Odysseus (1918)
Her Sport (1919)
The Man of Action (1919)
Victim of Society (1919)
A Drive into the Blue (1919)
The Living Dead (1919)
Ruth's Two Husbands (1919)
Diamonds (1920)
Monika Vogelsang (1920)
The Adventure of Doctor Kircheisen (1921)
The Power of Darkness (1924)
The Guardsman (1925)
Strauss Is Playing Today (1928)
Typhoon (1933)

Notes

Christian Rogowski, The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema: Rediscovering Germany's Filmic Legacy, Camden House (2010), p. 6
Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. (2007). 501 Movie Directors. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 13. ISBN 9781844035731. OCLC 1347156402.
Palfy, Isabella (1993). "Kino und Film in der ersten österreichischen Republik. Die Filmpublizistik der Tonfilmzeit von 1929-1938". Fakultät für Grund- und Integrativwissenschaften (Dissertation) (77). Universität Wien.
Jung, Uli; Schatzberg, Walter (1993). "The Invisible Man behind "Caligari": The Life of Robert Wiene". Film History. 5 (1): 22–35. JSTOR 3815107.
Robinson, David. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. British Film Institute, 2004, p. 58.
Uli Jung, Walter Schatzberg: Beyond Caligari – The Films of Robert Wiene. Berghahn Books, p. vi.

References

Jung, Uli & Schatzberg, Walter. Beyond Caligari: The Films of Robert Wiene. Berghahn Books, 1999.

External links

Robert Wiene at IMDb

[1] Christian Rogowski, The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema: Rediscovering Germany's Filmic Legacy, Camden House (2010), p. 6

[2] Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. (2007). 501 Movie Directors. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 13. ISBN 9781844035731. OCLC 1347156402.

[3] Palfy, Isabella (1993). "Kino und Film in der ersten österreichischen Republik. Die Filmpublizistik der Tonfilmzeit von 1929-1938". Fakultät für Grund- und Integrativwissenschaften (Dissertation) (77). Universität Wien.

[JSTOR-4] Jung, Uli; Schatzberg, Walter (1993). "The Invisible Man behind "Caligari": The Life of Robert Wiene". Film History. 5 (1): 22–35. JSTOR 3815107.

[5] Robinson, David. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. British Film Institute, 2004, p. 58.

[6] Uli Jung, Walter Schatzberg: Beyond Caligari – The Films of Robert Wiene. Berghahn Books, p. vi.