Karlheinz Martin (May 6, 1886 – January 13, 1948) was a German stage and film director, best known for his

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

productions. After enjoying success with experimental productions in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg, Martin went to Berlin, where he premiered

Ernst Toller Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German author, playwright, left-wing politician and revolutionary, known for his Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, ...

's anti-war drama, ''Transfiguration'' (''Die Wandlung'') on September 30, 1919. Performed in a hall seating fewer than 300 spectators, the production used the intimacy of the space to drive home the horrors of Toller's script. The sets were jagged flats placed against blackness, and lit with harsh white spotlights. Scenes ended in blackouts not, as was customary at the time, with the curtain falling. Fritz Kortner became famous for his intense portrayal of the young hero. Martin turned to film in 1920, when he directed a cinematic adaptation of one of the most celebrated expressionist dramas, Georg Kaiser's '' From Morn to Midnight'' (''Von morgens bis mitternachts'') with actor

Ernst Deutsch Ernst Deutsch, also known as Ernest Dorian (16 September 1890 – 22 March 1969), was a Jewish Austrian actor. In 1916, his performance as the protagonist in the world première of Walter Hasenclever's Expressionist play '' The Son'' in Dres ...

as the Cashier who embezzles money from a bank and goes on a desperate search for meaning in his life in a nightmarish metropolis. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Martin revived

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

'' in Berlin, and premiered Georg Kaiser's pacifist drama, '' The Soldier Tanaka'' (''Der Soldat Tanaka'').

Selected filmography

*'' From Morn to Midnight'' (1920) *'' The House on the Moon'' (1921) *'' The Pearl of the Orient'' (1921) * ''

Punks Arrives from America ''Punks Arrives from America'' (German: ''Punks kommt aus Amerika'') is a 1935 German comedy film directed by Karl Heinz Martin and starring Attila Hörbiger, Lien Deyers, Ralph Arthur Roberts and Sybille Schmitz. Produced and distributed by ...

'' (1935) *'' The Voice of the Heart'' (1937)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Karlheinz Film people from Freiburg im Breisgau 1886 births 1948 deaths

Selected filmography

Further reading

External links