Max W. Kimmich
Encyclopedia
Max Wilhelm Kimmich was a German film director and screenwriter during the first half of the 20th century. He was brother-in-law to Joseph Goebbels
.
, thirteen years his senior.
While his brother went into banking, Max Kimmich visited military academies in Karlsruhe
and Berlin
after passing his school leaving exams and later fought as a regular officer in World War I
. After the war, he studied medicine for a few terms, but at the beginning of the 1920s he became attracted to theatre and film, especially American films. So he worked at the German Cinema Company, beginning as an assistant and dramatic adviser. After that he became associate producer and later, producer, with the Rochus Gliese
film company. In 1924, he went to Hollywood, where he worked at Universal Studios
as a screenwriter and, according to himself, as as director. But as he could not really gain ground in the USA, in 1929, he went back to Germany. The following year, he composed the music to his first sound film Waves of Passion (Wellen der Leidenschaft). In the next few years, he edited screenplays for cloak-and-dagger films like Under False Flag (1931/1932), The Invisible Front (1932) or On Secret Service (1933) with various partners.
and Paul Wegener
. In 1938, he made his first film as director, a crime movie that was also produced as radio drama in Breslau the following year. In February 1938, he married the youngest sister of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
. The latter seems to have been skeptical at first because he suspected that Kimmich was not really interested in his sister, but only in the connections this marriage would give him. (Since film was an important propaganda medium for the Nazis, this was quite possible). Kimmich was able to allay Goebbels´ doubts in a private conversation in summer 1937, and the marriage took place the following year. He specialized in anti-British propaganda films, e.g. My Life for Ireland in 1940/1941, and Germanin from 1942, which portrays scientists developing a medicine against sleeping sickness. While Nazi film magazines praised the latter - shortly after release it was awarded not only "artificially valuable", but also "national-political valuable" by film checkers of the propaganda ministry - today it is considered to be rather weak. Several of Kimmich's other films gained official recommendations in these years. His works The Fugitive of Chicago in 1933/1934, I Sing Myself into Your Heart in 1934, Hangmen, Women and Soldiers in 1935, The Fox of Glenarvon in 1940 and Fourth Man Missing (Der Vierte kommt nicht) in 1938/1939 were recommended as "artistically valuable". He earned most recommendations, however, for My Life for Ireland. This 1940/1941 movie was recommended not only "artistically and national-political valuable", but additionally as "particularly suitable for adolescents" (jugendwert). His last film, Peanuts (Kleinigkeiten), which he started in 1944 with Tobis, was not finished at the end of the war. It has been said that while working on this movie, Kimmich was in Vienna
and witnessed the invasion of the Allies, but Goebbels biographer Curt Riess states Kimmich was in Berlin
and escaped from the nearly encircled town with his wife and mother-in-law on April 19, 1945.
Sound movies
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
.
Early life (1893–1933)
He was born in Ulm in West Germany to the painter, art teacher and author Karl Kimmich and his wife Christine, née Autenrieth. He had an older brother, also named Karl KimmichKarl Kimmich
Karl Kimmich was a German banker. From 1933 to 1942 he was member of the executive board of Deutsche Bank and from 1942 to 1945 chairman with the same firm.- Early life :...
, thirteen years his senior.
While his brother went into banking, Max Kimmich visited military academies in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
and 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...
after passing his school leaving exams and later fought as a regular officer in 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...
. After the war, he studied medicine for a few terms, but at the beginning of the 1920s he became attracted to theatre and film, especially American films. So he worked at the German Cinema Company, beginning as an assistant and dramatic adviser. After that he became associate producer and later, producer, with the Rochus Gliese
Rochus Gliese
Rochus Gliese was a German actor, director, production designer, and Academy Award-nominated art director of early films from the 1910s and 1920s. He was born in Berlin, Germany....
film company. In 1924, he went to Hollywood, where he worked at Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
as a screenwriter and, according to himself, as as director. But as he could not really gain ground in the USA, in 1929, he went back to Germany. The following year, he composed the music to his first sound film Waves of Passion (Wellen der Leidenschaft). In the next few years, he edited screenplays for cloak-and-dagger films like Under False Flag (1931/1932), The Invisible Front (1932) or On Secret Service (1933) with various partners.
During the Nazi era (1933–1945)
Kimmich's career began to boom after the Nazis came to power in 1933. He wrote the screenplays for several adventure films - sometimes with a nationalistic touch like Hangmen, Women and Soldiers (Henker, Frauen und Soldaten) from 1935 - and worked for directors such as Harry PielHarry Piel
Born Hubert August Piel, Harry Piel in Munich, Germany was a prolific German actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer who was involved in over 150 films....
and Paul Wegener
Paul Wegener
Paul Wegener was a German actor, writer and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema.-Stage and early film career:...
. In 1938, he made his first film as director, a crime movie that was also produced as radio drama in Breslau the following year. In February 1938, he married the youngest sister of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
. The latter seems to have been skeptical at first because he suspected that Kimmich was not really interested in his sister, but only in the connections this marriage would give him. (Since film was an important propaganda medium for the Nazis, this was quite possible). Kimmich was able to allay Goebbels´ doubts in a private conversation in summer 1937, and the marriage took place the following year. He specialized in anti-British propaganda films, e.g. My Life for Ireland in 1940/1941, and Germanin from 1942, which portrays scientists developing a medicine against sleeping sickness. While Nazi film magazines praised the latter - shortly after release it was awarded not only "artificially valuable", but also "national-political valuable" by film checkers of the propaganda ministry - today it is considered to be rather weak. Several of Kimmich's other films gained official recommendations in these years. His works The Fugitive of Chicago in 1933/1934, I Sing Myself into Your Heart in 1934, Hangmen, Women and Soldiers in 1935, The Fox of Glenarvon in 1940 and Fourth Man Missing (Der Vierte kommt nicht) in 1938/1939 were recommended as "artistically valuable". He earned most recommendations, however, for My Life for Ireland. This 1940/1941 movie was recommended not only "artistically and national-political valuable", but additionally as "particularly suitable for adolescents" (jugendwert). His last film, Peanuts (Kleinigkeiten), which he started in 1944 with Tobis, was not finished at the end of the war. It has been said that while working on this movie, Kimmich was in Vienna
Vienna
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...
and witnessed the invasion of the Allies, but Goebbels biographer Curt Riess states Kimmich was 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...
and escaped from the nearly encircled town with his wife and mother-in-law on April 19, 1945.
Until his death (1945–1980)
After the German surrender, Kimmich moved to the small village of Mörlach about 15 miles from Munich with his family (he had become a father in late 1944 or early 1945). There they lived under a false name for nearly a year, but in June 1946 he revealed their real identities to the American occupying forces. After that, he, his wife and his mother-in-law were questioned by the Americans several times, claiming they did not have contact with Joseph Goebbels and had never taken any money from him. Kimmich claimed that Joseph Goebbels - contrary to his own diary entries - seldom took care of his relatives. This behaviour of his brother-in-law had been decisive in his denying Goebbels´ order to stay in Berlin and commit suicide as well. He may have been interned after that interview: A photo taken up by an American journalist on June 25th, 1946 - two weeks after the first interview - shows only his daughter with her mother and grandmother. There must have been some reason for that if he himself was not the photographer. At this photo the little girl is said to be 18 months old. The Allies banned his films My Life for Ireland, The Fox of Glenarvon (another anti-British propaganda film) and Germanin, but in the early 1950s, this ban was lifted again by the (now independent) German film industry, so the films could be presented again. His movie Moscow-Shanghai was shown in West German cinemas in 1949, now called The Way to Shanghai. During the following years, he worked as an author, produced several scripts for radio and television broadcasts and - until the late 1950s - also worked for the Deutschen Filmring (Defir)(a Munich film company). He died on 16 January 1980 at the age of 86 in Icking.Filmography
Silent movies- Brother (Drama/Fantasy, 1922, production manager.)
- Im Namen des Königs (1923, production manager)
- Winterstürme (1924, production manager)
- Unter heißer Sonne (1924, producer)
- Liebfraumilch (1928, screenplay)
- Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins (adventure film, 1928/1929, production manager)
- Znás onen malý domek u jezera (Kennst du das kl. Haus am Michigansee?), (1929, Co-director, screenplay.)
Sound movies
- Kurs auf die Ehe/Wellen der Leidenschaft (adventure film, 1930, music)
- Under False FlagUnder false flagUnder false flag is a German cloak-and-dagger film directed by Johannes Meyer set in World War I, that was produced in Berlin from the end of November 1931 to the beginning of 1932. The producers were the German UFA and the so called Tonbild-Syndikat AG or Tobis...
(cloak-and-dagger movie, 1931/1932, screenplay) - The Invisible FrontThe Invisible FrontThe Invisible Front , alternated A submarine spying film or Ein U-Boot-Spionage-Film in German, is a german cloak-and-dagger-movie from 1932, directed by Richard Eichberg and starring Trude von Molo, Karl Ludwig Diehl, Veit Harlan and Paul Hörbiger. The story was written by Robert A. Stemmle, Curt...
(cloak-and-dagger movie, 1932, screenplay) - Kleines Mädel - Großes Glück (1933, screenplay)
- On Secret ServiceOn Secret ServiceOn Secret Service is a 1933 British thriller film directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Greta Nissen, Karl Ludwig Diehl, Don Alvarado and Austin Trevor...
(cloak-and-dagger movie/romance/war film, 1933, Co-screenplay) - The Fugitive from ChicagoThe Fugitive From ChicagoThe fugitive from Chicago is a German crime and adventure movie produced in 1933 by director Johannes Meyer. The screenplay was written by Max W. Kimmich, Hermann Oberländer and Hans Martin Cremer after the 1932 novel of Curt J. Braun...
(adventure film, 1933/1934, Co-screenplay) - Man nehme (1933/1934, director, screenplay)
- Artistes (adventure/drama/romantic movie, 1934/1935, screenplay)
- Ännchen von Tharau (romantic movie, 1935, screenplay)
- Hangmen, Women and SoldiersHangmen, women and soldiersHangmen, Women and Soldiers is a propaganda film made by the German filmmaker Johannes Meyer in 1935. It was produced with the Bavaria film company in Munich. The screenplay was written by Max W...
(propaganda film, 1935, Co-screenplay) - Moscow - Shanghai (drama, 1936, assistant director, Co-screenplay)
- Row and Joy About Kunnemann (1936/1937, Co-screenplay)
- Doppelselbstmord (1937, director)
- Der Mann an der Wand (1937, director, screenplay.)
- Die FledermausDie FledermausDie Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
(1937, assistant director) - Es leuchten die Sterne ((1937/1938, assistant director)
- Der Vierte kommt nicht (crime movie, 1938/1939, director, screenplay.)
- Der letzte Appell (1939, director, unfinished)
- Der singende Tor/Casa Lontana (drama, 1939, idea)
- The Fox of GlenarvonThe Fox of GlenarvonThe Fox of Glenarvon is a German propaganda film from the Nazi era portraying the years of the Irish fights for independence during World War I. It was produced in 1940 by Max W. Kimmich and starred Olga Tschechowa, Karl Ludwig Diehl, Ferdinand Marian and others...
(propaganda film, 1940, director.) - My Life for IrelandMy life for IrelandMy life for Ireland is a German anti-British propaganda movie from 1941 directed by Max W. Kimmich.- Plot :In 1903, the Irish nationalist Michael O'Brien is captured in Dublin after committing an attack on British policemen, and he is sentenced to death. While he is in jail, his pregnant fiancée...
(drama/propaganda film, 1940/1941, director, Co-screenplay) - Nacht ohne Abschied (1942/1943, model)
- Germanin - The tale of a colonial deed (scientists´biography, 1942/1943, director, Co-screenplay, producer.)
- Kleinigkeiten (1944, unfinished)
External links
- www.filmportal.de Includes also summaries of films made by Max Kimmich (in German)
Sources
- Cinegraph: Encyclopedia for German-speaking film. Ed. by Hans Michael Bock. Edition Textkritik. 1984ff.
- Wer ist wer? The German "Who-is-who". Vol. 13, 1958.
- Weniger, Kay: The big people's encyclopedia for films. Vol. 4, 2004.