Rialto Film is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

motion-picture production company headquartered in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. It is named after the

Rialto The Rialto is a central area of Venice, Italy, in the ''sestiere'' of San Polo. It is, and has been for many centuries, the financial and commercial heart of the city. Rialto is known for its prominent markets as well as for the monumental Rialto ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, and used as its production logo an image of a

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...

in front of the

Rialto Bridge The Rialto Bridge ( it, Ponte di Rialto; vec, Ponte de Rialto) is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Connecting the ' (districts) of San Marco and San Polo, it has been rebuilt several times since its fir ...

History

The original

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Rialto Film company was founded in 1897 by

Constantin Philipsen Lauritz Carl Constantin Philipsen (1 December 1859 in Copenhagen; died 23 August 1925 Copenhagen) is credited as one of the founders of the Cinema of Denmark. Biography Philipsen, a photographer toured Scandinavian nations from 1898 with his magi ...

(1859–1925) in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

.Rialto Film GmbH, Berlin - Die Welt des Kinos...von Edgar Wallace bis Loriot...von Otto Waalkes bis Winnetou
/ref> In 1950 his son

Preben Philipsen Preben Philipsen (18 January 1910 – 21 September 2005) was a Danish film producer. He produced 41 films between 1949 and 1975, and co-founded Constantin Film with Waldfried Barthel ( de) in 1950. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to Con ...

(1910–2005) established the

Constantin Film The Constantin Film AG is a German mini-major film production and distribution company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of pr ...

distribution at

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, named after his father, together with his associate Waldfried Barthel (1913–1979). After Philipsen exited Constantin Film in 1955, he again turned to his father's film business in both Scandianvia and Germany. On 18 August 1960, he established Rialto Film GmbH at Frankfurt as a German subsidiary. Little is known about Rialto's productions prior to 1950. The company became internationally famous after the production of the 1959 film ''

Der Frosch mit der Maske ''Der Frosch mit der Maske'' (translation: ''The Frog with the Mask''), aka ''Face of the Frog'', is a 1959 West German-Danish black-and-white crime film directed by Harald Reinl and starring Siegfried Lowitz and Joachim Fuchsberger. It was the f ...

'', followed by the release of further 32 films based on the works of

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

, as well as 9 films based on the works of

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his 19th century novels of fictitious travels and adventures, set in the American Old West with Winnetou and Old Shatterhand as main pro ...

under director

Harald Reinl Harald Reinl (8 July 1908 in Bad Ischl, Austria – 9 October 1986 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) was an Austrian film director. He is known for the films he made based on Edgar Wallace and Karl May books (see Karl May movies and Edgar Walla ...

and, from 1960, co-owner

Horst Wendlandt Horst Otto Gregor Wendlandt (15 March 1922 – 30 August 2002) was a German film producer. He produced more than 100 films between 1956 and 2002. In the 1960s Horst Wendlandt's production company Rialto Film produced films based on Edgar Wa ...

.The Independent
/ref> As was the practice of mainstream and successful European cinema, most of the films were

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies ...

s.Bergfelder, Tim ''International Adventures: German Popular Cinema and European Co-Production'' 2006 Berghahn Books Wendtandt was succeeded in 1992 by his son

Matthias Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew. People Notable people named Matthias include the following: In religion: * Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Iscariot * ...

as general director.

References

External links

Homepage of Rialto Film
*Rialto at IMDB https://www.imdb.com/company/co0043072/ Film distributors of Germany Film production companies of Germany {{film-company-stub