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)

 

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