Hans Janowitz (2 December 1890 – 25 May 1954) was a German author. Janowitz was an officer in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but returned from it as a pacifist. Shortly after the war ended, he met the similarly minded Carl Mayer in Berlin, who suggested he work as an author. Together they wrote the script to '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (''Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari''), which was filmed by Robert Wiene during 1919 and 1920, and released in February 1920. The movie is a prominent work of

German expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

. Supposedly, the film was at first offered to director

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

, in the early part of his career, who suggested the now-famous framing story of the madman remembering his past, who then recounts the tale of a girl's mysterious murder, first read about by Janowitz in a newspaper account. Janowitz and Mayer protested the change, but it was made anyway over their objections, and Lang left the project to direct another film. Wiene was then hired to direct the film. Janowitz then worked with another two movies by

F. W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at th ...

. As early as 1922, he ended his movie career and became active in the oil business.

Selected filmography

*'' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (''Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari'', 1920) *'' Der Januskopf'' (1920) * '' Eternal River'' (1920) * '' The Red Masquerade Ball'' (1921) * '' The Black Panther'' (1921) * ''

Circus of Life ''Circus of Life'' (German: ''Zirkus des Lebens'') is a 1921 German silent drama film directed by Johannes Guter and starring Werner Krauss, Lydia Potechina and Rudolf Klein-Rogge.Hardt p.64 The film's sets were designed by the art director H ...

'' (1921) * ''

Roswolsky's Mistress ''Roswolsky's Mistress'' (german: Die Geliebte Roswolskys) is a 1921 German silent film, silent drama film directed by Felix Basch and starring Asta Nielsen, Paul Wegener, and Wilhelm Diegelmann. It was based on a novel by George Froeschel. The f ...

'' (''Die Geliebte Roswolskys'', 1921) *'' Marizza, called the Smuggler Madonna'' (''Marizza, genannt die Schmugglermadonna'', 1922) * '' The Burning Secret'' (1923)

External links

* 1890 births 1954 deaths 20th-century German screenwriters Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I German male writers German pacifists German male screenwriters Jewish Czech writers Jewish pacifists People from Poděbrady People from the Kingdom of Bohemia {{Germany-writer-stub