E. W. Emo

{{Short description|Austrian film director (1898–1975)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{more citations needed|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox person | name=E. W. Emo | birth_name=Emerich Josef Wojtek | birth_date={{birth date|1898|7|11|df=y}} | birth_place=[[Seebarn]], [[Austria]] | death_date={{death date and age|1975|12|2|1898|7|11|df=y}} | death_place=[[Vienna]], Austria | occupation=[[Film director]], [[screenwriter]] | spouse=[[Anita Dorris]] | children=[[Maria Emo]] }}

'''E. W. Emo''' ('''Emerich Walter Emo''', born '''Emerich Josef Wojtek''', 11 July 1898; died 2 December 1975) was an [[Austria]]n film director.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/reviews/movies|title=Movie Reviews|date=6 March 2020|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f44c23c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116093018/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f44c23c|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 January 2021|title=E.W. Emo|website=BFI}}</ref>

Emo specialized in comedies, 21 of them with the actor [[Hans Moser (actor)|Hans Moser]].{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} He also worked outside Austria and wrote screenplays.

== Life == Emerich Josef Wojtek, born in [[Seebarn]] near [[Grafenwörth]] in Austria, was the son of a teacher. He attended the Provincial Secondary School (''Landesrealschule'') in [[Krems an der Donau]] and did military service during [[World War I]]. In 1919 he worked at first as a bit-part actor, then as a director's assistant and production manager, and finally as an assistant film director. In that capacity in 1927 he moved to [[Berlin]], where he also worked as a cutter and dramaturgist with a number of different directors.

In 1928 he directed his first film drama, called ''Flitterwochen'' ("Honeymoon"). After that he made many light entertainment films, and with the advent of sound films, also filmed several musicals and operettas. As a director Emo contributed much to the popularity of actors such as [[Paul Hörbiger]], [[Theo Lingen]] and above all [[Hans Moser (actor)|Hans Moser]], who appeared in 21 of his films altogether. In 1936 Emo founded in Berlin, with Paul Hörbiger and the Austrian consul Karl Künzel, the Algefa-Film company. In the same year he officially changed his name to his business name, '''Emerich Walter Emo'''. He later ran the film company '''Emo-Film'''.

During the time of [[National Socialism|National Socialist]] government, he was reckoned one the principal directors of [[Wien-Film]], where he continued to make light comedies, often with Moser, to whom he allowed a great deal of latitude for improvisation. In many of his films Emo also criticised the clichés of the ''[[Wiener Film]]'' (the standard popular, sentimental and nostalgic "Viennese film"), for example in ''Anton der letzte'' ("Anton the Last") (1939), where he exaggerated Hans Moser's usual screen persona into petulance and querulence, and in ''Liebe ist zollfrei'' ("Love is Duty-free") (1941), where he represented the high society of Vienna not as vulgar, but as snobbish and malicious.

Emo's only expressly propagandist film was ''[[Wien 1910]]'' (1943), which was made with the intention, through its distorted representation of the politics of Vienna around the [[anti-Semitic]] [[Karl Lueger]] and the German nationalist [[Georg Ritter von Schönerer]], of legitimizing the [[Anschluss]] of Austria by Germany. The attempt failed, however, as the film was still too "Austrian" for the National Socialists and was forbidden to be shown in the [[Ostmark (Austria)|Ostmark]], as Austria was known under National Socialist rule; in Germany it attracted little interest.

Emo made a few more films after the end of [[World War II]].

He married the German actress [[Anita Dorris]] in 1930; their daughter is the actress [[Maria Emo]] (b. 1936).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3vVTCgAAQBAJ&q=e.w.+emo+maria+emo&pg=PA181|title=Austrian Cinema: A History|first=Robert von|last=Dassanowsky|date=1 August 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476621470}}</ref>

E. W. Emo died on 2 December 1975 in Vienna of [[arteriosclerosis]].

==Selected filmography== * ''[[Honeymoon (1928 German film)|Honeymoon]]'' (1928) * ''[[What Price Love?]]'' (1929) * ''Im Prater blühen wieder die Bäume'' (1929) * ''[[Twice Married]]'' (1930) * ''[[The Jumping Jack (1930 film)|The Jumping Jack]]'' (1930) * ''Heute nacht - eventuell'' (1930) * ''[[The Unknown Guest (1931 film)|The Unknown Guest]]'' (1931) * ''Ich heirate meinen Mann'' (1931) * ''[[One Night with You (1932 film)|One Night with You]]'' (1932) * ''[[The Testament of Cornelius Gulden]]'' (1932) * ''[[Wrong Number, Miss]]'' (1932) * ''[[The Ladies Diplomat]]'' (1932) * ''[[Modern Dowry]]'' (1932) * ''[[Model Wanted]]'' (1933) * ''[[The Girl with the Bruise]]'' (1933) * ''[[Little Girl, Great Fortune]]'' (1933) * ''[[Marion, That's Not Nice]]'' (1933) * ''[[And Who Is Kissing Me?]]'' (1933) * ''[[Paganini (1934 film)|Paganini]]'' (1934) * ''[[The Double (1934 film)|The Double]]'' (1934) * ''[[The Gentleman Without a Residence (1934 film)|The Gentleman Without a Residence]]'' (1934) * ''{{Ill|Petersburger Nächte (1935 film)|de|3=Petersburger Nächte. Walzer an der Newa|lt=Petersburger Nächte}}'' (1935) * ''[[The Bird Seller (1935 film)|The Bird Seller]]'' (1935) * ''[[Circus Saran]]'' (1935) * ''[[The Schimeck Family (1935 film)|The Schimeck Family]]'' (1935) * ''[[Last Stop (1935 film)|Last Stop]]'' (1935) * ''[[Heaven on Earth (1935 film)|Heaven on Earth]]'' (1935) * ''[[Three Girls for Schubert]]'' (1936) (also wrote the screenplay) * ''[[Ungeküsst soll man nicht schlafen gehn]]'' (1936) * ''[[The Cabbie's Song]]'' (1936) * ''[[The Fairy Doll]]'' (1936) * ''[[A Hoax]]'' (1936) * ''[[The Missing Wife (1937 film)|The Missing Wife]]'' (1937) * ''{{Ill|Der Mann, von dem man spricht|de}}'' (1937) * ''[[The Unexcused Hour (1937 film)|The Unexcused Hour]]'' (1937) * ''[[The Optimist (1938 film)|The Optimist]]'' (1938) * ''[[Thirteen Chairs (1938 film)|Thirteen Chairs]]'' (1938) * ''[[Anton the Last]]'' (1939) * ''[[Immortal Waltz]]'' (1939) * ''[[Beloved Augustin (1940 film)|Beloved Augustin]]'' (1940) * ''[[My Daughter Lives in Vienna]]'' (1940) * ''[[Love Is Duty Free]]'' (1941) * ''[[Black on White (1943 film)|Black on White]]'' (1943) * ''[[Two Happy People]]'' (1943) * ''[[Vienna 1910]]'' (Karl Lueger, Bürgermeister von Wien) (1943) * ''[[By a Nose (1949 film)|By a Nose]]'' (1949) * ''[[Nothing But Coincidence]]'' (1949) * ''[[Theodore the Goalkeeper]]'' (1950) * ''Hilfe, ich bin unsichtbar'' (1951) * ''[[Shame on You, Brigitte!]]'' (1952) * ''[[Irene in Trouble]]'' (1953) * ''[[Lady's Choice (film)|Lady's Choice]]'' (1953) * ''[[Her Corporal]]'' (1956) * ''[[Imperial and Royal Field Marshal (1956 film)|Imperial and Royal Field Marshal]]'' (1956) * ''{{Ill|Ober, zahlen!|de}}'' (1957) * ''{{Ill|Wenn die Bombe platzt|de}}'' (1958)

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == *{{IMDb name|0256586}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emo, E. W.}} [[Category:1898 births]] [[Category:1975 deaths]] [[Category:Austrian film directors]] [[Category:Austrian comedy film directors]] [[Category:Austrian male screenwriters]] [[Category:German-language film directors]] [[Category:20th-century Austrian screenwriters]] [[Category:20th-century Austrian male writers]] [[Category:Burials at the Hietzing Cemetery]]