Schulze-Mittendorf, Walter

Biography:
Walter Schulze-Mittendorff was born in Berlin on January 31, 1893. He studied sculpture at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. In 1920, a former fellow student introduced him to Fritz Lang. His artistic involvement in Lang’s Der müde Tod was the beginning of a lifelong career in film. He collaborated on many Fritz Lang classics in the 1920s, including Metropolis, Nibelungen and Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse.
After the Nazis took power, Schulze-Mittendorff continued working in film. Besides designing sculptural elements, he got more and more involved in costume design. In 1935, his name was listed twice—as a sculptor and a member of the costume design team—in the film credits of the Kleist adaptation Amphitryon. During the late 1930s, he also worked for Erich Engel (Der Maulkorb) and Veit Harlan (Der Herrscher). Erich Käutner’s Kleider machen Leute (1940), an elaborate costume film set in the 19th century, was a turning point in Schulze-Mittendorff’s career. It was his first film as a costume designer, under contract with the production company Terra-Filmkunst; because this company was under the control of the Nazi Ministry for Propaganda, he was excused from military service and had an easier time protecting his half-Jewish wife from persecution.
After WWII, Schulze-Mittendorff worked for the DEFA film studios, where he was the costume designer for almost forty feature and children’s films, including Wozzeck, Der Untertan and Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck. At the same time, he also worked for the Berliner Komödie and Volksbühne theaters. After the building of the Wall in 1961, Schulze-Mittendorff, who lived in West Berlin, decided not to renew his contract with the DEFA studio. Between 1962 and 1968, he worked on eighteen West German television and movie productions, collaborating once more with Falk Harnack and Wolfgang Staudte, who had also left DEFA and East Germany. Walter Schulze-Mittendorff died in Berlin-Grunewald on August 14, 1976.
[See: walter-schulze-mittendorff.com]
Filmography:
1967 | Heinrich IV. (Henry IV) |
1966 | Rasputin |
1965 | Romulus der Große (Romulus the Great) |
1962 | Jeder stirbt für sich allein (Everyone Dies Alone, TV) |
1962 | Der Patriot (The Patriot) |
1962 | Die schwarze Galeere (The Black Galley) |
1962 | Die Rebellion (The Rebellion, TV) |
1962 | Rotkäppchen (Little Red Riding Hood) |
1962 | Die Wölfe (The Wolves, TV) |
1962 | Ach, du fröhliche... (A Lively Christmas Eve) |
1961 | Tanz am Sonnabend – Mord? (Dance on Saturday – Murder?) |
1961 | Der Traum des Hauptmann Loy (Captain Loy's Dream) |
1960 |
Fünf Tage – Fünf Nächte (Five Days, Five Nights) |
1959 | Musterknaben (Poster Boys) |
1959 | Kabale und Liebe (Intrigue and Love) |
1958 | Der Prozess wird vertagt (The Trial is Postponed) |
1958 | Geschwader Fledermaus (The Bat Squadron) |
1957 | Mazurka der Liebe (Love's Mazurka) |
1957 | Emilia Galotti |
1956 | Das tapfere Schneiderlein (The Valiant Tailor) |
1954 | Der Teufel vom Mühlenberg (The Devil From Mill Mountain) |
1953 | Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck (The Story of Little Mook) |
1951 | Der Untertan (The Kaiser's Lackey) |
1951 | Das Beil von Wandsbek (The Axe of Wandsbek) |
1950 | Das kalte Herz (The Cold Heart) |
1950 | Semmelweis - Retter der Mütter (Semmelweiss, Savior of Women) |
1949 | Der Biberpelz (The Beaver Coat) |
1949 | Figaros Hochzeit (The Marriage of Figaro) |
1949 | Die Buntkarierten (Girls in Gingham) |
1947 | Wozzeck |
1944 | Die Fledermaus (The Bat) |
1943 | Die Feuerzangenbowle (The Punch Bowl) |
1938 | Der Maulkorb (The Muzzle) |
1937 | Der Herrscher (The Ruler) |
1935 | Amphitryon |
1932 | Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse) |
1928 | Spione (Spies) |
1925 | Metropolis |
1923 | Die Nibelungen (The Nibelungen Saga) |
1921 | Der müde Tod (Destiny) |