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55-495: The two main studios comprising the complex were almost next-door neighbours, and this has given rise to confusion as to the identity of the film companies involved and which premises they leased or owned. The studio buildings discussed in this article retained completely separate identities throughout their existence although they were occupied by several different film production companies. No films were ever made or released by "The Weissensee Studios" or "Filmstadt Weißensee", and there

110-611: A 5-year lease on the Weißensee premises from 4 January 1917 – 1922. In 1919 he leased the double glasshouse studios to Joe May for 600,000 marks, which became known as the May-Atelier. In 1919 Greenbaum affiliated with Ufa , which the State had quietly established as the giant of German film industry during the war, but the deal led to a series of legal disputes and the virtual bankruptcy of Greenbaum-Film. Greenbaum negotiated

165-755: A Vitascope cinema at 10 Friedrichstraße, and in March 1907 he registered Vitascope Theater GmbH as a limited company. Its partners were Louis Rosenfeld and Otto Heinemann. This established a vertically integrated network with Vitascope handling the distribution for Bioscope films. As his business increased, Greenbaum made a deal with the chemist Carl Moritz Schleussner of the photochemicals firm Schleussner AG in Frankfurt/Main . Carl Schleussner had been involved since 1896 in producing negative film stock for Röntgen photography soon after its discovery. In February 1908 Carl Schleussner bought Deutsche Bioscop as

220-467: A film copying facility at 32–34 Lindenstraße (Berlin)  [ de ] , with a glasshouse studio on the roof. Greenbaum moved to new recording rooms for sound production at 105 Große Frankfurter Straße , where Vitascope produced short films of about 120 feet (60m) synchronised with phonograph recordings of vocal numbers, opera arias and dance pieces. The sound films were directed by Franz Porten and starred his daughter Henny Porten . One notable film

275-557: A further 5-year lease on the Weißensee premises from 4 January 1917 – 1922. In February 1918 Ufa acquired Joe May 's May-Film for 1 million marks. He shot the historical epic Veritas Vincit here towards the end of the war, with extra backing from Ufa, although it wasn't released until the spring of 1919. In 1919 Greenbaum leased the whole premises, including the double glasshouse studios and film processing lab, to Joe May's Fema-Film Atelier GmbH (Fema= Hermann Fe llner and Joe Ma y) for 600,000 marks, which thenceforth became known as

330-561: A group of new talents gathered around Joe May, such as the architect Martin Jacoby-Boy  [ de ] (for many years technical director of the studio), his successors Fritz Maurischat and Paul Leni (whose own company was also located in the May-Atelier and who shot Das Wachsfigurenkabinett here in 1924), the directors E. A. Dupont , Uwe Jens Krafft and Fritz Lang (who established his partnership with Thea von Harbou here). Despite an issue of share certificates in 1924 by

385-523: A manufacturing, copying and sales operation, for a 2/3 share of 140,000 marks, with 1/3 provided by Greenbaum and his brother Max. Deutsche Bioskop was re-registered on 27 February 1908, and Schleussner bought out the Greenbaums' remaining share in 1909. Under its new owner, Deutsche Bioskop AG moved to Babelsberg Studio in November 1911, which is well-known as the oldest large-scale film studio in

440-565: A monopoly contract with Ufa to supply films to Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. Although Ufa generally didn't break even with domestic sales in Germany alone, foreign sales could make up the difference. However, the war had enormous repercussions for the Balkan peninsula with the borders of many states completely redrawn after 1919. This unsettled political situation led to reduced profits; Ufa claimed millions from Greenbaum for lost sales and

495-575: A number of other production companies not included in the UFA conglomerate to take over the disused studios of Deutsche Mutoskop- und Biograph GmbH in the Lankwitz district in 1924/25, founding the Muto-Großatelier für Filmherstellung (Muto-Atelier). In 1928 the Weißensee housing association acquired the land for new residential buildings which were still standing as of 2012. The film output of

550-685: A script by Fritz Lang (some interior scenes only). Journalists were invited to the Weissensee studios to watch some of the shooting in September 1919, arriving in carriages and rented cars paid for by Decla. This sort of treatment went down well, and the film received excellent reviews. The Weissensee studio, sometimes referred to as the Decla-Atelier, was also used for some interiors in Part 2 of Lang's own Die Spinnen ; and, most famously, for

605-473: A showpiece 500-seat movie theatre equipped to show sound films on Hermannplatz , 1–2 Berliner Straße. When Greenbaum left Deutsche Bioscop on 8 September 1909, the Bioskope-Theater became Deutsche Vitaskope Gmbh, releasing films under the 'Deutsche Vitascope' name. Greenbaum's firm invented and used Synchroscope , which synchronised the visual picture of films with phonograph records to create

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660-712: A working sound and vision system. Greenbaum produced a number of these sound shorts of vocal classical music, and in 1908 entered into contracts to supply the machinery to Carl Laemmle 's Movie Service Company in Chicago and to another American, Charles Urban , in Britain. Carl Laemmle installed the system in a number of American cinemas, mostly in German-speaking communities. Synchroscope largely petered out because not enough sound films were made to meet demand and because it could only last for two or three reels while

715-581: Is a possibility that the nascent Decla made some films at the studio at no. 9 Franz Josef-Straße, with the company being guided by Pommer's wife Gertrud, Erich Morawsky  [ de ] and/or Carl Wilhelm who also directed a number of its early films. Among the first 12 films produced by Decla in 1915 are: Der Barbier von Filmersdorf (première, Marmorhaus , June 1915): Der Glaube siegt (Victory of Faith) Sein Seitensprung (His Affair), Die Goldquelle , and O diese Männer , (all 1915). Pommer

770-629: The DDR regime it was a subsidiary of the dry cleaning firm VEB Rewatex in Berlin-Spindlersfeld  [ de ] . The Weissensee studio buildings were still in existence in 2017 - almost unchanged - in Liebermannstrasse, where the "Ide-Laundry section" of VEB Rewatex was located. The second studio to be constructed was originally built by Continental-Kunstfilm at 9 (later 9–12) Franz Josef-Straße (now Liebermannstraße) in

825-513: The Russian Civil War . The Russian famine of 1921–1922 killed a further five million people. The Balkans were also subject to considerable social and political upheaval after the war. This all led to considerably reduced profits; Ufa claimed millions from Greenbaum for lost sales and the dispute escalated through the courts. Ufa's interests were represented by Hemann Fellner, Greenbaum's former business partner. Ufa were victorious in

880-532: The Ufa conglomerate, which the government had quietly established as the giant of German film industry during the war. Eric Pommer , as head of production at Ufa, concentrated his main efforts on producing quality "art films" ( Großfilmen ) with an international appeal. Greenbaum had a monopoly contract with Ufa to supply films to Ukraine , Bulgaria , Rumania and Turkey . But Ukraine had suffered particularly badly during World War I with 1.5 million dead, followed by

935-537: The "Baskerville" detective series. Pathé Still seeking further distribution outlets, Greenbaum and Davidson closed a deal with Pathé Frères to distribute PAGU films. Pathé bought the Weissensee studios at 5–7 Franz-Josef-Straße in July 1914. However, with the outbreak of the First World War , foreign films were barred from Germany allowing domestic production to boom. Pathé and PAGU broke off relationships;

990-671: The American Biograph camera), and an 8-hour guaranteed film copying service. Bioscope's cameramen were sent to Vienna, Munich, Leipzig, Halle, Nuremberg, Kiel, Hamburg, Poznan, Lviv and Riga in search of vaudeville/variety acts to film. Bioscope built new offices in 1906 at 123 Chausseestraße , in the east of Berlin; a glasshouse studio was erected in the large courtyard at the rear of the Jugendstil building, where Continental-Kunstfilm would later film In Nacht und Eis in 1912. Greenbaum began acquiring cinemas , opening

1045-532: The Lixie-Atelier. At the start of his career, Fritz Lang worked for both Pommer at Decla, and Joe May. After the war Decla "only had a small studio in Weissensee" and Lang's first films were shot in studios rented from other producers, including Ufa's Tempelhof. Decla used the studio during the production of at least three titles: Otto Rippert 's historical spectacular 7-reeler Pest in Florenz , with

1100-432: The May-Atelier. Fema-Film may be connected with Film Atelier GmbH (FAG) which bought the studios at 9 Franz Joseph-Straße at around the same time. See next section . Greenbaum and May shot a number of detective series with success; for example, Greenbaum made the 'Phantomas' series with Erich Kaiser-Titz or Rolf Loer in the title role; and May, having split with Ernst Reicher, continued the gentleman detective theme with

1155-789: The Viennese subsidiary branch of Éclair in 1913 with Marcel Vandal and Charles Jourjon , answering directly to Paris and not through Berlin. After war broke out in August 1914 Pommer returned to Germany and won the Iron Cross in France in October 1914. Before the war the German branch of Éclair (Deutsche Éclair) in Berlin had been run by Pommer's British friend Joe Powell. As noted previously, all

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1210-471: The Vitascope-Atelier studios in July 1914. However, with the outbreak of the First World War , foreign production companies and their films were banned from Germany, and their assets confiscated. Domestic film production was allowed to boom. Pathé and PAGU broke off relationships; the admin offices and studios belonging to Pathé were placed into receivership, and reverted to Greenbaum. Freed by

1265-645: The admin offices and studios belonging to Pathé were placed into receivership, and reverted to Greenbaum. Weissensee The war resulted in the elimination of foreign competition. He broke with Davidson's PAGU and founded Greenbaum-Film out of Vitascope. On 12 January 1915 Greenbaum-Film was incorporated with 10,000 marks and started production again in 5–7 Franz-Josef-Straße, Weissensee, with office and sales at Friedrichstraße 235. An article in Lichtbild-Bühne for 3 June 1915 announced: "Dr. Hans Oberländer, Richard Löwenbein, Richard Oswald, Greenbaum-Film GmbH –

1320-555: The assets of foreign film production firms were confiscated by the German government soon after the start of the war, including Gaumont, Pathé and Éclair. Despite his being stationed at the front, Pommer (or his associates) along with Fritz Holz made a successful bid for the rights to Éclair's German assets. They formed the Decla-Film-Gesellschaft Holz & Co. in February 1915. Holz resigned in mid-1915. There

1375-467: The biggest film factory in Germany." Oswald made five films in a few months and then separated financially from Greenbaum-Film, becoming a self-employed producer and director. In 1916 Greenbaum closed a deal with Albert Bassermann , who starred in seventeen films for Greenbaum-Film by 1920. Director Adolf Gärtner (who worked on Joe May 's Stuart Webbs detective series) also moved to Greenbaum-Film and directed nine films in Weißensee. Greenbaum took out

1430-471: The biggest film factory in Germany." Oswald made five films in a few months, and then separated financially from Greenbaum-Film, becoming a self-employed producer and director. In 1916 Greenbaum closed a deal with Albert Bassermann , who starred in seventeen films for Greenbaum-Film by 1920. The director Adolf Gärtner (who worked on Joe May 's Stuart Webbs detective series) also moved to Greenbaum-Film and directed nine films in Weißensee. Greenbaum took out

1485-504: The business expanded. The new facility consisted of a double-size glasshouse studio covering around 300 m, and a separate film processing laboratory, billed as the biggest in Germany and capable of processing 100,000 meters of film daily. In January 1914 Vitascope merged with PAGU (Projektions-AG 'Union'), owned by former rival Paul Davidson . The company was called Union-Vitascope Gmbh. Both companies continued to produce films under their own name and logos. From January 1914 Richard Oswald

1540-406: The courts, leading to the virtual bankruptcy of Greenbaum-Film. Greenbaum lost the factory in Weissensee and everything else, and committed suicide in 1924 in a mental hospital aged 57. The studios were leased by Ufa after his death. In 1922 May bought the freehold of the site from the previous owner, a demolition company named Köhler. "Serious" dramas were also filmed at 5-7 Franz Josef-Straße where

1595-459: The dispute escalated through the courts. Ufa's interests were represented by Hemann Fellner , Greenbaum's former business partner. In April 1920, rival company Decla Film merged with Deutsche Bioscop GmbH and became known as Decla-Bioscop. Greenbaum lost the factory and everything else, and died in 1924 in a mental hospital aged 57. The studios were taken over by Ufa after his death; his two sons George and Mutz managed Greenbaum-Film until it

1650-439: The entire production of films moved to Weissensee on 1 October 1913, along with the manufacturing, drying and copying equipment. In January 1914 Greenbaum merged his Vitascope firm with PAGU (Projektions-Aktiengesellschaft 'Union'), owned by his rival Paul Davidson , in order to compete with the larger French studios who were flooding the German market with their films. The brief merger between PAGU and Vitascope (1914-15)

1705-473: The last films to be made at the studio was The Sporck Battalion ( Die Sporck'schen Jäger ), made by Carl Boese in November/December 1926. At the end of 1926 Ufa allowed its lease with the studios to expire, and part of the site was taken over by a laundry and dye works ('Wäscherei und Färberei H. Ide Nachfahrer'), which later expanded into the entire premises towards the end of the 1920s. During

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1760-663: The long-running Joe Deebs series starring Max Landa and Harry Liedtke , later with e.g. Heinrich Schroth and directed by Harry Piel . At the same time, Joe May also created a huge film lot several miles to the east of Berlin which became the Filmstadt Woltersdorf , and also took over the huge Zeppelin sheds to create the Staaken Studios . All these studios including Weissensee were involved in shooting May's 8-part epic Die Herrin der Welt , released weekly from December 1919. In 1919 Greenbaum joined

1815-488: The mid-1920s May's film enterprises had run into financial difficulties, not least because of the somewhat chaotic and technically complex production of May-Film AG's The Farmer from Texas . This was one of the few films to be produced in Germany during the disastrous Parufamet contract, where Paramount Pictures and MGM stepped in to save Ufa which had nearly bankrupted itself in making hugely expensive films such as Lang's two-part epic fantasy Die Nibelungen . One of

1870-503: The much larger Babelsberg Studios to the new partnership. The following year the merged firm was itself absorbed into the larger UFA conglomerate which owned further assets in the German capital including the Tempelhof Studios . FAG enlarged the studio in c.1920 by building on the vacant site of nos. 10–12, to create 9–12 Franz-Josef Strasse. Lixie-Film-Atelier-Weißensee GmbH bought the studios in 1921, and later joined with

1925-546: The standard length of films was increasingly four or five reels long. Costs had soared by the end of 1908 (the Synchroscope was originally priced at $ 750 (around $ 20,000 in 2015); and Schleussner AG bought out Greenbaum's share of Deutsche Bioscope to free up his operations. On 8 September 1909 Vitascope-Theater GmbH changed its name to Deutsche Vitascope GmbH, with Greenbaum the owner and managing director, and headquarters at 20 Friedrichstraße. The firm's chief objective

1980-470: The start of World War I. Continental-Kunstfilm's own output fell off dramatically after 1915. Reicher leased the new studio at 9 Franz Josef-Straße from Continental and continued to make the 'Stuart Webbs' films with his Reicher & Reicher company until 1918, when he moved his entire production company to Munich . As noted above, May's Fema-Film Atelier GmbH company leased Greenbaum's Vitascope complex next door at nos. 5–7. The next production company to use

2035-664: The studio at no. 9 appears to have been Decla , founded by Eric Pommer in February 1915. Before the war Pommer had previously worked for the Austrian branch of the French Gaumont Film Company in Vienna . At the same time, another French film production company, Éclair , which also sold its own brand of movie camera equipment, was looking to increase its presence in Austria. Pommer left Gaumont and established

2090-517: The summer of 1914 and which later came to be known as the Lixie-Atelier. It was separated from the studios at nos. 5–7 by the narrow plot of no. 8. Joe May and Ernst Reicher who had already made three Stuart Webbs films at Continental's old studios at 123 Chauseestraße, split with the production managers of Continental and formed their own production company Stuart Webbs-Film, although they shot The Armoured Vault at Continental's old studio at 123 Chauseestrasse. May and Reicher split up soon after

2145-474: The various production companies discussed above was always entirely independent, and the "Weissensee Studios" never existed as any sort of corporate identity. No films were ever released by any entity named "Weissensee Studios" or "Filmstadt Weißensee". Jules Greenbaum Jules Greenbaum (5 January 1867 – 1 November 1924) was a German pioneering film producer . He founded the production companies Deutsche Bioscope, Deutsche Vitascope and Greenbaum-Film and

2200-425: The war from the foreign competition, Greenbaum founded Greenbaum-Film out of his old Deutsche Vitascope. On 12 January 1915 Greenbaum-Film was incorporated with 10,000 marks and started production again in 5–7 Franz-Josef-Straße, with a main office and sales at 235 Friedrichstraße . An article in Lichtbild-Bühne for 3 June 1915 announced: "Dr. Hans Oberländer, Richard Löwenbein , Richard Oswald, Greenbaum-Film GmbH –

2255-431: The whole of Robert Wiene 's oppressive horror Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari , from December 1919 to January 1920. The studio still only occupied the original plot of no. 9, and its somewhat cramped nature influenced what could be achieved by the set designers. In about April 1920 Decla merged with Bioscop-Film (which had been sold by Jules Greenbaum to Carl Schleussner in 1908–09) to form Decla-Bioscop AG, which brought

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2310-494: The world and still today producing well-known blockbusters . Deutsche Bioskop AG later merged with Erich Pommer 's Decla-Film in 1920 to create Decla-Bioskop AG. Greenbaum registered a new cinema company, Bioskope-Theater GmbH, on 24 February 1908. The directors were Jules' brother, Max Greenbaum (an experienced banker), and Erich Zeiske. In October 1908, Greenbaum opened the Rollkrug  [ de ] Vitascope cinema,

2365-406: Was Frau Cill-Gottscho of Philadelphia, USA, and the directors were Dr. Lucian Gottscho and Chaskel Eisenberg. FAG (Film-Atelier GmbH) may be connected with Joe May's Fema-Film Atelier GmbH (FFAG) which leased the studios at 5-7 Franz Joseph-Straße at around the same time. The property seems have been leased or sub-let to Lixie-Film around the same time, by which the studios subsequently became known as

2420-535: Was a dominant figure in German cinema in the years before the First World War . He is also known for his early experiments with sound films around twenty years before the success of The Jazz Singer made them a more established feature of cinema. Greenbaum was born in Berlin in 1867 as Julius Grünbaum. He married Emma Karstein in c1887 and moved to Chicago in the United States , where his first son Georg

2475-533: Was appointed artistic and advertising director at Vitascope. He wrote the script for Der Hund von Baskerville (released June 1914), the first film adaptation of Conan Doyle 's 1902 novel. Davidson and Greenbaum (who had joined the board of PAGU in the takeover) travelled to the US together, seeking studios and film deals. On the way back they stopped off in Paris to make a deal with Pathé Frères , who bought (or leased)

2530-663: Was born 1 November 1889. He worked in the textile industry. On his return to Berlin in 1895 aged around 42, Greenbaum moved into the newly established film business and founded Deutsche Bioscope ( German : Deutsche Bioskop ) in 1899. This name has various contemporary spellings, including Bioscope, Bioskope and Bioskop. Greenbaum acquired a camera in Amsterdam, and a cameraman, Georg Furkel. Furkel worked as his technical director until 1912, along with another Dutch cameraman, Martin Knoop. Deutsche Bioscope's first independent film

2585-522: Was called Union-Vitascope Gmbh. PAGU combined the resources of 800 employees, with main offices in Zimmerstraße and Lindenstraße, 20 "Union" cinemas, glasshouse studios in Tempelhof and in Weissensee, with its duplicating lab. Both companies continued to produce films under their own name and logos. From January 1914 Richard Oswald was artistic and advertising director at Vitascope. Oswald made

2640-593: Was engaged as scriptwriter, soon debuting as actor and director, with Gehirnreflexe (Brain Reflex) and three others with Albert Bassermann , notably The Other . The Blue Mouse showed at the new Marmorhaus cinema. Studio at 16 Friedrichstraße Vitascope opened a further studio at Friedrichstraße 16 in 1911; and in October 1912 Greenbaum vacated 123 Chauseestraße and moved everything to 32–34 Lindenstraße (including manufacture, developing and copying equipment). The fine red sandstone building at 123 Chauseestraße

2695-454: Was never at any time any sort of joint or corporate entity with such a name. The two main locations were: The first studio to be built in the area, at 5-7 Franz Josef-Straße (now Liebermannstraße) in Weißensee, was opened on 1 October 1913 by Deutsche Vitascope, owned by Jules Greenbaum . Vitascope had previously occupied premises at 94 Markgrafenstrasse (Mutoskop-Atelier) and at 32-34 Lindenstrasse (Vitascope-Atelier), but had outgrown them as

2750-686: Was of Mignon Act I by Ambroise Thomas with the Royal Court Orchestra & Choir and the Royal Ballet. Greenbaum also had a 'normal' silent film studio at 94 Markgrafenstraße. Vitascope's first film of 1910 was Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes produced and directed by Viggo Larsen who joined in 1909 from Nordisk . Larsen remained with Vitascope for two years, then founded his own company with star Wanda Treumann. Walter Schmidthässler also joined in 1910, working as director and lead actor for Vitascope. In 1911 Max Mack

2805-539: Was taken over by Hermann Millakowsky and eventually liquidated in 1932. During his life Greenbaum launched the career of a number of leading German directors and actors including Max Mack , Richard Oswald and Maria Orska . His son Mutz Greenbaum ("Max Greene") became a leading cinematographer , whose films include Christopher Columbus (1923) starring Albert Bassermann , Thunder Rock (1942) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). Notes Citations Joe Deebs Too Many Requests If you report this error to

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2860-475: Was taken over by Walter Schmidthässler and his recently formed Continental-Kunstfilm . Studios at 5–7 Franz-Josef-Straße, Weissensee Needing to expand even further, Greenbaum acquired land at 5–7 Franz-Josef-Straße (now Max-Liebermann-Straße), Weißensee , and in 1913 built a double glasshouse studio along with the largest film processing lab in the country (capable of an advertised 100,000 meters daily capacity.) Showrooms remained in 32/34 Lindenstraße, and

2915-406: Was the 60-metre 1899 newsreel picture Spring Parade featuring German Kaiser Wilhelm II . His firm released more newsreels in 1901/02, importing American and French features and manufacturing cinema equipment. Deutsche Bioscope GmbH, Berlin, was incorporated on 18 June 1902 with a capital of 20,000 marks The main offices were at 131d Friedrichstraße , where the firm supplied equipment (including

2970-408: Was the production of sound pictures on continuous film so that all the reels could be shown without interruptions. The 1910 Vitascope catalogue advertised a flicker-free camera, Vitaphone soundfilms, arc lamps, used original Vitascope films and 100,000 meters of used vaudeville /variety act movies, for 20-40 pfennigs/meter. Studios at 32–34 Lindenstraße In 1910 Vitascope opened main offices and

3025-474: Was transferred to the Russian front in 1915, was wounded in the leg, and returned to Berlin in 1916. After being released from hospital in summer 1916 he trained recruits before joining Bild- und Filmamt (BuFA) in 1917. He was transferred as a sergeant to Rumania in summer 1917, involved in military censorship of stage and film. The studios were bought after the war in 1919 by Film-Atelier GmbH (FAG). The owner

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