Carl Mayer

Highly influential figure of German film whose list of credits--ranging from the seminal, expressionistic "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1919) to the sophisticated early talkie, "Ariane" (1931)--reads like a history of Weimar cinema. Mayer's work stands out from that of his contemporaries thanks to his concern with social issues; working in a film culture which was more concerned with form than content, he managed to inject a grainy realism into the Expressionist visual style, notably in films such as "Sylvester" (1923) and F.W. Murnau's "The Last Laugh" (1924).

Though he turned down the opportunity to go to Hollywood with Murnau (his most consistent collaborator) Mayer provided the screenplays for two of the director's American classics, including "Sunrise--A Song of Two Humans" (1927). "Sunrise" was one of the few silent features to tell its story almost entirely through images, resorting to intertitles only for occasional dialogue.

With the coming of Nazism Mayer moved first to France and then Great Britain, where he wrote several Paul Czinner films and worked uncredited on "Pygmalion" (1937) and "Major Barbara" (1941) before dying of cancer.

Filmography

Writer (Feature Film)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (2006)

Source Material

As You Like It (1937)

Escape Me Never (1935)

Screenwriter

Die Letzte Kompanie (1930)

Screenplay Consultant

Four Devils (1929)

Scen

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Scen

Berlin die sinfonie der grosstadt (1927)

Screenplay

Tartuff (1925)

Screenwriter

The Last Laugh (1924)

Screenwriter

Der Puppenmacher von Nian-King (1923)

Screenwriter

The Haunted Castle (1922)

Writing Credits

Grausige nachte (1921)

Screenwriter

Schloss Vogelod (1921)

Screenwriter

Danton (1921)

Screenplay Consultant

Der Gang in der nacht (1920)

Screenwriter

Der Bucklige und die Tanzerin (1920)

Screenwriter

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)

Screenwriter

Misc. Crew (Feature Film)

Major Barbara (1941)

Other

Berlin die sinfonie der grosstadt (1927)

Other

Life Events

1914

Editor of "Insbrucker Theater-Almanach"

1918

Literary consultant to theater company at Blumenstrasse, Berlin

1919

First film as writer, "Die Frau im Kafig"; second film as writer (co), the expressionist classic "Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari/The Cabinet of Dr. Claigari"

1927

Declined offer to go to Hollywood with F.W. Murnau, writing scripts for Murnau's US films in Germany

1931

Immigrated to England

1932

Co-wrote Paul Czinner's French ("Melo") and German ("Der Traumende Mund") versions of "Melo"; also co-writer of Czinner's British remake, "Dreaming Lips" (1937)