Oskar Messter

Oskar Messter (1866-1943) was formative for the first 25 years of film and cinema in Germany. He has not been called the "father of German film" for nothing. His inventions in the field of film technology were successful all over the world. He was the major German film producer before the foundation of Ufa. With his company, Messter Projektion GmbH, he also decisively influenced the development of German film aesthetically.

Of major technical importance is his invention for jerk-free film transport during projection: Messter built a Maltese cross into his projectors. It is a small, unassuming part, but without it, a film on the screen would be torture instead of fascination for the eyes. The Maltese cross is today an essential part of all film projectors.

The first era of sound in German cinemas was started as early as 1903 by Oskar Messter with his Biophon process, the synchronous coupling of a gramophone with a film camera and a projector respectively. The sound films by Messter, known as "singing, talking, music-making photographs", were very popular before World War One.

Messter Projektion GmbH made hundreds of feature-length films in their own studios from 1909 to 1917. Many well known stars learned their art with Messter, such as the directors Carl Froelich and Robert Wiene, the actors Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, and others. The star of the company was Henny Porten, the only one to rival Asta Nielsen as the darling of the German audience.

In the field of news Messter was present from the start, for example with numerous early recordings of the Emperor Wilhelm II. In World War One the Messter-Woche weekly newsreel set the standard for reporting and propaganda films from the front. Of military importance were Messter's special cameras for aircraft reconnaissance and for determining hit quotas in combat training of air force pilots. At the end of 1917 Messter sold his companies to Ufa, which had been founded by the Supreme Command, thus providing the basic stock for building up the greatest German film company.
    

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