Géza von Cziffra
Personal Info
Known for
Directing
Gender
Male
Birthday
1900-12-19
Day of Death
1989-04-28 (88 years old)
Place of Birth
Arad, Austria-Hungary (now Romania)
Géza von Cziffra
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.
Known For
Acting
(1984)
Bruised Celluloid
as Himself
Crew
(1975)
The Three Superguys
Screenplay
(1974)
Wetterleuchten über dem Zillertal
Screenplay
(1969)
Should a Schoolgirl Tell?
Director, Writer
(1969)
Das Go-Go-Girl vom Blow-Up
Screenplay
(1968)
Paradies der flotten Sünder
Director, Writer
(1965)
(1965)
(1964)
Lana: Queen of the Amazons
Director, Writer
(1963)
Charley's Aunt
Director
(1963)
Frauen sind keine Engel
Director
(1962)
Das süße Leben des Grafen Bobby
Director
(1962)
Die Fledermaus
Director, Screenplay
(1962)
Der Vogelhändler
Director
(1962)
Nachts ging das Telefon
Director
(1961)
Junge Leute brauchen Liebe
Screenplay, Director
(1961)
Die Abenteuer des Grafen Bobby
Director
(1961)
Kauf Dir einen bunten Luftballon
Director
(1961)
Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel
Director, Writer
(1960)
Kriminaltango
Director
(1960)
Als geheilt entlassen
Director, Screenplay
(1960)
Hauptmann - deine Sterne
Director
(1959)
Schlag auf Schlag
Director
(1959)
Peter schießt den Vogel ab
Director, Screenplay
(1959)
Salem Aleikum
Director, Writer
(1959)
Ich bin kein Casanova
Director, Screenplay
(1959)
Bobby Dodd intervenes
Director
(1958)
So ein Millionär hat's schwer
Director
(1958)
Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen
Director, Screenplay
(1958)
Nachtschwester Ingeborg
Director
(1957)
Der müde Theodor
Director
(1957)
Crazy Otto
Director
(1957)
Tante Wanda aus Uganda
Director
(1957)
Die Beine von Dolores
Director
(1957)
Das haut hin
Director, Writer
(1956)
Mädchen mit schwachem Gedächtnis
Director
(1956)
Die gestohlene Hose
Director
(1956)
Musikparade
Director, Writer
(1955)
Bandits of the Highway
Director, Producer, Writer
(1955)
Der falsche Adam
Director
(1954)
Tanz in der Sonne
Director
(1954)
Geld aus der Luft
Director, Screenplay
(1953)
Das singende Hotel
Director
(1953)
Die Blume von Hawaii
Director
(1952)
Tanzende Sterne
Director
(1952)
Der bunte Traum
Director
(1951)
A Tale of Five Cities
Director
(1951)
Die verschleierte Maja
Director
(1950)
Gabriela
Director
(1950)
Die Dritte von rechts
Director
(1950)
Liebe nach Noten
Director
(1950)
Der Mann, der sich selber sucht
Director
(1949)
Lambert fühlt sich bedroht
Director
(1949)
Very Passionate Love
Director
(1949)
Das unsterbliche Antlitz
Director
(1949)
Gefährliche Gäste
Director
(1948)
Der himmlische Walzer
Director, Screenplay
(1948)
Königin der Landstraße
Director
(1947)
Glaube an mich
Director
(1945)
Leuchtende Schatten
Director
(1944)
Das Hochzeitshotel
Writer
(1944)
Hundstage
Director
(1943)
Women Are No Angels
Writer
(1943)
Der weiße Traum
Director, Writer
(1943)
Melody of a Great City
Writer
(1941)
Villa da vendere
Story
(1941)
Tanz mit dem Kaiser
Writer
(1940)
Der Weg zu Isabel
Writer
(1939)
It Was a Gay Ballnight
Writer
(1936)
Where the Lark Sings
Writer
(1935)
Villa for Sale
Director, Writer
(1935)
Szent Péter esernyője
Director
(1935)
Ball at the Savoy
Writer
(1934)
A Night in Venice
Director
(1930)
The Gripper
Assistant Director, Screenplay
(1930)