The Ufa story: a history of Germany's greatest film company, 1918-1945

Abstract

Universum-Film AG - best known by its signature logo, Ufa - was once the largest film company in Europe. Founded by the German High Command as a propaganda medium during World War I and always central to Germany's nationalistic big-business interests, Ufa was also home to the most innovative talents of the Weimar Republic. Fritz Lang, Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings, and Ernst Lubitsch were Ufa stars; Metropolis, Blue Angel, and Dr. Mabuse were only a few of its finest works. From its dazzling theatres, to its state-of-the-art studios and processing labs, from its comprehensive multimedia publicity campaigns to its avant-garde art films, Ufa challenged Hollywood for cultural dominance and market share in Jazz Age Europe. But the story grows darker after the simultaneous advent of sound films and National Socialism. The story of Ufa under Hitler, when technically superb films continued to be made, is the story of the corruption and destruction of this company by the state that brought it into existence.