In the silent film era, the term Film-Europe belonged to the vocabulary of festival
speeches, toasts, specialized publications, and conferences.1
The idea of Europe was
rarely invoked in writing and speech, since the experiences of its contractual partners
were often less than encouraging.
The emergence of sound film forced Film-Europe to work together. Leading countries’
audiences refused, with few exceptions, to watch films in anything other than their
native language.
The relatively small size of some language areas required the simultaneous production
of a film in another language. The result was that by last season, Europe was already
covered by a network of production deals between producers and distributors from individual
countries. The last season’s contracts, which in part yielded very pleasing results,
were just the beginning. In the coming years, Film-Europe will be welded together even
more firmly.
It follows that producers will have to work abroad or take part in works being made
abroad. The purpose of this special issue of Film-Kurier is to use words and images to
inform producers about the circumstances of production in Europe and about the size,
condition, sound facilities, and technical situation of individual studios.
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The present material cannot claim to be absolutely complete; local resistance in some
countries was too strong for that, despite the deployment of our large team of correspondents.
However, we believe that the data we cite in the following pages are as complete
as possible for such an edition.
The nine most significant countries for European film production are all represented.
The production sites available to manufacturers stretch from Stockholm to Rome, from
London to Budapest. In connection with the conversion to sound, recent years have seen
feverish work on the perfection of studio facilities in all countries. The technical requirements
for truly international production have been met in each case.
The development of sound studios is a peaceful “arms race” among the peoples of
Europe. Each new collective contract is an exchange of experience, culture, capital, and
artistic skill. No European film country can seal itself off hermetically from the others;
no country is strong enough to do without the others’ help, to refuse a leg up from its
neighbors.
Nothing helps us get to know another person better than working together toward a
common goal. This is true not only for individual lives but also for peoples’ collective
lives. A German who walks into the imposing studio complexes in Joinville, Elstree, or
Rome will have the same respect for the others’ skill as a foreigner who comes to Neuba-
belsberg.2
What enormous advantages have already been gained from this peaceful arms
race among nations!
We would like the present edition to contribute to mutual understanding among peoples,
to the promotion of good film, and to the consolidation of the intellectual community
that is called Film-Europe.
Notes
1.
2. The Joinville studios in Paris were known for their multilanguage productions; Paramount made
French-language versions there. The Elstree studios are located in Hertfordshire, England.
Neubabelsberg (now Babelsberg) refers to the oldest German film studios, in Potsdam outside Berlin,
which started operation in 1912.
1.