UFA studios - the German Hollywood

The German film industry, originally a small part of entertainment shows, grew at a dizzying pace, producing 353 films in 1913, more than 10 times that of 1910. During World War I, imperial Germany created the need to concentrate cinematic resources to produce regime-compliant films. The acting commander-in-chief, Ludendorff, issued a letter on the subject in 1917, creating the UFA company, which united virtually the entire German film industry.

Post-World War I economic crisis gave UFA excellent conditions to continue to head the local industry. But the company was put under economic supervision, which dictated the production of commercial films and a partnership with Hollywood studios. Another step was the privatization of the company. In 1927 it was taken over by the right-wing industrialist Hogenberg. The invention of the soundtrack at the time put many companies in crisis and allowed for a further strengthening of UFA.

The huge company continued to exist during the Weimar Republic and during the Nazi regime, until the end of World War II. The Nazis nationalized UFA immediately after coming to power, banning Jews from working there. It was part of a move to nationalize all the media firms in Germany, such as the press, radio and cultural institutions.

Joseph Goebbels closely monitored what was going on UFA and it was actually his private yard. He personally supervised the works, from the selection of the script to the final approval of the finished film. During the Nazi period, about a thousand films were made in UFA and its subsidiaries. There were quality films among them, in parallel with commercial films. The works were in a variety of genres, and reflected the artistic, economic, and political tension that prevailed in Germany.

Cinema, which originally created a cultural revolution, gradually became a major means of directing observation of reality. As a result, the fear that it would become a tool in the hands of subversive elements increased. These conflicting elements prevailed in the productions. It was a constant competition between artistic creativity, connected with radical social factors, versus the commitment to financial stability, bestowed by the upper classes and their conservative taste. What gave UFA its shape was its contradictory nature, as society was a force field composed of capital, politics, cinema and the public.

During World War I, UEFA military inspectors wanted to make a patriotic glow to the melodramatic tensions that cinema thrived on, and to allow viewers to enjoy visuality. The branding of the nation was the great ambition of the Nazis. Cinematic coverage has steadily corrected reality by allowing audiences to immerse themselves in larger collective destinies.  Cinematic setting was powerful. Through its credit strong emotional power was imparted to nationalism. War and cinema renewed the meanings of the modern nation-state and cultivated fantasies about it.

Because the UFA was an economic business, as well as a propaganda arm and a place of artistic and technical experimentation, in which Social Democrats and Jews played key roles, UFA films could not be reduced to a single influence. Neither Ludendorf, nor Hogenberg, nor even Goebbels, achieved complete command. Their empire was difficult to cover and control by its very nature.

At its peak, UFA competed against the major Hollywood studios and the German film industry was the second largest in the world. Its film studios covered vast areas of the Bubblesberg neighborhood of Berlin. The thousands of films made by the company, in all genres, were watched by hundreds of millions of viewers, for whom it was a symbol of the good life. 

During the Weimar Republic, in addition to entertainment films for the masses, experimental expressionist films were made in it. After the Nazis came to power, in 1933, they made it their main propaganda tool. Therefore the Allies eliminated it after World War II. Many of the professionals in Germany were Jews, and were banned from working for the company as soon as the Nazis came to power. They escaped, and some joined the rival Hollywood film industry. Enthusiastic Nazis took the place of the Jews.

The company became known for its designed productions. The rich scenery, and especially the lavish costumes, were a prominent hallmark of the films produced in it. As an added value to films, UFA studios have also dictated the entire popular culture, similar to the Hollywood film industry at its peak. UFA movie stars have shaped, through careful planning, the tastes, fashion and lifestyle in Germany. UFA has promoted itself, and the industry sectors close to it, through the intensive distribution of posters, advertisements, newsletters, magazines, movie diaries and of course a selection of the content in the movies.

UFA reflect the fate of the Nazi regime. The state-owned company initially created a production plant that ensured orderly productions, fixed salaries, and orderly film distribution. All the partners in the filmmaking, from Joseph Goebbels to the last crew members in the production, were dedicated film lovers. The productions were characterized by order and organization that were typical of the Nazi regime, compared to the relative disorder that was typical of the Weimar period productions. German order and discipline are immediately reflected to viewers in accurate scenes. Another value of the disciplined production was the ability to go out in cohesive outdoor filming teams in difficult conditions. Under crisis conditions, as during extensive military recruitment, manpower could be streamlined relatively easily. The production of any film was expensive, so it was important for the ability of the various studio managers to choose, through their centralized power, to create films according to artistic and national considerations, and not according to cheap commercial considerations.

The method has created a shortage of good scripts. The nationalized film industry has worked as a production line, and this is contrary to the original creative process, which does not succumb to the dictates of time. So when a pattern of success was identified, like aviation movies, it was repeated over and over again.

Important films made in UFA include:

During the Weimar Republic:

"Metropolis" (1927) - a film in the science fiction genre, with social significance, which was a prestigious production that almost brought UFA into bankruptcy. The plot of the film revolves around two groups of citizens in a futuristic society, the elite of the executives and the masses of workers, who live in two separate worlds, upper and lower. A robotic woman whips up a conflict between them, which ends in reconciliation.

films from the Nazi period:

"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1943) - a fantastic, big budget and colorful comedy created by Goebbels, influenced by the Hollywood's "Wizard of Oz", about the Baron's imaginary stories known from children's books. The Baron has in the film the image of a superhero, who lives forever and possesses miraculous technologies. The festive premiere in Berlin took place during the announcement of the surrender in Stalingrad. The film thus reflects the illusion of victory through miracles and miracle weapons.

"Kohlberg" (1945) - a colorful, high-budget historical film, in the genre of Prussian war films, dozens of which were made at UFA studios. The film was made with the participation of tens of thousands of soldiers as extras. The plot of the film revolves around the resistance of the inhabitants of Kohlberg to the siege imposed on them by Napoleon's army. The protagonist of the film is a young officer, similar to Goebbels in appearance and speech, who shows decisiveness and leads the citizens to dig a defense system in preparation for the enemy attack, which crush the city by bombardment. The film is intended to prepare the German people for a long war on the home front.