Continental-Kunstfilm GmbH (Continental Art Film) was a short-lived German film production company based in Berlin, formed in February 1912 by Walter Schmidthässler and Max Rittberger.[1] A large number of Continental-Kunstfilm's productions are now probably lost, although some significant films have survived into the 21st century.
Continental, with offices and studios at 123 Chauseestraße, began by releasing a mix of documentaries and comedies, together with serious melodramas by directors such as Max Mack. The company produced the first feature film about the sinking of the RMS Titanic, (In Nacht und Eis) in August 1912, directed by Mime Misu. Joe May and Ernst Reicher early in their careers made the first 'Stuart Webbs' detective films there; Otto Rippert and Harry Piel also directed films at Continental; and Gerhard Dammann wrote and directed numerous comedy shorts starring his 'Bumke' character in 1913.
In early 1914 the company constructed a small glasshouse studio in the Berlin suburb of Weißensee where Reicher continued to film many of his 'Stuart Webbs' detective dramas before removing to Munich in 1918. Continental's own output dropped significantly after 1915.
After the end of World War I, Continental leased the Weißensee studio to Eric Pommer's Decla company. Fritz Lang used the studios for some sequences of his early productions, and Robert Wiene shot the classic expressionist horror Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari there in 1919.
The building at 123 Chauseestraße still exists, having survived World War II; the studios in Weißensee were demolished in 1928 to make way for residential apartments which are still standing as of 2021.
Cite error: There are <ref group=n> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=n}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Bock & Bergfelder 2009, p. 219.