Tobis Film was a German film production and

film distribution company A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company may be the same with, or different from, the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film. The distributor may set the r ...

. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent to

sound films 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 befor ...

, the organisation emerged as a leading German sound studio. Tobis used the

Tri-Ergon The Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system was developed from around 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl (1893–1942), Joseph Massolle (1889–1957), and Hans Vogt (1890–1979). The system used a photoelectric recording method and a non-standa ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog ...

system under the Tobis-Klang trade name. The

Ufa Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital city, capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya River (Kama), Belaya and Ufa River, Ufa rivers, in the centre-n ...

production company had separate rights to the Tobis system, which it used under the trade name of Ufa-Klang. Some Tobis films were released in Germany by the subsidiary Europa Film. Its principal production studios were the

Johannisthal Studios The Johannisthal Studios were film studios located in the Berlin area of Johannisthal. Founded in 1920 on the site of a former airfield, they were a centre of production during the Weimar and Nazi eras. Nearly four hundred films were made at Joha ...

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 ...

. During the Nazi era, Tobis was one of the four major film companies along with

Terra Film Terra Film was a Berlin-based film production company. Founded in 1919, it became one of Germany's largest film production companies in the 1930s under the Nazi regime. Corporate history The company was founded at end of 1919, initially as a li ...

Bavaria Film Bavaria Film is a German film production and distribution company. It is one of Europe's largest film production companies, with some 30 subsidiaries. History The studios were founded in 1919, when Munich-raised film producer Peter Ostermayr ...

and

UFA Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital city, capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya River (Kama), Belaya and Ufa River, Ufa rivers, in the centre-n ...

. In 1942 all these companies were merged into a single state-controlled industry bringing an end to Tobis' independent existence, though films continued to be released under the Tobis banner.

International operations

From 1933 until 1938, Tobis controlled the dominant Austrian producer

Sascha-Film Sascha-Film, in full Sascha-Filmindustrie AG and from 1933 Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG, was the largest Austrian film production company of the silent film and early sound film period. History The business was established in 1910 by Alexande ...

which was known as Tobis-Sascha. From 1932, it also owned a majority share of one of the main Portuguese producers known as Tobis Portuguesa, a name which the company kept even after the German participation was terminated at the end of world War II. Tobis established a Paris subsidiary and produced French-language film at the

Epinay Studios The Epinay Studios are film production studios located in Epinay in northern Paris. It was a complex with two distinct and separate structures. The earliest was built in 1902 by Eclair Film. A second studio was controlled by the French subsidia ...

during the 1930s. Among the directors under contract to the company was

René Clair René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...

who produced the films ''

Under the Roofs of Paris ''Under the Roofs of Paris'' (french: Sous les toits de Paris) is a 1930 French film directed by René Clair. The film was probably the earliest French example of a filmed musical-comedy, although its often dark tone differentiates it from othe ...

'' and ''

Le Million ''Le Million'' is a 1931 French musical comedy film directed by René Clair. The story was adapted by Clair from a play by Georges Berr and Marcel Guillemand. Plot Michel, a debt-ridden artist, is interrupted several times while romancing Van ...

'' during the early sound era.

Legacy

One of the studio's employees Horst Wendlandt later (1971) founded a new distribution company which is also known as Tobis.Bergfelder p.439 In 2016, the present-day Tobis became an investor in Globalgate Entertainment.

Selected filmography

* ''

Land Without Women ''Land Without Women'' (german: Das Land ohne Frauen) is a 1929 German drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Conrad Veidt, Elga Brink and Clifford McLaglen. It was based on the novel ''Die Braut Nr. 68'' by Peter Bolt. The film is ...

'' (1929) * '' Where the Lark Sings'' (1936) * ''

Adventure in Warsaw ''Adventure in Warsaw'' (german: Abenteuer in Warschau) is a 1938 German-Polish comedy film directed by Carl Boese and starring Georg Alexander, Paul Klinger and Jadwiga Kenda. The film was the second of two German-Polish co-productions following ...

'' (1937) * ''

Truxa ''Truxa'' is a 1937 German drama film directed by Hans H. Zerlett and starring La Jana, Hannes Stelzer, and Ernst Fritz Fürbringer. It is a Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may inclu ...

'' (1937) * '' The Broken Jug'' (1937) * '' The Gambler'' (1938) * '' Wibbel the Tailor'' (1939) * ''

The Journey to Tilsit ''The Journey to Tilsit'' (German: ''Die Reise nach Tilsit'') is a 1939 German drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Kristina Söderbaum, Philip Dorn and Anna Dammann. Synopsis Elske faithfully loves her husband Endrik as he is seduc ...

'' (1939) * ''

We Danced Around the World ''We Danced Around the World'' (german: Wir tanzen um die Welt) is a 1939 German musical film directed by Karl Anton and starring Charlotte Thiele, Irene von Meyendorff, and Carola Höhn. It is a backstage musical. The film's sets were designed ...

'' (1939) * ''

Renate in the Quartet ''Renate in the Quartet'' (german: Renate im Quartett) is a 1939 German musical comedy film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Käthe von Nagy, Hans Brausewetter and Gustav Fröhlich.Hake p. 198 It is based on a novel by Geog Albrecht von Ih ...

'' (1939) * ''

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the bacteri ...

'' (1939) * ''

The Fox of Glenarvon ''The Fox of Glenarvon'' (German: ''Der Fuchs von Glenarvon'') is a German propaganda film from the Nazi era portraying the years of the Irish fight for independence during World War I. It was produced in 1940 by Max W. Kimmich and starred Olga ...

'' (1940) * ''

Falstaff in Vienna ''Falstaff in Vienna'' (german: Falstaff in Wien) is a 1940 German musical comedy film directed by Leopold Hainisch and starring Hans Nielsen, Gusti Wolf and Paul Hörbiger.Fawkes p. 110 It portrays the life of the nineteenth century composer Ot ...

'' (1940) * ''

Ohm Krüger ''Ohm Krüger'' (English: ''Uncle Krüger'') is a 1941 German biographical film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Emil Jannings, Lucie Höflich, and Werner Hinz. It was one of a series of major propaganda films produced in Nazi Germany ...

'' (1941) * '' Ferdinand the Ant'' (1944) * ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

'' (1943) * '' Anna Alt'' (1945) * ''

The Years Pass ''The Years Pass'' (german: Die Jahre vergehen) is a 1945 German drama film directed by Günther Rittau and starring Heidemarie Hatheyer, Carl Kuhlmann and Werner Fuetterer.Bock & Bergfelder p. 33 It was shot at the Althoff Studios in Berlin an ...

'' (1945)

References

Bibliography

* Bergfelder, Tim. ''International Adventures: German Popular Cinema and European Co-Productions in the 1960s''. Berhahn Books, 2005. * * (Restricted view, subscription needed) * Kreimeier, Klaus. ''The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918-1945''. University of California Press, 1999.

External links

* German film studios Film production companies of Germany Mass media in Berlin Entertainment companies established in 1928 1928 establishments in Germany Film distributors of Germany {{film-company-stub