Hans Karl Breslauer
Encyclopedia
Hans Karl Breslauer, born Johann Karl Breslauer, later often known as H. K. Breslauer (2 June 1888 – 15 April 1965) was an early Austria
n film director
, also an actor, screenwriter
and author.
, the son of the proprietor of a coffee-house, which it was intended he should take over. Instead he became an actor. His first engagements were in Cologne
, Wiesbaden
and Vienna.
From 1910 Breslauer was active in Berlin
as a screenwriter. He produced about 40 filmscripts for the film companies Duskes, Messter, Vitascope
, Mutoscope
and Biograph
.
From 1914 he is supposed to have had his first directing job with Sascha-Film
in Vienna, but this has been called into question because of the lack of evidence about directing in these years. He can be shown however to have had an acting role in the Viennese Regent-Film production Zu spät gesühnt (1916).
After World War I
he worked as a director for Leyka-Film and Biehl-Film. In 1919/1920 he was vicepresident of the Film Directors' Club of Austria. From 1921 Breslauer regularly directed for Mondial-Film, under whose roof he set up his own production company, H.K.B.-Film. Its first films were Lieb' mich, und die Welt ist mein (1924) and Strandgut (also 1924), which he shot in 1923 on Corsica
and the French Riviera
. On some productions, for example Oh, du lieber Augustin (1922), he also claimed responsibility for the screenplay.
At the end of 1923 Breslauer began filming Hugo Bettauer
's successful novel, Die Stadt ohne Juden ("City Without Jews"). Today both the book and the film seem like a premonition of what was to happen in Europe from 1933, but at the time were intended as comedy and designed to have a wide popular appeal. Breslauer therefore changed a number of details during filming, as a result of which various allusions to the real world deliberately intended by Bettauer, were lost. A clearly noticeable example of this is the change in the name of the city from Vienna, as it was in the book, to Utopia in the film. The reason for most of the deviations from the original was to reduce the political controversy of the film in order to avoid problems with censorship and alienating public opinion. Nevertheless, in many showings of the film, which was not as successful as the book had been, there were disturbances from National Socialists. The film, which is still extant and available, now affords a fascinating insight into the "normality" of anti-Semitism
in the 1920s.
After Die Stadt ohne Juden no further film work by Breslauer is known. The film newspaper Mein Film reports of his directing on a Sascha-Film production Der fliegende Haupttreffer, but this apparently never came to anything. His departure from the film world may well be explained by the crisis caused across the entire European film industry by the massive expansion of the cheap American film market from Hollywood, which put most European film producers under enormous pressure, including those in Austria, where most film production companies went out of business.
In October 1925 Breslauer married the actress Anna (or Anny) Milety, who had taken the female lead in many of his films.
(then Pressburg), from 1936 to 1942 for Das kleine Blatt in Vienna and additionally from 1938 to 1944 for the Kleine Volks-Zeitung, also in Vienna. From 1940, the same year in which he joined the Nazi Party, he contributed light pieces to newspapers across the entire Third Reich, for example the Breslauer Neueste Nachrichten, the Essener Allgemeine Zeitung and the Leipziger Tageszeitung.
After the end of World War II
Breslauer and his wife moved to Loibichl near Mondsee in Upper Austria
, where they rented rooms in a guesthouse. He continued to publish, now writing mostly short fiction under his own name and the pseudonyms "Jenny Romberg" and "James O'Cleaner". Success eluded him from now on, and he died impoverished in Salzburg
Hospital on 15 April 1965.
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:...
, also an actor, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and author.
Career as actor and screenwriter
Hans Karl Breslauer 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 son of the proprietor of a coffee-house, which it was intended he should take over. Instead he became an actor. His first engagements were in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
and Vienna.
From 1910 Breslauer was active in 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...
as a screenwriter. He produced about 40 filmscripts for the film companies Duskes, Messter, Vitascope
Vitascope
Vitascope was an early film projector first demonstrated in 1895 by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. They had made modifications to Jenkins patented "Phantoscope", which cast images via film & electric light onto a wall or screen...
, Mutoscope
Mutoscope
frame|right|An 1899 trade advertisementThe Mutoscope was an early motion picture device, patented by Herman Casler on November 21, 1894. Like Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope it did not project on a screen, and provided viewing to only one person at a time...
and Biograph
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company
The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1928. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, and for two decades was one of the most prolific, releasing over three thousand short...
.
From 1914 he is supposed to have had his first directing job with 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:...
in Vienna, but this has been called into question because of the lack of evidence about directing in these years. He can be shown however to have had an acting role in the Viennese Regent-Film production Zu spät gesühnt (1916).
Career as film director
Breslauer's first demonstrable directorial involvement was in 1918 in the Sascha-Film production Ihre beste Rolle.After 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...
he worked as a director for Leyka-Film and Biehl-Film. In 1919/1920 he was vicepresident of the Film Directors' Club of Austria. From 1921 Breslauer regularly directed for Mondial-Film, under whose roof he set up his own production company, H.K.B.-Film. Its first films were Lieb' mich, und die Welt ist mein (1924) and Strandgut (also 1924), which he shot in 1923 on Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
and the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
. On some productions, for example Oh, du lieber Augustin (1922), he also claimed responsibility for the screenplay.
At the end of 1923 Breslauer began filming Hugo Bettauer
Hugo Bettauer
Hugo Bettauer , born Maximilian Hugo Bettauer, was a prolific Austrian writer and journalist, who was murdered by a Nazi Party follower on account of his controversial views...
's successful novel, Die Stadt ohne Juden ("City Without Jews"). Today both the book and the film seem like a premonition of what was to happen in Europe from 1933, but at the time were intended as comedy and designed to have a wide popular appeal. Breslauer therefore changed a number of details during filming, as a result of which various allusions to the real world deliberately intended by Bettauer, were lost. A clearly noticeable example of this is the change in the name of the city from Vienna, as it was in the book, to Utopia in the film. The reason for most of the deviations from the original was to reduce the political controversy of the film in order to avoid problems with censorship and alienating public opinion. Nevertheless, in many showings of the film, which was not as successful as the book had been, there were disturbances from National Socialists. The film, which is still extant and available, now affords a fascinating insight into the "normality" of anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
in the 1920s.
After Die Stadt ohne Juden no further film work by Breslauer is known. The film newspaper Mein Film reports of his directing on a Sascha-Film production Der fliegende Haupttreffer, but this apparently never came to anything. His departure from the film world may well be explained by the crisis caused across the entire European film industry by the massive expansion of the cheap American film market from Hollywood, which put most European film producers under enormous pressure, including those in Austria, where most film production companies went out of business.
In October 1925 Breslauer married the actress Anna (or Anny) Milety, who had taken the female lead in many of his films.
Career as journalist and author
From the 1930s Breslauer was very active as a writer. He was a member of the Reichsschrifttumskammer ("Reich Chamber of Authorship") and published under the pseudonym "Bastian Schneider". Between 1934 and 1939 he regularly wrote amusing contributions for the Grenzboten in BratislavaBratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
(then Pressburg), from 1936 to 1942 for Das kleine Blatt in Vienna and additionally from 1938 to 1944 for the Kleine Volks-Zeitung, also in Vienna. From 1940, the same year in which he joined the Nazi Party, he contributed light pieces to newspapers across the entire Third Reich, for example the Breslauer Neueste Nachrichten, the Essener Allgemeine Zeitung and the Leipziger Tageszeitung.
After the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Breslauer and his wife moved to Loibichl near Mondsee in Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
, where they rented rooms in a guesthouse. He continued to publish, now writing mostly short fiction under his own name and the pseudonyms "Jenny Romberg" and "James O'Cleaner". Success eluded him from now on, and he died impoverished in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
Hospital on 15 April 1965.
Films
Breslauer was involved in the direction of these films unless otherwise indicated:- 1916: Zu spät gesühnt (actor; directed by Franz Ferdinand Bertram)
- 1918: Ihre beste Rolle
- 1918: Das Baby
- 1919: Little Pitsch als Meisterdetektiv
- 1919: Am See der Erlösung
- 1919: Onkel Tonis Brautfahrt
- 1920: Jou Jou
- 1920: Miss Cowboy
- 1921: Der Findling des Glücks (also screenplay)
- 1921: Das Geheimnis der Nacht
- 1921: Tragödie eines Häßlichen
- 1922: Am Rande des Abgrundes
- 1922: Das Haus Molitor (also screenplay)
- 1922: Oh, du lieber Augustin (also screenplay)
- 1922: Verklungene Zeiten
- 1924: Lieb' mich, und die Welt ist mein (also screenplay)
- 1924: Strandgut (also screenplay)
- 1924: Die Stadt ohne Juden (also screenplay)
Books
- 1941: Der Dreißig-Pfennig-Roman: Das Ei des Kolumbus (crime novel)
- 1943: Liebe, Diebe (short stories)
- 1951: Erdball-Romane Band 77: Eine kleine Taubenfeder (short novel)
- 1952: Heute wird gefilmt in Bellevue
- 1952: Kelter Romane Band 132: Dr. Scarrons dunkler Punkt (short novel)
- 1952: Der Dohlengraf (as Jenny Romberg)
- 1953: Die erdolchte Mumie
- 1953: Heiraten und nicht verzweifeln
- 1953: Im Wirbel des Schicksals (as Jenny Romberg)
- 1954: Die schönste von allen (romantic novel)
- 1954: Der Sprung ins Ungewisse (crime novel)
- 1955: Ich kann dich nicht vergessen (short novel)
- 1955: Sehnsucht nach der Heimat (short novel)
- 1956: Das Herz kann irren (short novel, as Jenny Romberg)
- 1957: Güldensee-Romane Band 123: Das Mädchen vom Rütihof (short novel)
- 1957: Wolfgang Marken's Roman-Freund Band 134: Das Opfer der Aglaja (short novel)
- 1957: Wolfgang Marken's Roman-Freund Band 141: Das Spiel mit der Liebe (short novel)
- 1957: Wolfgang Marken's Roman-Freund Band 144: Der Diener seiner Exzellenz (short novel)
- 1960: Der Fluch der Sürch-Alp (short novel, as Jenny Romberg)
- 1961: Familienfreund-Roman-Blätter Nr. 17: Das letzte Konzert (short novel)
- 1961: Lorelei-Liebesromane: Wo wohnt das Glück (short novel)
- 1963: Linden-Roman Nr. 165: Liebesfrühling im Achental (short novel)
- 1964: Ursel und der Hochstapler (short novel)
Sources
- Armin Loacker: Johann Karl Breslauer. In: Guntram Geser (ed.), Armin Loacker (ed.): Die Stadt ohne Juden. Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2000, pp. 169–171