Terra Film


Terra Film was a Berlin-based film production company. Founded in 1919, it became one of Germany's largest film production companies in the 1930s under the Nazi regime.

Corporate history

The company was founded at end of 1919, initially as a limited liability company and converted into a corporation in October 1920. On 19 July 1922, it acquired Terra studios, and the reproduction facilities of Eiko Film GmbH in Berlin-Marienfelde.
In 1930, the Swiss Scotoni family, headed by Eugen Scotoni, acquired Terra for 1.2 million Reichsmarks. Many of the 40 films from the era of Ralph Scotoni were influenced by Nazi ideas, transfer was also on Swiss materials and locations. However, since the films lost money, the family sold its stake in Terra Scotoni film in 1935.
In the wake of the nationalization of the film industry in July 1937, Terra-Film Art Ltd. changed its name and was now majority owned by the state-owned Cautio Treuhand GmbH. Terra now produced in the Tempelhof studios of UFA Film Art GmbH. In 1942, Terra was absorbed into Ufa-Film GmbH and retained only formal independence.
From the early 1960s to the 1980s, in West Berlin, Terra-Film GmbH produced or co-produced more than 100 films.

Films

Terra's first film was The Marriage of Figaro, Bigamy and Queen Luise.
Terra's most active period came after the switch to the talkies and under Nazism. Between 1933 and 1944, Terra released 120 feature films, including propaganda films such as The Riders of German East Africa, Hermine and the Seven Upright Men, Comrades at Sea, Jud Süß, and Front Theatre, but also a successful entertainment films like Circus Renz and Die Feuerzangenbowle.

Directors and producers

Terra's directors were Boleslaw Barlog, Géza von Bolváry, Peter Paul Brauer, Erich Engels, Kurt Hoffmann, Helmut Käutner, Wolfgang Liebeneiner, Roger von Norman, Rudolf van der Noss, Heinz Paul, Arthur Maria Rabenalt, Günther Rittau, Heinz Rühmann, Herbert Selpin, Hans Steinhoff and Helmut Weiss.
A number of producers at Terra had their own production units; these included Helmut Beck, Gustaf Gründgens, Edward Kubat, Otto Lehmann, Heinz Rühmann, Viktor von Struve, EC Techow, Hans Tost and Walter Tost.