Slatan Dudow

Slatan Dudow

Birth : 1903-01-30, Zaribrod, Bulgaria (today Dimitrovgrad, Serbia)

Death : 1963-07-12

History

Slatan Dudow was a Bulgarian born film director, who worked in Weimar Germany and later East Germany. Influenced by revolutionary ideas, Dudow moved to Berlin in 1922. He gave up his plan to study architecture and studied theater from 1925 to 1926. He worked with Leopold Jessner and Juergen Fehling and was a chorus member under Erwin Piscator. But it was a trip to Moscow, where he met Majakowski and Eisenstein, that proved to be the most influential for his career. After his return from Moscow, Dudow directed Brecht's theater piece Die Massnahme, while beginning his film career. He was commissioned to produce the film Wie der Berliner Arbeiter wohnt (1929) as part of the documentary series Wie lebt der Berliner Arbeiter? To Whom Does the World Belong? (1932) was originally banned because it was perceived as an insult to the Weimar Republic's president, judiciary, and religion. Dudow was arrested several times by the Nazis after 1933; he was imprisoned in 1939, but soon escaped to France and then Switzerland. In 1946, he returned to Berlin and worked as a director at the DEFA studios.

Profile

Slatan Dudow

Movies

Christine
Writer
Christine is a young farm worker in a small village in post-war Germany. Her attempts to improve her situation through further education are hampered by frequent pregnancies arising from ill-fated relationships.
Christine
Director
Christine is a young farm worker in a small village in post-war Germany. Her attempts to improve her situation through further education are hampered by frequent pregnancies arising from ill-fated relationships.
Verwirrung der Liebe
Writer
The film tells the love story of two young couples. According to their social ranks, construction worker Edy is dating employee Siegi, while medical student Dieter is dating art school student Sonja. Rather unintentionally, they exchange partners. During a carnival ball, Dieter makes out with Siegi because he falls for her her fresh and happy girlish manner. Sonja coolly observes this game and sees this intermezzo as a test for their relationship. While Siegi and Dieter vacation at the sea, Sonja falls in love with Edy. Now the die seems to be cast for new constellations. But when both couples stand in front of the registrar’s office, they finally come to their senses.
Verwirrung der Liebe
Director
The film tells the love story of two young couples. According to their social ranks, construction worker Edy is dating employee Siegi, while medical student Dieter is dating art school student Sonja. Rather unintentionally, they exchange partners. During a carnival ball, Dieter makes out with Siegi because he falls for her her fresh and happy girlish manner. Sonja coolly observes this game and sees this intermezzo as a test for their relationship. While Siegi and Dieter vacation at the sea, Sonja falls in love with Edy. Now the die seems to be cast for new constellations. But when both couples stand in front of the registrar’s office, they finally come to their senses.
Der Hauptmann von Köln
Writer
Albert Hauptmann is an out of work waiter in Cologne who is often confused with a former Captain of the Nazi Army. Albert uses this to his advantage and becomes the Director of the Montan Corporation, and a member of the West German Parliament. Herr Karjanke, the real Captain, learns of Albert’s ruse, and wants to claim his "rightful" position in Parliament. But Karjanke cannot come forward until his politicking "Doppelganger" succeeds in passing an amnesty law for war criminals. When Albert is finally brought before a judge on charges of fraud, he learns that this own amnesty law does not apply to him.
Der Hauptmann von Köln
Director
Albert Hauptmann is an out of work waiter in Cologne who is often confused with a former Captain of the Nazi Army. Albert uses this to his advantage and becomes the Director of the Montan Corporation, and a member of the West German Parliament. Herr Karjanke, the real Captain, learns of Albert’s ruse, and wants to claim his "rightful" position in Parliament. But Karjanke cannot come forward until his politicking "Doppelganger" succeeds in passing an amnesty law for war criminals. When Albert is finally brought before a judge on charges of fraud, he learns that this own amnesty law does not apply to him.
Stronger Than the Night
Director
The story of a resistance fighter in the Nazi era: Communist Hans Löning was arrested in 1933, imprisoned in a concentration camp and tortured. The Gestapo plans to smash the resistance group around Löning. Despite the imminent threat to his life, Löning, together with his wife, organized the passive resistance of the Hamburg workers against the Hitler regime. In 1944, Löning was again taken and killed.
Destinies of Women
Writer
Berlin 1952, seven years after WWII. Four women are looking for a good man and happiness in the divided city. Their destinies are loosely connected through one person: the West Berlin dandy and womanizer, Conny.
Destinies of Women
Director
Berlin 1952, seven years after WWII. Four women are looking for a good man and happiness in the divided city. Their destinies are loosely connected through one person: the West Berlin dandy and womanizer, Conny.
The Benthin Family
Writer
The brothers Theo and Gustav Benthin pull profits through smuggling in divided Germany: Theo in the West and Gustav in the East. The East German police catch on quickly, however, and Gustav is arrested. The small band of smugglers disperses, with Gustav’s chauffer Peter Naumann fleeing to the West and his sister choosing the East after struggling to find work and lodging in the West.
The Benthin Family
Director
The brothers Theo and Gustav Benthin pull profits through smuggling in divided Germany: Theo in the West and Gustav in the East. The East German police catch on quickly, however, and Gustav is arrested. The small band of smugglers disperses, with Gustav’s chauffer Peter Naumann fleeing to the West and his sister choosing the East after struggling to find work and lodging in the West.
Immer bereit
Writer
Documentary (in colour) about the first youth meeting (Deutschlandtreffen der Jugend) in East Berlin in 1950.
Our Daily Bread
Writer
A story about a family after the Second World War. The petty bourgeois cashier Karl Weber of Berlin observes from a distance how his son Ernst participates in the building of a new socialist society. Karl does not understand Ernst's visions, instead he confides in his other son Harry. However, Harry becomes involved in illicit business and Karl quickly realizes that it would be best to join his son Ernst in the citizen-owned factory.
Our Daily Bread
Director
A story about a family after the Second World War. The petty bourgeois cashier Karl Weber of Berlin observes from a distance how his son Ernst participates in the building of a new socialist society. Karl does not understand Ernst's visions, instead he confides in his other son Harry. However, Harry becomes involved in illicit business and Karl quickly realizes that it would be best to join his son Ernst in the citizen-owned factory.
Seifenblasen
Editor
Seifenblasen
Writer
Seifenblasen
Director
To Whom Does the World Belong?
Director
Kuhle Wampe takes place in early-1930s Berlin. The film begins with a montage of newspaper headlines describing steadily-rising unemployment figures. This is followed by scenes of a young man looking for work in the city and the family discussing the unpaid back rent. The young man, brother of the protagonist Anni, removes his wristwatch and throws himself from a window out of despair. Shortly thereafter his family is evicted from their apartment. Now homeless, the family moves into a garden colony of sorts with the name “Kuhle Wampe.”
How the Berlin Worker Lives
Director
This documentary shows how the Berliner workers lived in 1930. The director Slatan Dudow shows through images: a) the workers leaving the factory; b) the raise of the rents; c) the "unpleasant" guest, meaning the justice officer that brings the eviction notice; d) the fight of classes of the houses of capitalists and working classes; e) the parks of the working class; f) the houses of the working class, origin of the tuberculosis and the victims; g) the playground of the working class; h) the swimming pool for the working class, ironically called the "Baltic Sea" of the working class; i) the effects of humidity of basement where a family lives, with one member deaf; j) one working class family having dinner while the capitalist baths his dog; k) the eviction notice received from an unemployed family and their eviction.
Metropolis
Assistant Director
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.