Krampf, Günther

Biography:

Cameraman Günther Krampf was born in Vienna on February 8, 1899. There he studied at the Technical Academy. He learned the craft of the film camera in various production companies in Vienna and Berlin. Despite his relative inexperience, he became part of F.W. Murnau’s film crew for Nosferatu, as Fritz Arno Wagner’s assistant cameraman. He quickly became known for his exquisite black-and-white compositions. His camera work on Pabst’s Die Büchse der Pandora was repeatedly praised by contemporary critics and, later, by film historians. His work on these titles, together with his collaboration with Bertolt Brecht and Slatan Dudow on Kuhle Wampe, oder Wem gehört die Welt?, made him one of the most important cinematographers of the Weimar Republic.

 

In 1931, he began working for British film companies and emigrated to the UK in 1933. He was one of more than 300 filmmaking personnel who found refuge in the UK between the mid-1920s and the late 1940s. There he collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock (Adventure Malgache; Bon Voyage) and Tim Whelan (This Was a Woman), among many others. Günther Krampf died in London on August 4, 1950.

 

Filmography:

1947 This Was a Woman
1947 Latin Quarter
1947 Meet Me at Dawn
1944 Madagascar Landing
1944 Adventure Malgache
1944 Bon Voyage
1942 The Night Has Eyes
1939 Black Eyes
1935 Das Mädchen Johanna (The Girl Johanna)
1934 Death at Broadcasting House
1934 Power
1933 The Ghoul
1932 Kuhle Wampe, oder Wem gehört die Welt? (Kuhle Wampe, or Who Owns the World?)
1930 Cyankali
1928 Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box)
1928 Schinderhannes (The Prince of Rogues)
1926 Der Student von Prag (The Student of Prague)
1922 Nosferatu (uncredited)

 

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