Géza von Cziffra
Born: 1900-12-19 in Arad, Austria-Hungary (now Romania)
Died: 1989-04-28
Known For: Directing
Biography
Géza von Cziffra (19 December 1900 – 28 April 1989) was a Hungarian and Austrian film director and screenwriter. Cziffra was a Banat German in origin, born in 1900 in Arad in the Banat region, at that date in the Kingdom of Hungary, now in Romania. Cziffra made films from the 1930s onwards, at first in Hungary, and from 1936 in Germany as well, where he was initially more active as a screenwriter. In 1945, in Prague, then occupied by the Germans, he made the film Leuchtende Schatten ("Glowing Shadows"). As adviser for the criminal police, he was assigned SS-Sturmbannführer Eweler, a member of the SD and brother of the actress Ruth Eweler. After some time, Cziffra banned Eweler from the studios for excessive and obstructive criticism. Shortly afterwards, he was arrested and taken to the Prague Gestapo Headquarters in the Pecec Palace, where he was accused of having eaten several times in the Czech restaurant "Neumann" without using ration stamps. He was eventually dispatched to Pankrác Prison, the remand and interrogation prison of Prague, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, beginning on 12 February. He was released from detention on 19 April, shortly before the end of the war. In 1945, in Vienna, Cziffra founded the first post-war Austrian film production company: Cziffra-Film. Principally, and for preference, he made light entertainment and musical films, with well-known German and Austrian actors such as Peter Alexander, Rudolf Platte, Senta Berger and Hubert von Meyerinck. Through the input of musicians like Bill Ramsey or Bully Buhlan, the films mostly progressed to being musical revues with a local Austrian slant and flavour (Heimatfilme). Cziffra also worked as an actor himself, and later in his life published a number of books. He was married to the actress Ursula Justin, who starred in six of his films in the 1950s. He died on 28 April 1989 in Diessen am Ammersee in Bavaria. His remains are interred in the crematorium in the Ostfriedhof, Munich.
Filmography
1984
- Bruised Celluloid as Himself
1981
- Wetten, dass..? as Self
1980
- Heut' abend as Self
1979
- NDR Talk Show as Self
1975
- The Three Superguys ... (Screenplay)
1974
- Wetterleuchten über dem Zillertal ... (Screenplay)
1973
- Je später der Abend as Self
1969
- Should a Schoolgirl Tell? ... (Director)
- Das Go-Go-Girl vom Blow-Up ... (Screenplay)
1968
- Paradies der flotten Sünder ... (Director)
1965
- An der Donau, wenn der Wein blüht ... (Director)
- Ein Ferienbett mit 100 PS ... (Story)
1964
- Das Haus der Schlangen ... (Director)
- Lana: Queen of the Amazons ... (Director)
1963
- Charley's Aunt ... (Director)
- Frauen sind keine Engel ... (Director)
1962
- Die Fledermaus ... (Director)
- Der Vogelhändler ... (Director)
- The Sweet Life of Count Bobby ... (Director)
- Nachts ging das Telefon ... (Director)
1961
- Junge Leute brauchen Liebe ... (Screenplay)
- Kauf Dir einen bunten Luftballon ... (Director)
- Die Abenteuer des Grafen Bobby ... (Director)
- Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel ... (Director)
1960
- Hauptmann - deine Sterne ... (Director)
- Kriminaltango ... (Director)
- Als geheilt entlassen ... (Director)
1959
- Peter schießt den Vogel ab ... (Director)
- Salem Aleikum ... (Director)
- Schlag auf Schlag ... (Director)
- Bobby Dodd intervenes ... (Director)
- Ich bin kein Casanova ... (Director)
1958
- Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen ... (Director)
- So ein Millionär hat's schwer ... (Director)
- Nachtschwester Ingeborg ... (Director)
1957
- Crazy Otto ... (Director)
- Tante Wanda aus Uganda ... (Director)
- Der müde Theodor ... (Director)
- Die Beine von Dolores ... (Director)
- Das haut hin ... (Director)
1956
- Mädchen mit schwachem Gedächtnis ... (Director)
- Die gestohlene Hose ... (Director)
- Musikparade ... (Director)
1955
- Der falsche Adam ... (Director)
- Bandits of the Highway ... (Director)
1954
- Tanz in der Sonne ... (Director)
- Geld aus der Luft ... (Director)
1953
- Die Blume von Hawaii ... (Director)
- Das singende Hotel ... (Director)
1952
- Der bunte Traum ... (Director)
- Tanzende Sterne ... (Director)
1951
- German Film Award as Self
- Die verschleierte Maja ... (Director)
- A Tale of Five Cities ... (Director)
1950
- Gabriela ... (Director)
- Die Dritte von rechts ... (Director)
- Der Mann, der sich selber sucht ... (Director)
- Liebe nach Noten ... (Director)
1949
- Lambert fühlt sich bedroht ... (Director)
- Höllische Liebe ... (Director)
- Das unsterbliche Antlitz ... (Director)
- Gefährliche Gäste ... (Director)
1948
- Der himmlische Walzer ... (Director)
- Königin der Landstraße ... (Director)
1947
- Glaube an mich ... (Director)
1945
- Leuchtende Schatten ... (Director)
1944
- The Wedding Hotel ... (Writer)
- Dog Days ... (Director)
1943
- Melody of a Great City ... (Writer)
- Women Are No Angels ... (Writer)
- Der weiße Traum ... (Director)
1941
- Tanz mit dem Kaiser ... (Writer)
- Villa da vendere ... (Story)
1940
- Der Weg zu Isabel ... (Writer)
1939
- It Was a Gay Ballnight ... (Writer)
1936
- Where the Lark Sings ... (Writer)
1935
- Villa for Sale ... (Director)
- Szent Péter esernyője ... (Director)
- Ball at the Savoy ... (Writer)
1934
- A Night in Venice ... (Director)
1930
- The Copper ... (Assistant Director)
- Three Days in the Guardhouse ... (Writer)