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Karl Hartl

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Karl Hartl
Karl Hartl withJohanna Matzand
Olga Chekhova,Göttingen 1953
Born(1899-05-10)10 May 1899
Vienna,Austria-Hungary
Died29 August 1978(1978-08-29)(aged 79)
Vienna,Austria
OccupationDirector
Years active1917–1962
SpouseMarte Harell

Karl Hartl(10 May 1899 – 29 August 1978) was anAustrianfilmdirector.

Life

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Born inVienna,Hartl began his film career at the AustrianSascha-Filmcompany ofAlexander Kolowratand from 1919 was assistant to theHungariandirectorAlexander Korda.As a production manager, he in the 1920s accompanied Korda toBerlin,until in 1926 he returned to Vienna to work for his former class-mate directorGustav Ucicky.

From 1930 he worked forUniversum Film AG(UFA) and debuted as director ofEin Burschenlied aus Heidelberg( "A Fraternity Song from Heidelberg" ) starringHans BrausewetterandWilli Forst,with youngBilly Wilderas a screenwriter. Together withLuis Trenkerhe directed theGebirgsjägerdramaBerge in Flammen( "Mountains in Flames" ) in 1931. He then experimented with other genres, for example the comedyDie Gräfin von Monte Cristo( "The Countess of Monte Cristo" ) (1932) withBrigitte HelmandGustaf Gründgens,and in the same year achieved his final breakthrough with the flying drama filmF.P.1 antwortet nichtwritten byCurt Siodmakand produced byErich Pommer,with Conrad Veidt, Leslie Fenton and Jill Esmond. His lavish science fiction filmGold,released in 1934, is listed today as one of the most successful German films of the genre. In 1937, he directed the popular criminal comedyDer Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war( "The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes" ) starring Hans Albers andHeinz Rühmann.

After most of the talented directors, technicians, actors had been forced to leave in the course of the 1938Anschlussannexation of Austria byNazi Germany,Hartl became head of production forWien-Film,the newly created body through which the UFA, and beyond it,Joseph Goebbels,controlled the Austrian film industry. In this role, which he retained until the end of thewar,Hartl seldom undertook work on individual films himself but was nevertheless involved at a senior level with some of the most significant entertainment films of theNaziperiod. He was a member of the Advisory Council (Präsidialrat) of theReichsfilmkammer.Despite Hartls professional ties to the regime, Wien-Film made largely propaganda-free entertainment films under Hartls leadership.[1]Research has pointed to Hartls sophisticated use of local dialects and references to the Viennese court to subvert fascist expectations.[2]

After 1945 he resumed film-making. On 3 July 1947 he set up inSalzburg,with the support of theCreditanstalt,the film production company Neue Wiener Filmproduktionsgesellschaft. One of his most acclaimed films of this period wasDer Engel mit der Posaune( "The Angel with the Trombone" ) in 1949, which brought together many compatriot Austrian stars:Paula Wessely,AttilaandPaul Hörbiger,Oskar WernerandMaria Schell.His later films includedWeg in die Vergangenheit( "Way into the Past" ) from 1954 andMozart,which entered the1956 Cannes Film Festival.

Karl Hartl was married to the actressMarte Harell.He was buried in agrave of honorin the Hietzing cemetery, Vienna.

Selected filmography

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Notes

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  1. ^"Karl Hartl".Filmportal.Retrieved2022-09-13.
  2. ^von Dassanowsky, Robert (1999). "Wien-Film, Karl Hartl and Mozart: Aspects of the Failure of Nazi Ideological" Gleichschaltung "in Austrian Cinema".Modern Austrian Literature.32(4): 177–188.
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