Weissensee Studios

The Weissensee Studios (German: Filmstadt Weißensee) was a collection of separate film production studios located in the Berlin suburb of Weißensee during the silent era.

The two main studios comprising the complex were almost next-door neighbours, and this has given rise to confusion as to the identity of the film companies involved and which premises they leased or owned. The studio buildings discussed in this article retained completely separate identities throughout their existence although they were occupied by several different film production companies. No films were ever made or released by "The Weissensee Studios" or "Filmstadt Weißensee", and there was never at any time any sort of joint or corporate entity with such a name.

The two main locations were:

The first studio to be built in the area, at 5-7 Franz Josef-Straße (now Liebermannstraße) in Weißensee, was opened on 1 October 1913 by Deutsche Vitascope, owned by Jules Greenbaum. Vitascope had previously occupied premises at 94 Markgrafenstrasse (Mutoskop-Atelier) and at 32-34 Lindenstrasse (Vitascope-Atelier), but had outgrown them as the business expanded. The new facility consisted of a double-size glasshouse studio covering around 300 m², and a separate film processing laboratory, billed as the biggest in Germany and capable of processing 100,000 meters of film daily.

In January 1914 Vitascope merged with PAGU (Projektions-AG 'Union'), owned by former rival Paul Davidson. The company was called Union-Vitascope Gmbh. Both companies continued to produce films under their own name and logos. From January 1914 Richard Oswald was appointed artistic and advertising director at Vitascope. He wrote the script for Der Hund von Baskerville (released June 1914), the first film adaptation of Conan Doyle's 1902 novel.

Davidson and Greenbaum (who had joined the board of PAGU in the takeover) travelled to the US together, seeking studios and film deals. On the way back they stopped off in Paris to make a deal with Pathé Frères, who bought (or leased) the Vitascope-Atelier studios in July 1914.

However, with the outbreak of the First World War, foreign production companies and their films were banned from Germany, and their assets confiscated. Domestic film production was allowed to boom. Pathé and PAGU broke off relationships; the admin offices and studios belonging to Pathé were placed into receivership, and reverted to Greenbaum.

Freed by the war from the foreign competition, Greenbaum founded Greenbaum-Film out of his old Deutsche Vitascope. On 12 January 1915 Greenbaum-Film was incorporated with 10,000 marks and started production again in 5–7 Franz-Josef-Straße, with a main office and sales at 235 Friedrichstraße. An article in Lichtbild-Bühne for 3 June 1915 announced: "Dr. Hans Oberländer, Richard Löwenbein, Richard Oswald, Greenbaum-Film GmbH – the biggest film factory in Germany." Oswald made five films in a few months, and then separated financially from Greenbaum-Film, becoming a self-employed producer and director.