Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer ( born February 3, 1889 in Copenhagen, Denmark, † March 20, 1968 ) was a Danish film director and screenwriter.
Life and work
Dreyer was a theater critic before becoming a screenwriter (eg 1914 in Lay Down Your Arms ) began his career in film in 1912. He worked for the Danish film production company Nordisk, for which he directed in 1919 his debut turned President. Following the example of DW Griffith's Intolerance Dreyer designed his episodic film leaves out of the book of Satan (Blade af Satans bog ) ( 1920). Previously, he turned in Sweden The pastor 's widow. With the beginning of the 1920s, Carl Theodor Dreyer went to Berlin to film there for the UFA. There was, among other things the chamber feature film Michael. The 1925 in Denmark turned Thou shalt honor thy wife (Du skal aere din hustru ) was one of the few commercial successes Dreyer, the enormous success of the film, especially in France, for Dreyer paved the way for the realization of the film version of The Passion of Joan of Arc ( La passion de Jeanne d' Arc ) in France from 1928, which is today considered one of the most important film works throughout the history of film. The film is considered one of the greatest French films, although Dreyer otherwise was rather in the artistic tradition of Scandinavian cinema.
His first sound film, Vampyr - The Dream of Allan Grey, he turned again in 1932 in Germany. The film is now regarded as a classic of the horror film, although it does not contain explicit scenes of violence. In the contemporary audience he was, like its predecessor, a failure. Dreyer returned to his native country and in 1943 he released his next film, day of vengeance, in which he themed witchcraft and tracking at the beginning of the modern era with visually powerful images. After 1946, Dreyer was some documentaries for the Danish government. With his last two works, The Word ( 1955) and Gertrud after a play by Hjalmar Söderberg, Dreyer created again film art of lasting value. With the fixation on the essentials in his film " Gertrude ," Dreyer came the time of the premiere in 1964 still a lack of understanding, the particular modernity of this masterpiece was understood truly until after his death.
Carl Theodor Dreyer is now considered one of the most important visionaries of cinema and stands as one of Europe's most important directors of his time in addition to Fritz Lang and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau.