- Vita-Film
Vita-Film was founded in 1919 as the successor company to
Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie by Anton andLuise Kolm .By 1923 Vita-Film had built the Rosenhügel Film Studios in the
Vienna suburbs, which still stand and are still used for film production. On the surrounding site, in 1922, even before the completion of the studios, the film "Samson und Delila" was produced, an epic on the then very popular American model. With extravagant sets and costumes, as generally used by Vita-Film's direct competitor,Sascha-Film , the production lasted a considerable time and cost 12 millionAustrian crown s."Samson und Delila" was not however a typical Vita-Film production. Unlike Sascha-Film, which took its lead from American productions, Vita-Film sought international success by following French models. In 1923 directors employed on specific projects included
Germaine Dulac ("Die sterbende Sonne", 1923),Jean Legrand ("Das Haus im Walde", 1923),Severin Mars ("Horoga", 1923),M. Liabel ("Die Insel ohne Liebe", 1923) andEdouard-Emile Violet ("Clown aus Liebe", 1923). The Belgian director and one of the earliest realists,Jacques Feyder , filmed "Das Bildnis " in 1924 in Rosenhügel andHungary , based on ascreenplay by the well-known authorJules Romains . The film, the last Vita-Film production, was released in 1925.The company went bankrupt in 1924, like many other European film companies at this time, because of the flood of low-priced but technically high-quality productions from the United States. The Rosenhügel studios were taken over in 1933 by Sascha-Film.
Productions
(selection)
* 1922 - Samson und Delila
* 1922 - Eine versunkene Welt
* 1923 - Hoffmanns Erzählungen (directed byMax Neufeld ; premiere on6 April 1923 at the Schwarzenberg Cinema)
* 1925 - "Das Bildnis (L'Image)" (direction byJacques Feyder ; last Vita-Film production at Rosenhügel)
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