The screen writer (June 1946-May 1947)

GEHMAN FILM FRDDUCTION TODAY ROBERT JOSEPH Dn the 15th of October last, Berlin was treated to a gala premiere of Germany’s first post-war film production, the DEFA film. Die Morder Sind Unter Uns (The Murderers Are Among Us), at the Staatsoper, produced under Russian license, supervision and control. There had been film production in Germany before — documen¬ taries like Todesmuhlen (Mills of Death) and Action Stork, produced by the American and British Army respectively, and Welt im Film and Augenzeuge (Eyewitness), an Anglo-American newsreel and a Russian Army-controlled newsreel, respectively. But this DEFA production was the first full-length feature produced entirely by Germans, an important event in German motion picture history. Nor were the British and the French less active in their zones in granting permission to Germans to produce features, documentaries, shorts and newsreels. Both of these Allies had also granted film produc¬ tion licenses to Germans. Only the American operation under information Control Division (ICD) had seemingly made no progress in granting licenses or in getting production started, and it seemed that our Allies were ahead of the apparently somnolent United States Army operation. What was happening to the relatively excellent facilities at Gastelgasteig in Munich, and Tempelhof Studios in Berlin? If our Allies had succeeded in finding capable and politically acceptable men to make pictures, why had not ICD and its Film Officers shown the same acumen ROBERT JOSEPH is a Hollywood publicist and writer who served as U. S. Deputy Film Officer for Germany and Film Officer for the Berlin area.