Johann Schwarzer Explained

Johann Schwarzer (30 August 1880 – 10 October 1914) was an Austrian photographer and pioneer producer of adult films through his Saturn-Film (de) company.[1]

Schwarzer was born in Javornik, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now located in the Czech Republic.

Career

In the early 1900s, Schwarzer resettled in Vienna and became a portrait and family photographer and chemist. To supplement his income, Schwarzer began making erotic photos which were used on naughty postcards common to the era.

In 1906, he became interested in the men's-only theatre nights organized in Austrian cinemas that showed adult films, so-called Herrenabende ("night shows for men"). Seeing that money could be made from these types of films, Schwarzer organized the Saturn-Film company in 1906 to produce such films, in his Viennese roof-top studio, in competition to the French product then being exclusively shown. Before Schwarzer's productions, erotic films in Austria were supplied by the French Pathé brothers. Saturn-Film was the first native film production company based in Austria.[2] Schwarzer produced and directed these erotic feature films, with basic plots (artist and model, bath scene) which allowed for voyeurism and female nudity but not, he insisted, pornography. Each film contained young local women fully nude.[3]

Unlike his predecessors, Schwarzer conducted his business as a public company, advertising in local newspapers, motion picture trade journals and adding a logo to his films like any other European producer. Saturn-Film also published a regular film catalog within its first couple years of existence. Despite this effort, Saturn-Films often appeared shorn of their logos and rendered anonymous, like other, similar subjects once they got further afield of Vienna, possibly due to piracy, as the Saturn-Film logo appears as part of the film set, in all frames of some extent films.

In 1911, Saturn-Film was raided and closed down by the police as a part of a crackdown on erotic materials in Vienna.[2] The authorities destroyed the main film vault which at that time consisted of 52 productions.[4]

Censorship prevented Saturn from rising again. Johann Schwarzer tried to get a fresh start in film distribution, but without the ‘spicy’ films he had become famous for. After three months, he abandoned the effort and left Vienna for Africa. He resurfaced in April 1914, when he married the young Olga Emilie Jarosh-Stehlik.[5] Schwarzer was an army reservist who was called up with the outbreak of World War I on 28 July 1914. He was made a second lieutenant by the time he perished in battle at Wirballen, Poland on 10 October of that year.[6] [7] [8]

Legacy

Saturn-Film consciously chose to advertise its films as being erotic, rather than pornographic. A quote from its 1907 catalog, probably written by Schwarzer, states "our films are of a purely artistic tendency, and we avoid tasteless subjects in favor of beauty." Schwarzer's adult films were more professional in quality then their French and Argentine counterparts and were the most widely distributed and popular adult films made in the first decade of the 20th century.

Despite the destruction of the main film vault in 1911 about a half of the 52 films produced by the company still exist in archives throughout Europe. Filmarchiv Austria has included four of Schwarzer's works in the Europa Film Treasures site; Das Sandbad (1906), Baden Verboten (1906), Das Eitle Stubenmädchen (1908), and Beim Fotografen (1908).[9] Internet Archive has included over twenty of Schwarzer's works on their site.[10]

Works

This list is incomplete[11]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Michael Achenbach, Paolo Caneppele, Ernst Kieninger: Projektionen der Sehnsucht: Saturn, die erotischen Anfänge der österreichischen Kinematografie. Filmarchiv Austria, Wien 2000, .
  2. Web site: A brief History: Das Sandbad . 2011-07-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111126193004/http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/PL/281/a-brief-history-sand_bath . 2011-11-26 . dead . Europa Film Treasures .
    • Web site: Frühe Interventionen: Suffragetten – Extremistinnen der Sichtbarkeit . Early Interventions: Suffragettes - Extremists of Visibility . . 1 April 2022 . 2010-09-23 . Die österreichische Firma Saturn stellte etwa vier Jahre lang „pikante Szenen“ für Herrenabende her. In der Produktion Beim Photographen geht es um die Anstrengungen, ein williges Modell zu finden; um eine große Dame, die durchaus Gefallen findet, nackt fotografiert zu werden; ihre Inszenierungsvorschläge und um die begierigen Klienten des Fotografen. Das eitle Stubenmädchen genießt es im gleichnamigen Film, allein im Raum und selbstvergessen wie eine nackte Statue zu posieren. .
    • Web site: Suffragettes before the camera . The Bioscope . 1 April 2022 . en . 18 August 2010.
    • Fullerton . John . Early Cinema Today: The Art of Programming and Live Performance. KINtop. Studies in Early Cinema I (review) . Film History: An International Journal . 2012 . 24 . 3 . 354–356 . 10.2979/filmhistory.24.3.354 . 147568394 . 1 April 2022 . 1553-3905.
    • Web site: Bernstorff . Madeleine . Der Fanatismus der Suffragettes . . 1 April 2022 . 22 July 2021 . Trailer für das Filmprogramm 'Frühe Interventionen. Suffragetten - Extremistinnen der Sichtbarkeit'..
  4. Michael Achenbach, Paolo Caneppele, Ernst Kieninger: Projektionen der Sehnsucht: Saturn, die erotischen Anfänge der österreichischen Kinematografie. Filmarchiv Austria, Wien 2000, .
  5. Web site: A brief History : Projektionen der Sehnsucht . Europa Film Treasures . 1 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120128192827/http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/PL/248/a-brief-history-projected_aspiration . 28 January 2012 . There are a total of 52 Saturn films, most of which come from Albert Fidelius’ collection in Berlin..
  6. Withey . Beth . Reflections on the Veil: Tracing Blurred Boundaries of Politics and Desire in Vienna's Saturn-Films . . 2016 . 45 . 31 . 1 April 2022 . . 2325-4211 . By 1914, Johann Schwarzer, age thirty-four was dead: a second lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian forces killed in Poland at the battle of Wirballen within three months of his arrival at the front. (Achenbach, Ballhausen, and Wostry, Saturn: Wiener Filmerotik 1906–1910, 7–31.).
  7. Book: Achenbach . Michael . Ballhausen . Thomas . Wostry . Nikolaus . Saturn: Wiener Filmerotik 1906-1910 . 2009 . Verlag Filmarchiv Austria . Wien . 517261558 . 978-3-902531-80-3 . de.
  8. Book: Filmarchiv Austria . Tresor 1: Saturn-Filme 1906-1910 . 8 January 2010 . Hoanzl . (DVD) In his Viennese roof-top studio, he produced erotic films for the world market. via amazon.
  9. Web site: Johann Schwarzer films . Europa Film Treasures . 2011-07-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120821210055/http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/films/origin/austrian-4-0.htm . 2012-08-21 . dead .
  10. Web site: creator:"Johann Schwarzer" films . . 1 April 2022 . en.
  11. [:de:Johann Schwarzer]
  12. Web site: Aufregende Lektre AKA Stimulating Reading. 1908. Internet Archive.
  13. Web site: Baden verboten AKA Bathing Forbidden. 1906. Internet Archive.
  14. Web site: Beim Fotografen AKA At the Photographers. 1908. Internet Archive.
  15. Web site: Das eitle Stubenmädchen AKA The Vain Housemaid. 1908. Internet Archive.
  16. Web site: Das eitle Stubenmädchen . . 1 April 2022.
  17. Web site: The Vain Housemaid (S) (1908) . . 1 April 2022 . en.
  18. Web site: Das Sandbad AKA The Sand Bath. 1906. Internet Archive.
  19. Web site: Der Angler AKA The Fisherman. 1906. Internet Archive.
  20. Web site: Der Hausarzt AKA The Family Doctor. 1908. Internet Archive.
  21. Web site: Der Traum der Bildhauers AKA The Sculptors Dream. 1906. Internet Archive.
  22. Web site: Diana im Bade AKA Diana Bathing. 1906. Internet Archive.
  23. Web site: Die Macht der Hypnose AKA The Power of Hypnosis. 1908. Internet Archive.
  24. Web site: Die Zaubereien des Mandarins AKA The Magic of the Mandarins. 1908. Internet Archive.
  25. Web site: Eine aufregende Jagd AKA An Exciting Hunt. 1906. Internet Archive.
  26. Web site: Eine lustige Geschichte am Fenster AKA A Funny Story at the Window. 1908. Internet Archive.
  27. Web site: Eine modern Ehe AKA A Modern Marriage. 1906. Internet Archive.
  28. Web site: Im Bade AKA In the Bath. 1908. Internet Archive.
  29. Web site: Jugendspiele AKA Games of Youth. 1906. Internet Archive.
  30. Web site: Lebender Marmor AKA Living Marble. 1908. Internet Archive.
  31. Web site: Schleiertanz AKA The Veil Dance. 1906. Internet Archive.
  32. Web site: Sklavenmarkt AKA The Slave Market. 1906. Internet Archive.
  33. Web site: Sklavenraub AKA The Abduction of the Slave Women. 1906. Internet Archive.
  34. Web site: Vorbreitung auf das Rendez-vous AKA Preparing to Meet. 1908. Internet Archive.
  35. Web site: Weibliche Assentierung AKA Female Conscripts. 1908. Internet Archive.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Johann Schwarzer".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.