Career Highlights: The Royal Ballet, Escape Me Never, Romeo and Juliet (The Royal Ballet)
First Major Screen Credit: Nju (1924)
Biography
A playwright and theatrical producer in Austria, Czinner directed his first film in Vienna in 1919. He scored a success in the German film industry with his 1924 drama Nju (aka Husbands or Lovers), starring Elisabeth Bergner. She went on to act in most of Czinner's films, and the two married in 1933. That same year they fled the Nazis and moved to England, where their films included Catherine the Great and As You Like It. In the '40s they lived in America, working on the Broadway stage. Returning to England in the '50s, Czinner filmed dance (The Bolshoi Ballet}, The Royal Ballet) and opera (Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier) using his own innovative multi-camera methods. ~ All Movie Guide
Czinner was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. After studying literature and philosophy at the University of Vienna, he worked as a journalist. From 1919 onward, he dedicated himself to work for the filming industry as writer, director and producer. In 1924, he offered the leading role in his film Nju to Elisabeth Bergner; they became partners, and after the persecution of the Jewish people by Adolf Hitler they fled to Vienna and London, they were married. 1934 saw the realisation of his film Katharina die Grosse, with his wife playing the main role, although the film was not shown in Germany. They emigrated to the U.S. in 1940, working on Broadway.