About

Known credits:
39
Birthday:
1887-12-28
Place of birth:
Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany
Website:
N/A

Walter Ruttmann

Overview

Walter Ruttmann was a German film director and along with Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger was an early German practitioner of experimental film. Ruttmann was born in Frankfurt am Main; His film career began in the early 1920s. His first abstract short films, Lichtspiel: Opus I (1921) and Opus II (1923), were experiments with new forms of film expression. Ruttmann and his colleagues of the avant garde movement enriched the language of film as a medium with new formal techniques.

Ruttmann was a prominent exponent of both avant-garde art and music. His early abstractions played at the 1929 Baden-Baden Festival to international acclaim despite their being almost eight years old. Ruttmann licensed a Wax Slicing machine from Oskar Fischinger to create special effects for Lotte Reiniger. Together with Erwin Piscator, he worked on the film Melody of the World (1929), though he is best remembered for Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, 1927).

During the Nazi period he worked as an assistant to director Leni Riefenstahl on Triumph of the Will (1935). He died in Berlin of wounds sustained when he was working on the front line as a war photographer.

Known for

Acting
1929 The Storming of La Sarraz Actor Saint George N/A
N/A

Directing
1940 Deutsche Panzer Directing Director 59
Average
1940 German Armaments Directing Director N/A
N/A
1938 Mannesmann Directing Director N/A
N/A
1935 Stuttgart, die Großstadt zwischen Wald und Reben Directing Director N/A
N/A
1935 Metall des Himmels Directing Director 58
Average
1933 Blood and Soil Directing Director N/A
N/A
1933 Steel Directing Director 58
Average
1931 In the Night Directing Director 59
Average
1931 Feind im Blut Directing Director N/A
N/A
1930 Weekend Directing Director 59
Average
1929 Melody of the World Directing Director 59
Average
1927 Where the Rhine... Directing Director 59
Average
1927 Berlin: Symphony of a Great City Directing Director 62
Fair
1927 Hoppla, wir leben Directing Director N/A
N/A
1926 The Climb Directing Director 59
Average
1926 Game of Waves Directing Director 59
Average
1925 The Rediscovered Paradise Directing Director 59
Average
1925 Opus IV Directing Director 59
Average
1924 Opus III Directing Director 59
Average
1922 The Wonder Directing Director 59
Average
1921 Lightplay Opus II Directing Director 58
Average
1921 The Winner Directing Director 58
Average
1921 Lichtspiel: Opus I Directing Director 59
Average

Writing
1938 Mannesmann Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1935 Triumph of the Will Writing Screenplay 62
Fair
1933 Steel Writing Writer 58
Average
1931 Feind im Blut Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1927 Berlin: Symphony of a Great City Writing Author 62
Fair

Production
1924 Opus III Production Producer 59
Average

Art
1931 End of the World Art Art Direction 59
Average

Camera
1927 Metropolis Camera Director of Photography 77
Good

Editing
1933 Steel Editing Editor 58
Average
1931 Feind im Blut Editing Editor N/A
N/A
1928 The White Stadium Editing Editor 59
Average
1927 Berlin: Symphony of a Great City Editing Editor 62
Fair
1924 Opus III Editing Editor 59
Average

Visual Effects
1926 The Climb Visual Effects Animation 59
Average
1924 Opus III Visual Effects Animation 59
Average