Gustaf Gründgens. Film works 1930–1960
Marburg writings on media research [93]
Born in Düsseldorf in 1899, Gustaf Gründgens is still one of the best-known and most controversial German personalities in the film and theater sectors. After the end of the war he completed his acting training with Gustav Lindemann and Louise Dumont, which was followed by engagements on German stages until he ended up with Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. The film also quickly caught his attention – his oeuvre includes a total of 33 films, including directing and acting activities.
Although he courageously campaigned for endangered colleagues during the Nazi era and was himself endangered by his homophilic love affairs, he nevertheless benefited from his relationships and contributed to the success of an inhuman system on a cultural level.
Gründgen’s films give a cross-section of German film; he worked with well-known personalities such as Hans Steinhoff, Gustav Ucicky, Heinz Rühmann, Jenny Jugo, Willi Forst, Fritz Lang, Paula Wessely, Marianne Hoppe, Fritz Kortner, Werner Krauss and Emil Jannings, who all contributed to shaping and shaping German-language film. Not only is his personal development and position on film of interest, but also the development of the medium “film” itself. How did the production processes change with regard to political circumstances and how are contents and production conditions to be classified historically and socially? How was Gründgens received in German-speaking countries and internationally? Films as well as interviews, essays, speeches, correspondence, film reviews and descriptions in the daily and trade press, publications by and about Gründgens, personnel files, board minutes, screenplays, press materials, film programmes, censorship cards, advertising advice and literary sources form the basis for viewing .
