Herbert Selpin
| Herbert Selpin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
29 May 1904 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | 1 August 1942 (aged 38) Berlin, Germany |
| Occupation | Film director and screenplay author |
Herbert Selpin (29 May 1904 – 1 August 1942) was a German film director and screenwriter of light entertainment during the 1930s and 1940s. He is best known for his final film, the partly suppressed Titanic, during the production of which he was arrested by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. He was later found dead in his prison cell.
Herbert Selpin was born on 29 May 1904 in Berlin. After his medical studies in the same city, Selpin worked as a dancer, boxer, librarian, and art seller before he obtained, in the mid-1920s, an internship at the prestigious UFA film studios. Among other assignments at UFA, he worked on the set of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Faust (1926). Selpin was subsequently employed by the European subsidiary of the Fox Film Corporation, where he held several positions, including – in 1927 – that of director's assistant to Walther Ruttmann on the set of Berlin: Sinfonie einer Großstadt.
After several positions as editor, Selpin received an assignment as director for Chauffeur Antoinette, released in 1931 by Excelsior Films. In the following two years, Selpin ran into conflict with the Nazi Party for his sympathetic portrayals of the British in his films. From 1933 onwards he made propaganda films for the UFA studios, which was by then under the control of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. After several propaganda films that were not well received (Schwarzhemden in 1933, Die Reiter von Deutsch-Ostafrika in 1934, and Alarm in Peking in 1937), Selpin was successful in 1941 with Carl Peters, an anti-British film. This was followed by another propaganda film Geheimakte W.B.1 in 1941–42.
...
Wikipedia