G.W. Pabst | |
|---|---|
 G. W. Pabst during production of the filmL'Opéra de quat'sous (The Threepenny Opera) in 1931 | |
| Born | Georg Wilhelm Pabst (1885-08-25)25 August 1885 |
| Died | 29 May 1967(1967-05-29) (aged 81) Vienna, Austria |
| Resting place | Zentralfriedhof |
| Years active | 1901–1957 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Michael Pabst (1941–2008) |
Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during theWeimar Republic.
Pabst was born inRaudnitz,Bohemia,Austria-Hungary (today'sRoudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic), the son of a railroad official. While growing up inVienna, he studied drama at theAcademy of Decorative Arts and began his career as a stage actor in Switzerland, Austria and Germany.[1][2] In 1910, Pabst traveled to the United States, where he worked as an actor and director at the German Theater in New York City.[1]
In 1914, he decided to become a director, and he returned to recruit actors in Europe.[3] Pabst was in France whenWorld War I began, he was arrested and held as an enemy alien and interned in aprisoner-of-war camp nearBrest.[4] While imprisoned, Pabst organised a theatre group at the camp and directed French-language plays.[4] Upon his release in 1919, he returned to Vienna, where he became director of the Neue Wiener Bühne, anavant-garde theatre.[1]
Pabst began his career as a film director at the behest ofCarl Froelich who hired Pabst as an assistant director. He directed his first film,The Treasure, in 1923.[2] He developed a talent for "discovering" and developing the talents of actresses, such asLouise Brooks andLeni Riefenstahl.[5]
Film theoristKarel Reisz noted that Pabst was among the first filmmakers to time his cuts to specific movements, using cutting on action to create seamless transitions and enhance the fluidity of his films.[6]
Pabst's best known films concern the plight of women, includingThe Joyless Street (1925) with Greta Garbo and Asta Nielsen,Secrets of a Soul (1926) withLili Damita,The Loves of Jeanne Ney (1927) withBrigitte Helm, andPandora's Box (1929) andDiary of a Lost Girl (1929) with American actress Louise Brooks. He also co-directed withArnold Fanck amountain film entitledThe White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929) starring Leni Riefenstahl.
After the coming of sound, he made a trilogy of films that secured his reputation:Westfront 1918 (1930),The Threepenny Opera (1931) withLotte Lenya (based on theBertolt Brecht andKurt Weill musical), andKameradschaft (1931). Pabst also filmed three versions ofPierre Benoit's novelL'Atlantide in 1932, in German, English, and French, titledDie Herrin von Atlantis,The Mistress of Atlantis, andL'Atlantide, respectively. In 1933, Pabst directedDon Quixote, once again in German, English, and French versions. He madeA Modern Hero (1934) in the USA andStreet of Shadows (1937) in France.
Pabst was planning to emigrate to the United States, but when war was declared in 1939 he found himself trapped in France on a visit to his mother. He was forced to return to Nazi Germany. Under the auspices of propaganda minister,Josef Goebbels, Pabst made two films in Germany during this period:The Comedians (1941) andParacelsus (1943).
Pabst directed four opera productions in Italy in 1953:La forza del destino for theMaggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (conducted byDimitri Mitropoulos, the cast includedRenata Tebaldi,Fedora Barbieri,Mario del Monaco,Aldo Protti,Cesare Siepi), and a few weeks later, for theArena di Verona Festival, a spectacularAïda, withMaria Callas in the title role (conducted byTullio Serafin, with del Monaco),Il trovatore and againLa forza del destino.[7]
He directedThe Last Ten Days (1955), the first post-war German feature film to featureAdolf Hitler as a character.[5]
On 29 May 1967, Pabst died in Vienna at the age of 81.[8] He was interred at theZentralfriedhof in Vienna.[9]
Notes
G.W. Pabst, the Austrian film producer and director, died here last night. He was 82 years old.(Subscription required.)
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