page_title: Continental-Kunstfilm
section_title: 123 Chausseestraße
hierarchical_section_title: Continental-Kunstfilm / History / 123 Chausseestraße
caption_attribution_description: English: Poster of the film In Nacht und Eis (1912) Français&#160;: L'affiche du film In Nacht und Eis. Sorti en 1912, ce film est le deuxième à raconter le naufrage du Titanic.
context_page_description: Continental-Kunstfilm GmbH was a short-lived German film production company based in Berlin, formed in February 1912 by Walter Schmidthässler and Max Rittberger. A large number of Continental-Kunstfilm's productions are now probably lost, although some significant films have survived into the 21st century.
  Continental began by releasing a mix of documentaries and comedies, together with serious melodramas by directors such as Max Mack. The company produced the first feature film about the sinking of the RMS Titanic, in August 1912. Joe May and Ernst Reicher early in their careers made a number of 'Stuart Webbs' detective films there; Otto Rippert and Harry Piel also directed films at Continental; and Gerhard Dammann wrote and directed numerous comedy shorts starring his 'Bumke' character in 1913.
context_section_description: Walter Schmidthässler (also Schmidt-Häßler) was an actor who had worked with the Meiningen Ensemble at the Meiningen Court Theatre before turning author and film scriptwriter. He joined Jules Greenbaum's Deutsche Vitascope production company in 1910 as director and lead actor.
  He formed Schmidthassler-Film GmbH in 1911, which became Continental-Kunstfilm the following year. Schmidthässler and Max Rittberger, an engineer and businessman, signed their partnership agreement on 5 February 1912, with a share capital of 150,000 marks. On 12 February 1912 Continental-Kunstfilm moved into the old Deutsche Vitascope studio at 123 Chausseestraße, vacated when  Greenbaum moved all his Vitascope production facilities to 32-34 Lindenstraße. The building (fronted in red sandstone) in Chauseestraße was built in the colorful and decorative Jugendstil style. Continental's main offices were located at 235 Friedrichstraße, Berlin.
  However, Schmidthässler left Continental after only a few months in April 1912 and returned to Deutsche Vitascope (the previous tenant of the building), going on to direct over 100 films.
  Heinrich Lautensack (who had also previously worked for Deutsche Vitascope) was engaged as script writer and head of advertising. He wrote the screenplays for at least five Continental films, mostly psychological melodramas:Zwischen Himmel und Erde; Die Macht der Jugend; Zweimal gelebt (extant);  Der Mann in der Flasche; Das ist der Krieg; and Entsagungen.
  Several of Continental's early releases were directed by Max Mack, another ex-Vitascope director who had previously made his mark with one of the first autorenfilms, Der Andere with Albert Bassermann: at Continental, Mack directed Lebensbilder; Die lieben Freunde; Die gelbe Rasse (The Yellow Peril); Blinde Liebe; Die Hochzeitsfackel, and Zweimal gelebt.
  The Romanian-born mime artist and ballet-dancer Mime Misu (Mișu Rosescu) made three films for Continental in 1912:
  Das Gespenst von Clyde (The Ghost of Clyde)
  In Nacht und Eis, the first full-length film about the sinking of the RMS Titanic which sank on 15 April that year. The film was made between May and June 1912. Max Rittberger, (the firm's co-founder) was an engineer by trade, and made the 8 metre-long floating model for the Titanic film (according to the cameraman Emil Schünemann, who also worked on Misu's next film.
  Mirakel, a film of a religious mystery play set in medieval times, which was completed by October 1912. The play, The Miracle by Karl Vollmoeller, had been staged with huge public success in London by Max Reinhardt in early in 1912. Continental did not own the legitimate film rights to the production, which were acquired by an American self-made businessman living in London, Joseph Menchen. His full-colour The Miracle (1912 film) was released in December 1912, and Menchen and the film's US distributor Al Woods successfully sought court injunctions to stop Continental's distributors from showing Mirakel as The Miracle, as if it were the 'genuine' film of the Reinhardt Olympia production. As a result, Continental's Mirakel confusingly acquired at least six titles. See also The Miracle (1912 film)#Litigation.
  Otto Rippert, who had acted in In Nacht und Eis, turned to directing in 1912 and made around ten films with Continental between November that year and August 1913. Rippert later directed Homunculus, an early science fiction film. Before Harry Piel turned to acting he directed a handful of films for Continental in 1912-1913.
  The popular 'Bumke' short comedies written, starring and directed by Gerhard Dammann as the eponymous hero appeared throughout 1913, sometimes at the rate of one a week. At the end of 1913 Dammann left Continental, continuing his film career (possibly for contractual reasons) with the 'Luny' character: and Max Rittberger (the co-founder) left the business in early 1914. In April 1914 he was replaced by Christoph Mülleneisen Junior as a new director of Continental for a year. Anton Mülleneisen was the cameraman for Der geheimnisvolle Nachtschatten (1914).
caption: Poster for In Nacht und Eis, directed by Mime Misu
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