Leopold Jessner
Encyclopedia
Leopold Jessner was a noted producer and director of German
Expressionist theater and cinema
. His first film, Hintertreppe
(1921), is considered a major turning point which paved the way for the later German Expressionist experiments of German filmmakers F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang
, and G.W. Pabst.
A native of Königsberg
, Jessner was a touring actor in his youth and turned to directing in 1911. He was director of the Berlin State Theatre from 1919–1925 and was known for bare stages in which flights of steps served as different spaces for scenes and directing actors to act in an oversimplified, unnatural manner.
Hintertreppe
(German
for Backstairs), Jesnner's first film (co-directed with Paul Leni
), highlighted Jessner's use of these heavily stylised staircases. These staircases would become regular fixtures in later German films, nicknamed "Jessnertreppe" in Jessner's honor, and would be used to full effect in the 1926 German Expressionist
film Faust
, directed by F.W. Murnau. Jessner's direction is often considered heavy-handed and clusmy in regards to this picture, and critics accuse Jessner of forcing inappropriate theatrical conventions into the cinema.
Being both Jewish and a Socialist, he was forced to emigrate to the United States
in 1933, after Adolf Hitler
came to power in Germany. He worked in film
anonymously in the United States
until his death, in Los Angeles
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Expressionist theater and cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. His first film, Hintertreppe
Hintertreppe (film)
Hintertreppe was a 1921 silent film. This was the first movie by German director Leopold Jessner, in cooperation with Paul Leni. It tells the story of a postman who adores a woman in love with another man , leading the mail deliverer to try to destroy the relationship by murdering the woman's...
(1921), is considered a major turning point which paved the way for the later German Expressionist experiments of German filmmakers F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
, and G.W. Pabst.
A native of Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
, Jessner was a touring actor in his youth and turned to directing in 1911. He was director of the Berlin State Theatre from 1919–1925 and was known for bare stages in which flights of steps served as different spaces for scenes and directing actors to act in an oversimplified, unnatural manner.
Hintertreppe
Hintertreppe (film)
Hintertreppe was a 1921 silent film. This was the first movie by German director Leopold Jessner, in cooperation with Paul Leni. It tells the story of a postman who adores a woman in love with another man , leading the mail deliverer to try to destroy the relationship by murdering the woman's...
(German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for Backstairs), Jesnner's first film (co-directed with Paul Leni
Paul Leni
Paul Leni born Paul Josef Levi was a German filmmaker and a key figure in German Expressionist filmmaking, making Backstairs and Waxworks in Germany, and The Cat and the Canary , The Chinese Parrot , The Man Who Laughs , and The Last Warning in...
), highlighted Jessner's use of these heavily stylised staircases. These staircases would become regular fixtures in later German films, nicknamed "Jessnertreppe" in Jessner's honor, and would be used to full effect in the 1926 German Expressionist
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
film Faust
Faust (1926 film)
Faust is a silent film produced in 1926 by UFA, directed by F.W. Murnau, starring Gösta Ekman as Faust, Emil Jannings as Mephisto, Camilla Horn as Gretchen/Marguerite, Frida Richard as her mother, Wilhelm Dieterle as her brother and Yvette Guilbert as Marthe Schwerdtlein, her aunt...
, directed by F.W. Murnau. Jessner's direction is often considered heavy-handed and clusmy in regards to this picture, and critics accuse Jessner of forcing inappropriate theatrical conventions into the cinema.
Being both Jewish and a Socialist, he was forced to emigrate to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1933, after Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
came to power in Germany. He worked in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
anonymously in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
until his death, in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Filmography
- HintertreppeHintertreppe (film)Hintertreppe was a 1921 silent film. This was the first movie by German director Leopold Jessner, in cooperation with Paul Leni. It tells the story of a postman who adores a woman in love with another man , leading the mail deliverer to try to destroy the relationship by murdering the woman's...
(1921) (aka Backstairs) (Directed with Paul LeniPaul LeniPaul Leni born Paul Josef Levi was a German filmmaker and a key figure in German Expressionist filmmaking, making Backstairs and Waxworks in Germany, and The Cat and the Canary , The Chinese Parrot , The Man Who Laughs , and The Last Warning in...
) - ErdgeistErdgeist (film)Erdgeist is a 1923 German Expressionist film directed by Leopold Jessner. It stars Asta Nielsen as Lulu, a femme fatale leading an amoral life in a world full of lust and greed...
(1923) (aka Earth Spirit) - Maria Stuart, Teil 1 und 2 (1927) (aka Mary Queen of Scots) (Directed with Friedrich Feher)
- Children of the Fog (1935) (Directed with John Quin)