The unofficial father of Austrian cinema: Johann Schwarzer

People often tend to be cagey when talking about a child of dubious parentage, and for many years, film historians hushed the fact that Johann Schwarzer (1880–1914) is the unofficial father of Austria’s cinema. Schwarzer’s 52 films, all of which bear the trademark star of Saturn-Film productions, were of what is unofficially known as the ‘Pikanter Herrenabend-Film’ subgenre: bawdy, naughty films suitable for louche gentlemen’s evenings.

Schwarzer began his brief career as a photographer who quickly found out that female nudity sold well. In 1906 he founded his Saturn-film production company, and, going one better than his contemporary Pathé brothers, instead of titillating gentlemen viewers with French ladies in various stages of undress, he enticed them with plenty of Austrian full frontal nudity (image source: Wikimedia)

Although by today’s standards Saturn films look innocuous, in 1910 some of Schwarzer’s strait-laced compatriots, including Catholic associations, demanded and obtained the enforced dissolution of the company, while most of the films, including negatives, were destroyed. Thanks to a few devoted Saturn fans, notably film collector Albert Fidelius, copies of some of those films were salvaged and eventually restored by the Filmarchiv Austria. As for Schwarzer, he was never able to resume work: he was among those killed in the first year of World War I (Source: Europa Film Treasures; Wikipedia, in German).

Below, Das eitle Stubenmädchen (The Saucy Chambermaid), one of Scwharzer's lighthearted short films:

Das eitle Stubenmädchen (1908).