Walter Schobert
In November 1991, Carl Neubronner of Kronberg, near Frankfurt, donated a collection of amateur films to the Deutches Filmmuseum. These films were shot by his father Julius Neubronner in Kronberg and its surroundings between 1903 and 1920. The films not only provide important historical footage, they also document the development of early cinema in Germany. Therefore, the Deutsches Filmmuseum decided to start a restoration project in order to provide the films for scientific research projects on the history of film and to make them accessible to a wider public.
Julius Neubronner (1852-1932) worked as a court pharmacist, but also proved to be a multifaceted inventor. In his youth he experimented with photographic devices and during his lifetime developed devices such as a panoramic aerial camera carried by doves, an example of which is kept in the Equipment Archives of the Deutches Filmmuseum. In 1905, Neubronner took out a patent for one of his most successful inventions, a self-adhesive tape which was produced commercially in the little factory he owned. His interest in the development of early cinematography resulted in the production of a series of amateur films. Thus Julius Neubronner became one of the first non-professional filmmakers in Germany we know of. Originally, his films were just shot for private purposes, as family entertainment. Documenting scenes from the close surroundings, everyday situations and family life, they can be compared to the first films of famous pioneers such as the Lumière or Skladanowsky brothers. But beyond merely recording what appeared in front of the camera, Neubronner skillfully experimented with the specific possibilities that the new medium offered and started to create a different kind of reality by employing camera effects. The Hunter's Dream, shot in 1903, is a mise-en-scène production. It shows an elderly hunter who lights his pipe, reads the newspaper and falls asleep. He dreams of receiving a magic drink by the spirit of youth that promises everlasting youth and experiences mysterious transformations. Like Georges Méliès, Julius Neubronner employed stop motion tricks to achieve his cinematic hocus-pocus.
A typical Neubronner film from 1904 shows the filmmaker's son vanishing into a cardboard barrel from which his daughter ascends a second later. Due to the insufficient light sensitivity of the film stock, Neubronner had to use daylight, so he designed an open-air stage in his garden where he filmed his little Vaudeville scenes. Nevertheless, most of Julius Neubronner's films have a documentary quality. They depict events such as the English King Edward VII visiting Kronberg, Emperor Wilhelm II unveiling a monument, or the Gordon-Bennett-Automobile-Race. Neubronner's "private" films, featuring family members, are revealing documents of bourgeois family life at the turn of the century.
Julius Neubronner started to shoot on 17.5mm film with a middle perforation, a material commonly used by early amateur-filmmakers. The film was produced by Ernemann, a company based in Dresden, which also manufactured a camera called the Ernemann Kino I, an example of which is represented in the Permanent Exhibition of the Deutsches Filmmuseum. The 17.5mm material was introduced by the English pioneer Birt Acres who split 35mm material in half (35mm film was developed in 1892 by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, one of Edison's assistants, who had similarly split Edison's 70mm film stock). The material employed by Birt Acres was perforated at the sides and used for the Biocam, a camera designed in 1899 by Wrench & Son. The Ernemann-system with the middle perforation was an improvement because the perforation didn't intrude on the image area. Each frame had a size of 16mm by 10mm and therefore featured images with a higher definition.
The Neubronner films donated to the Filmmuseum were on nitrate stock and the films had to be restored and transferred onto safety film as soon as possible. Unfortunately, there was no 17.5mm projector available to even do a simple screening of the material. In order not to affect the quality of the originals, the only reasonable way to restore the films was to transfer them to 35mm film (copying to 16mm would have resulted in a lack of quality due to the smaller size of the frames when compared to the original size of 17.5mm).
The Deutsches Filmmuseum employed wet gate printing to copy the originals. A special optical printer, (which had to be modified for 17.5mm film) was used to execute the printing process. The Deutsches Filmmuseum had to commission the manufacture of a special claw mechanism to print the Neubronner films onto 35mm material.
The cost for the restoration and the printing of the Neubronner films added up to more than DM 50,000. To raise the money for the project, the Deutsches Filmmuseum started a fund drive in 1994 which turned out to be extremely successful. With the help of many donors and sponsors the project was finally executed. The very first public screening of the restored Neubronner films took place on January 24, 1996, 90 years after their production. They were shown at the "Kronberger Lichtspiele", a movie theatre in Kronberg, the home town of the Neubronners.
For video release, the 35mm material was scanned and digitally enhanced. The unsteadiness of the film image was corrected with the help of a Frankfurt-based company called Das Werk, which specializes in digital post-production. The result was transferred to videotape. The videocassette comes with a direct recording spoken by 100 year old Carl Neubronner who comments on his father's films which feature Neubronner Jr. when still a little child. Ulrich Rügner accompanies the video version of the Neubronner films on the piano. The VHS-Cassette (PAL system) contains all restored films, a soundtrack with commentary and piano music. It has a running time of 44 minutes and is available for DM 29,90 at the Deutsches Filmmuseum or by mail order.
The two reels of 35mm safety film which survive contain the following film titles: Reel 1: Julius Neubronner zaubert; Kaiser Wilhelm II weiht Gedenktafel für Kaiserin Friedrich ein; Kaiser Wilhelm II im Auto; König Edward VII von England kommt nach Kronberg; Karnevalszug in Kronberg; Gordon-Bennett-Aurorennen; Kronberger Eisenbahn; Kronberger Automobil-Jugendrennen; Kaisers Karussell in Kronberg; Hund und Bär im Zirkus; Umzug des Schützenvereins in Kronberg; Eislauf auf dem Kronberger Teich; Rodeln; Schneeschuhlaufen auf dem Feldberg; Eislauf; Rodelbahn Schwarzer Weg, Kronberg; Karnevalszug; Kaiserpreis Autorennen. Reel 2: Festzug in Hessen; Hochzeit Forstmeister Niederstadt in Hachenburg; Grossvater Neubronner mit Enkelkind; Bei Onkel Willi Lindheimer in Schwalbach; Carl Neubronner mit Tochter; Hochzeit Dodo Neubronner mit Herrn Schulz in Kronberg; Familie Neubronner geht spazieren; Der Zehn-Ender; Willi geigt; Luftnummer; Moren tanzt; Drei Geishas; Des Jägers Traum.
The Deutsches Filmmuseum would like to offer to its FIAF colleagues use of the now existing 17.5mm claw mechanism in case there is any need to do restoration work with this format.