José Bohr

José Bohr

Birth : 1901-09-03, Bonn, Germany

Death : 1994-05-29

History

Born in Germany on November 3, 1901 under the name of Joseph Bohr Elzer, the young José Bohr arrived with his family to colonize southern Chile in 1904. It was in the city of Punta Arenas where he began his precocious cinematographic and musical career, composing songs including the hymn "Punta Arenas", playing the piano for silent films and making his first film works before he was in his twenties. After emigrating to Santiago in 1921, he went to Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, hired by the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make a documentary. Later he settled in Buenos Aires, where he composed a good part of the 200 songs that swelled the popular songbook of the time, such as "Y tenía un lunar", "Cascabelito" and "Pero hay una melena", as well as advertising tangos for music houses. He performed for the first time in the United States in 1925, starring in the musical show Gaucho at the Paramount Theater in Broadway. In this country he rubbed shoulders with the stars of the big screen, enjoying bohemian life and success. Shortly thereafter, he starred in the first Spanish-language film produced in Hollywood, Sombras de gloria, for which he received a symbolic Oscar, since the category of best foreign film did not yet exist. In Mexico, where he moved in 1932 and became friends with renowned artists such as Luis Buñuel, Cantinflas and Jorge Negrete, he became one of the pioneers of cinema, shooting more than thirty films. It was there when, in 1936, Claudio Arrau starred in and interpreted the music for his film, which was about the life of Liszt. Upon his return to Chile in 1940, he served as general director of Chile Films and shot 16 films. He composed the music for all of them, as was usual in the sixty films he made during his lifetime. Some of his most famous films are Uno que ha sido marino, Si mis campos hablaran and El gran circo Chamorro. In addition to being named Illustrious Son of the city of Punta Arenas in 1976, the Government decorated him with the Bernardo O'Higgins Order of Merit. In the 1980s he settled in Denmark with his sons Daniel and Eduardo, also dedicated to film and music. He died on May 29, 1994 in Oslo, Norway.

Profile

José Bohr

Movies

Sonrisas de Chile
Music
After arriving on a ship in Valparaíso, Bohr meets Euríspides Chamorro, with whom he begins a trip through Chile, full of sketches, most of them led by the comedy duo Los Capo- rales.
Sonrisas de Chile
Director
After arriving on a ship in Valparaíso, Bohr meets Euríspides Chamorro, with whom he begins a trip through Chile, full of sketches, most of them led by the comedy duo Los Capo- rales.
Procesado 1040
Original Music Composer
Elderly suburban man is imprisoned over a misunderstanding about some garden utensils.
The Big Chamorro Circus
Producer
The hard-working owner of a circus, Euríspides Chamorro (Eugenio Retes), goes to Santiago in search of his son, a medical student, but finds to his surprise that he has dropped out of school and no one knows his whereabouts. To make matters worse, one of his employees snatches the circus from him, starting an adventure to recover everything and to convince his son to become a doctor.
The Big Chamorro Circus
Director
The hard-working owner of a circus, Euríspides Chamorro (Eugenio Retes), goes to Santiago in search of his son, a medical student, but finds to his surprise that he has dropped out of school and no one knows his whereabouts. To make matters worse, one of his employees snatches the circus from him, starting an adventure to recover everything and to convince his son to become a doctor.
Uno que ha sido marino
Music
Two shoeshine girls and a newspaper vendor survive in the Mapocho neighborhood of Santiago. While looking for better luck, Maruja becomes involved with a businessman who helps her become a famous singer. Meanwhile, the two shoeshine boys happen to come across some money from a bank robbery, changing their luck.
Uno que ha sido marino
Producer
Two shoeshine girls and a newspaper vendor survive in the Mapocho neighborhood of Santiago. While looking for better luck, Maruja becomes involved with a businessman who helps her become a famous singer. Meanwhile, the two shoeshine boys happen to come across some money from a bank robbery, changing their luck.
Uno que ha sido marino
Director
Two shoeshine girls and a newspaper vendor survive in the Mapocho neighborhood of Santiago. While looking for better luck, Maruja becomes involved with a businessman who helps her become a famous singer. Meanwhile, the two shoeshine boys happen to come across some money from a bank robbery, changing their luck.
La cadena infinita
Director
1949 Chilean film.
La mano del muertito
Producer
A film that mixes comedy with mystery. A hairdresser (Lucho Córdoba) is a fan of detective novels, to the point of fantasizing while he works, which causes him several problems with his boss. Suddenly he finds himself involved in a plot as if it were taken from one of them.
La mano del muertito
Director
A film that mixes comedy with mystery. A hairdresser (Lucho Córdoba) is a fan of detective novels, to the point of fantasizing while he works, which causes him several problems with his boss. Suddenly he finds himself involved in a plot as if it were taken from one of them.
Mis espuelas de plata
Screenplay
The owner of a ranch pretends to a woman who is in love with a young blacksmith and spur craftsman. Because of his jealousy, the owner threatens the young man to pay a high mortgage to continue living on his ranch.
Mis espuelas de plata
Director
The owner of a ranch pretends to a woman who is in love with a young blacksmith and spur craftsman. Because of his jealousy, the owner threatens the young man to pay a high mortgage to continue living on his ranch.
Tonto Pillo
Producer
El Chepo (Lucho Córdoba) must take care of his six brothers, all laborers on a quiet farm. The arrival of the landlady, with her two daughters and their suitor, upsets the place. After several entanglements, El Chepo must go to Santiago on an errand, but is the victim of the "uncle's story", losing all the money, being forced to perform all the possible tasks to recover it.
Tonto Pillo
Director
El Chepo (Lucho Córdoba) must take care of his six brothers, all laborers on a quiet farm. The arrival of the landlady, with her two daughters and their suitor, upsets the place. After several entanglements, El Chepo must go to Santiago on an errand, but is the victim of the "uncle's story", losing all the money, being forced to perform all the possible tasks to recover it.
Si mis campos hablaran
Si mis campos hablaran is a 1947 Chilean film directed by José Bohr. It was entered into the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.
Si mis campos hablaran
Director
Si mis campos hablaran is a 1947 Chilean film directed by José Bohr. It was entered into the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.
El último guapo
Hercules, a poor individual earns his living as a walking street ad, carrying a gigantic advertising sign on his shoulders. His biggest concern is his daughter Leonor, who helps at home by working as a seamstress. Afflicted by the economic situation, Hercules gets a job as a casino watchman. There he must face a trio of mobsters and a kleptomaniac baroness who tries to seduce him with her vampire airs and whom Hercules ends up falling in love with.
La Dama de las Camelias
Director
Desideria de los Ríos is an amateur actress who works in a theater of bad death and looks for the way to become a luminary of the screen.
Flor del Carmen
Director
Flor del Carmen, daughter of the foreman of a farm, is in love with a peon: her father is opposed to this marriage, but instead yields to the threats of a rich and cynical peasant who lent him money while in trouble, in exchange he offers his daughter to him.
P'al otro lado
Director
Desideria, a servant girl, dreams of traveling to Buenos Aires. Incredibly, Blas Pastrana, a relative of her employers, is dying in Argentina and expressly asks them to travel with her. When he arrives at his deathbed, he says that he inherits everything to the employee, confessing that she is his daughter, but on one condition: that in less than two weeks she gets married. Her employers try to convince her to marry the son of the family, Jorge, but Desideria is interested in Tito, a nice porteño. Everything ends in a surprise ending.
Borrasca humana
A 1940 film directed by José Bohr.
Borrasca humana
Editor
A 1940 film directed by José Bohr.
Borrasca humana
Original Music Composer
A 1940 film directed by José Bohr.
Borrasca humana
Director
A 1940 film directed by José Bohr.
A Macabre Legacy
Editor
A plastic surgeon goes mad when he discovers that his wife have an affair. He fakes her death and disfigure her and locks her in the cellar.
A Macabre Legacy
Original Music Composer
A plastic surgeon goes mad when he discovers that his wife have an affair. He fakes her death and disfigure her and locks her in the cellar.
A Macabre Legacy
Writer
A plastic surgeon goes mad when he discovers that his wife have an affair. He fakes her death and disfigure her and locks her in the cellar.
A Macabre Legacy
Director
A plastic surgeon goes mad when he discovers that his wife have an affair. He fakes her death and disfigure her and locks her in the cellar.
Una luz en mi camino
Director
A blind songwriter struggles to get his work published, and meanwhile a girl he's sweet on disappears from his life when her employer puts the moves on her.
Canto a mi tierra
Editor
Theatrical producers discover a new musical-theatre star in a small farming town.
Canto a mi tierra
Original Music Composer
Theatrical producers discover a new musical-theatre star in a small farming town.
Canto a mi tierra
Director
Theatrical producers discover a new musical-theatre star in a small farming town.
Gentleman Burglar
Jose Rolan
Marihuana El Monstruo Verde
Director
Policeman goes undercover to bust drug-smuggling ring.
Marihuana El Monstruo Verde
Policeman goes undercover to bust drug-smuggling ring.
Luponini (El terror de Chicago)
Original Music Composer
Luponini (El terror de Chicago)
Writer
Luponini (El terror de Chicago)
Producer
Luponini (El terror de Chicago)
Director
Luponini (El terror de Chicago)
Luponini
Rogue of the Rio Grande
El Malo
El Malo, notorious Mexican bandit, forces the Mayor of Sierra Blanca, Seth Landport, to open the safe and turn over to him 2,000 pesos, which the bandit gives a promissory note for to the Mayor. Seth rushes to the cantina where Sheriff Rankin is drinking, and the sheriff posts a reward for the capture of El Malo. El Malo informs his men of the reward. The bandit and his sidekick, Pedro, visit the cantina where Pedro resumes a former acquaintance with Dolores, while El Malo has his attention directed to a tango being performed by Carmita. El Malo pushes her dancing partner aside and finishes the dance with Carmita. Since Seth's description of him is not accurate, El May visits the sheriff and promises to deliver the wanted bandit to the cantina the following night. THe following morning, El Malo and Pedro depart, and, halting their horses on a hill, view the stagecoach being held up by a trio of outlaws.
Ex-Flame
Argentinean
A woman's uncontrollable jealousy over her husband's former girlfriend results in her losing not only her house but her young son is taken away from her.
Así es la vida
A British ex-Grenadier Guards officer moves to America, but struggles to find work. After he is employed as a chauffeur to a wealthy family, he falls in love with his employer's daughter.