Carl Koch (director)

Carl Koch or Karl Koch (30 July 1892 in Nümbrecht, Germany – 1 December 1963 in Barnet, England) was an art historian, a German film director and a writer with many secondary credits including collaborations with his wife Lotte Reiniger, the animator of ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'' (1926). In these collaborations, Koch often managed the camera work, which was mounted above Reiniger's animation table.

Koch was an art historian, and before he met Reiniger, he made films for museums about art history and other educational matters.

Other than his work with Reiniger, Koch is perhaps best known as assistant to Jean Renoir, who helped get Koch and Reiniger exit visas from Germany in 1936. Koch and Renoir, during the filming of ''La Grande Illusion'' (in which Koch has an uncredited role), discovered that Koch's artillery unit had actually fired on Renoir's airplane during World War I.

In 1939, Koch and Renoir began an adaptation of ''Tosca'' at Mussolini's invitation. The French government urged Renoir to take the project as a way to keep Italy on their side as the war escalated, but Renoir had to abandon this project when Italy entered the war against France. Koch completed the film as "Carlo Koch", with Luchino Visconti as his assistant.

After the war, in 1949, Koch moved with his wife to England where they settled in an artists' community called the Abbey Arts Centre in New Barnet. Together, they made 13 silhouette films for television and many others for various other producers in these later years.

Filmography

*1919 ''Das Ornament des verliebten Herzens'', other
*1920/1921 ''Der fliegende Koffer'', camera
*1920 ''Amor und das standhafte Liebespaar'', camera
*1921 ''Der Stern von Bethlehem'', camera
*1921/1922 ''Das Geheimnis der Marquise'', other
*1922 ''Dornröschen'', camera
*1922/1923 ''Aschenputtel'', camera
*1922–1924 ''Kind und Welt: Das Großstadtkind und die Gartenarbeitsschule'', writer, director
*1923–1926 ''Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed'', cinematography, director (uncredited)
*1924 ''Die Barcarole'', other
*1927 ''Der scheintote Chinese'', other
*1926/1928 ''Ägyptische Reise. Eine Expedition durch das älteste Land der Welt'', writer, director, produce, camera
*1928 ''Der scheintote Chinese'' econd version? other
*1928 ''Doktor Dolittle und seine Tiere'' -part version cinematography
*1928 ''Doktor Dolittle und seine Tiere.'' (originally with music by Paul Dessau, Kurt Weill and Paul Hindemith), cinematography
**''1. Abenteuer: Die Reise nach Afrika''
**''2. Abenteuer: Die Affenbrücke''
**''3. Abenteuer: Die Affenkrankheit''
*1929 ''Der Tod'' (aka ''Totentanz'', from Brecht's ''The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent''), director
* ''Chasing Fortune'' (1930), writer, assistant director, producer
*1930 ''Zehn Minuten Mozart'', cinematography
*1931/1932 ''Harlekin'', other
*1931/1932 ''Nippon'', director
*1932 ''Sissi'', other
*1933/1934 ''Das rollende Rad'', other
*1934 ''Das gestohlene Herz'', other
*1934 ''Das rollende Rad. Ein Film von Wagen und Straßen'', writer
*1934 ''Der Graf von Carabas'', other
*1934/1935 ''Der kleine Schornsteinfeger'', other
*1935 ''Papageno'', other
*1935 ''Galathea'', producer
*''La Marseillaise'' (1938) screenplay
*''La Règle du jeu'' (1939) assistant director
* ''Cristobal's Gold'' (1940)
*''Tosca'' (1941) begun by Renoir
* '' Girl of the Golden West'' (1942)
*''Night of the Silvery Moon'' (1954)

References

External links

Filmography
filmportal.de
*

from ''The Threepenny Opera'' directed by his wife Lotte Reiniger
Article on Reiniger & Koch
by William Moritz

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Carl
1892 births
1963 deaths
Film people from North Rhine-Westphalia
People from Oberbergischer Kreis
German emigrants to the United Kingdom