From Children’s Theatre to Film

The German post-war writer, filmmaker and actor, Fritz Genschow, is well-known as the teller of fairy tales at the West-Berlin radio station RIAS. In addition, he was the first filmmaker who used colour in his film Rotkäppchen (1937), even before the legendary use of Technicolour in The Wizard of Oz (1939). In the article by Petra Anders, new perspectives on Genschow are elaborated on the basis of his early work: First, his feature film Der Kampf um den Stiefen Ast (1937) is one of the rare and hitherto unmentioned original films in early days of children’s and youth film that were released prior to the book version in the early days of children’s and youth film. Secondly, in cooperation with his partner Renée Stobrawa, Genschow developed the innovative educational concept of a studio of youth film that held together the story world of the diverse, convergent and transfictional media network of Genschow’s productions of children’s theatre, film and book (General Stift und seine Bande, 1937). Thirdly, based on reviews by the contemporary daily German film magazine Film-Kurier, it can be outlined that although Genschow’s films initially belonged to the genre of cultural film of the nineteen-thirties they were soon devalued by the Youth Film Head Office in the Reich Propaganda Headquarters of the NSDAP.