The Rosenhügel Studios are

film studios A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the productio ...

located in the Austrian capital

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. They were opened in 1923 and originally owned by the

Vita-Film Vita-Film was founded in 1919 as the successor company to Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie by Anton and Luise Kolm. By 1923 Vita-Film had built the Rosenhügel Film Studios in the Vienna suburbs, which still stand and are still used for film product ...

production company. After the company's

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

the following year the studios were taken over by Sascha Film, the largest of the Austrian companies of the era. In the early 1930s Sascha formed a partnership with the German outfit

Tobis Film Tobis Film was a German film production and film distribution company. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent to sound films, the organisation emerged as a leading German sound studio. Tob ...

to renovate the studios for production of

sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

s. A number of Austrian hit films were produced there during the remainder of the decade. Following the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

of 1938, the Austrian film industry was incorporated into that of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Rosenhügel was taken over by the German-controlled

Wien-Film Wien-Film GmbH ("Vienna Film Limited") was a large Austrian film company, which in 1938 succeeded the Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG (Sascha Film Company) and lasted until 1985. Until 1945 the business was owned by the Cautio Trust Company (''Cauti ...

under

Karl Hartl Karl Hartl (10 May 1899 – 29 August 1978) was an Austrian film director. Life Born in Vienna, Hartl began his film career at the Austrian Sascha-Film company of Alexander Kolowrat and from 1919 was assistant to the Hungarian director Alexande ...

. During the Soviet Occupation of East Vienna between 1945 and 1955, the studios were used for a mixture of entertainment films and

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

works. After the Soviet withdrawal the studios passed into the hands of democratic Austria, and it functioned as the country's largest studios. At the beginning of October 2008, the ORF confirmed rumors that the sale of the Rosen Hügel studios was planned. The minimum purchase price should be 14 million euros. Filmstadt Wien-GmbH wants to move to the newly built Media Quarter Marx after the lease expires, which was extended from 2009 to 2014 by exercising an option. In 2011 parts of the studio estate were sold off for demolition and

redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include: ...

Rosenhügel films produced under Soviet occupation

*''

Child of the Danube ''Child of the Danube'' (German: ''Kind der Donau'') is a 1950 Austrian musical film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Marika Rökk, Fred Liewehr and Harry Fuß. It was one of a cycle of popular musicals made by Jacoby and Rökk.Davidson, J ...

'' (dir.

Georg Jacoby Georg Jacoby (23 July 1882 – 21 February 1964) was a German film director and screenwriter.Profile
, bfi.org.uk; accessed ...

, 1950) *''

Spring on Ice ''Spring on Ice'' (German: ''Frühling auf dem Eis'') is a 1951 Austrian musical comedy film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Eva Pawlik, Herta Mayen and Hans Holt. It is set around the Vienna Ice Revue. The film was shot using Agfacolor a ...

'' (dir.

Georg Jacoby Georg Jacoby (23 July 1882 – 21 February 1964) was a German film director and screenwriter.Profile
, bfi.org.uk; accessed ...

, 1951) *' (dir.

Georg Jacoby Georg Jacoby (23 July 1882 – 21 February 1964) was a German film director and screenwriter.Profile
, bfi.org.uk; accessed ...

, 1951) *' (dir.

Eduard von Borsody Eduard von Borsody (; 13 June 1898 – 1 January 1970) was an Austrian cameraman, film editor, film director, and screenplay writer. Biography His film career began as a cameraman. Among his first jobs were three films on which Mihály Kertés ...

, 1952) *' (dir.

Rudolf Steinboeck Rudolf Steinboeck (1908–1996) was an Austrian theatre actor and director. He also directed and acted in several films.Fritsche p.232 & 246 He was married to the actress Aglaja Schmid. He headed the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna ...

, 1952) *' (dir.

Johann Alexander Hübler-Kahla Johann Alexander Hübler-Kahla (23 June 1902 – 6 April 1965) was an Austrian screenwriter, film producer, and director. He directed seventeen films including the musical comedy ''Dance Music'' (1935)Waldman p.103 and the Karl May adaptation ''A ...

, 1952) *'' Daughter of the Regiment'' (dir.

Georg C. Klaren Georg C. Klaren (1900–1962) was an Austrian screenwriter and film director. He worked on a number of screenplays with Herbert Juttke during the silent era, silent and early sound eras including Alfred Hitchcock's 1931 film ''Mary (1931 film), Ma ...

, 1953) *'' A Night in Venice'' (dir.

Georg Wildhagen Georg Wildhagen (15 September 1920 – 2 December 1990)Walter Habel (ed.): ''Wildhagen, Georg'', in: '' Wer ist wer? Das deutsche Who’s Who'', vol. 15, Berlin: Arani-Verlag, 1967, p. 2178 u.ö.previewat Google Books was a German screenwriter and ...

, 1953) *''

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

'' (dir.

Walter Kolm-Veltée Walter Kolm-Veltée (27 December 1910 – 8 March 1999) was an Austrian film director. He directed nine films between 1933 and 1959. He was the son of Austrian film director Luise Fleck from her first marriage. He became a respected film ...

, 1953) *' (dir.

Aldo Vergano Aldo Vergano (1891–1957) was an Italian director, screenwriter and journalist. He was the father of actress Serena Vergano. Biography Born in Rome, was son of Sebastiano Lodovico Vergano and Eleonora Zuddas. Vergano was the co-founder with ...

, 1954) *' (dir.

Karl Paryla Karl Paryla (1905–1996) was an Austrian theater actor and director, and later a film maker as well. A lifelong, dedicated communist, his career in the Austrian theater was first interrupted by the Second World War, and then strained by Cold War ...

, 1954) *''

Bel Ami ''Bel-Ami'' (, "Dear Friend") is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled ''Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel'' first appeared in 1903. The story chronicles journalist ...

'' (dir.

Louis Daquin Louis Daquin (20 May 1908 – 2 October 1980) was a French film director, screenwriter and actor. He directed 14 films between 1938 and 1963. He also appeared in 11 films between 1937 and 1979. Selected filmography * '' The Man from Nowher ...

, 1955) *''

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...

'' (dir.

, 1955) *''Gasparone'' (dir.

, 1956) *' (dir.

Walter Felsenstein Walter Felsenstein (30 May 1901 – 8 October 1975) was an Austrian theater and opera director. He was one of the most important exponents of textual accuracy, productions in which dramatic and musical values were exquisitely researched and ba ...

, 1956) *'' Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti'' (dir.

Alberto Cavalcanti Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti (February 6, 1897 – August 23, 1982) was a Brazilian-born film director and film producer, producer. He was often credited under the single name "Cavalcanti". Early life Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, ...

, 1960)

References

Bibliography

* Fritsche, Maria. ''Homemade Men in Postwar Austrian Cinema: Nationhood, Genre and Masculinity''. Berghahn Books, 2013. * Von Dassanowsky, Robert. ''Austrian Cinema: A History''. McFarland, 2005. Austrian film studios {{film-studio-stub