{{short description|Swiss cinematographer (1905-1984)}} {{Infobox person | name = Richard Angst | image = Angst richard.jpg | image_size = | caption = Angst richard | birth_date = 23 July 1905 | birth_place = [[Zurich, Switzerland]] | death_date = {{death date and age|24 July 1984|23 July 1905}} | death_place = [[West Berlin]], [[West Germany]] | other_names = | occupation = Cinematographer | years_active = 1927–1969 }} '''Richard Angst''' (23 July 1905 – 24 July 1984) was a Swiss [[cinematographer]]. He became known in the late 1920s and early 1930s for his work on mountain films with [[Arnold Fanck]] and later worked on a wide range of productions in Germany, including collaborations with [[Fritz Lang]]. Over his career he was credited on numerous feature films and was recognised in 1971 with the [[German Film Award]] for his life’s work.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
== Biography == Richard Angst was born in [[Zürich]], Switzerland, the son of Robert, an architect, and Elise Anna Klara Vaihinger, who came from [[Pforzheim]], Germany, where he was raised.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2 August 2000 |title=Richard Angst |url=https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/009127/2000-08-02/ |access-date=20 August 2025 |website=Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS)}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
In 1923 he entered film through cameraman [[Sepp Allgeier]] and became assistant to [[Arnold Fanck]] on his ski and mountain films.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Richard Angst |url=https://www.deutsche-kinemathek.de/de/sammlungen-archive/sammlung-digital/personenarchive/richard-angst |access-date=21 August 2025 |website=Deutsche Kinemathek}}</ref> He trained with Fanck’s Berg- und Sportfilm GmbH in [[Freiburg im Breisgau|Freiburg]], where he learned camera technique and film laboratory work.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Richard Angst |url=https://www.filmportal.de/person/richard-angst_7788c281d9794920b83449842574004b |access-date=20 August 2025 |website=filmportal.de}}</ref>
In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked as one of Fanck’s chief cinematographers on mountain film classics including ''[[The Great Leap (film)|The Great Leap]]'' (1927), ''[[The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929 film)|The White Hell of Pitz Palu]]'' (1929), ''[[Stürme über dem Mont Blanc|Storm over Mont Blanc]]'' (1930), and ''[[The White Ecstasy (film)|The White Ecstasy]]'' (1931).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> He gained recognition as an independent cinematographer, particularly for his work on expeditions in Asia from 1933 onward.<ref name=":2" />
He also collaborated on the German-Japanese co-production ''[[The Daughter of the Samurai]]'' (1936).<ref name=":0" /> After returning to [[Berlin]] in 1939, Angst worked on films including ''Eine kleine Nachtmusik'' (1939), ''Rembrandt'' (1942), and ''Der grosse Schatten'' (1942). During this period he also worked on the anti-British drama ''[[My Life for Ireland]]'' (1941), described as his only explicit [[Nazi propaganda]] film.<ref name=":0" />
After the [[Second World War]] he settled in [[Ticino]], Switzerland, before returning to [[Berlin]] in the late 1950s, where he continued his film career.<ref name=":2" /> He was cinematographer for [[Fritz Lang]]’s ''[[The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959 film)|The Tiger of Eschnapur]]'' and ''[[The Indian Tomb (1959 film)|The Indian Tomb]]'' (both 1959).<ref name=":0" /> He later withdrew from the film industry in the 1960s, lamenting its decline, and in 1971 opened the restaurant “Provinz” in [[Berlin-Moabit]]. That same year he received the [[German Film Award]] for his life’s work.<ref name=":2" />
Angst died in West Berlin on 24 July 1984.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> His manuscripts, including unpublished memoirs, are held by the [[Deutsche Kinemathek]].<ref name=":2" />
==Selected filmography== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * ''[[The Great Leap (film)|The Great Leap]]'' (1927) * ''[[Milak, the Greenland Hunter]]'' (1928) * ''[[The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929 film)|The White Hell of Pitz Palu]]'' (1929) * ''[[Stürme über dem Mont Blanc|Storm over Mont Blanc]]'' (1930) * ''[[Two People (1930 film)|Two People]]'' (1930) * ''[[The White Ecstasy (film)|The White Ecstasy]]'' (1931) * ''[[Adventures in the Engadin]]'' (1932) * ''[[S.O.S. Iceberg]]'' (1933) * ''[[The Burning Secret]]'' (1933) * ''[[White Majesty]]'' (1934) * ''[[Forbidden Territory]]'' (1934) * ''[[North Pole, Ahoy]]'' (1934) * ''[[The Champion of Pontresina]]'' (1934) * ''[[Demon of the Himalayas]]'' (1935) * ''[[Kleine Scheidegg (film)|Kleine Scheidegg]]'' (1937) * ''[[The Vulture Wally (1940 film)|The Vulture Wally]]'' (1940) * ''[[My Life for Ireland]]'' (1941) * ''[[Rembrandt (1942 film)|Rembrandt]]'' (1942) * ''[[Melody of a Great City]]'' (1943) * ''[[Gabriele Dambrone]]'' (1943) * ''[[A Beautiful Day (1944 film)|A Beautiful Day]]'' (1944) * ''[[Melusine (film)|Melusine]]'' (1944) * ''[[Earth (1947 film)|Earth]]'' (1947) * ''[[Ulli and Marei]]'' (1948) * ''[[A Kingdom For a Horse]]'' (1949) * ''[[The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1950 film)|The White Hell of Pitz Palu]]'' (1950) * ''[[Fanfares of Love]]'' (1951) * ''[[Storm Over Tibet]]'' (1952) * ''[[Father Needs a Wife]]'' (1952) * ''[[Cuba Cabana]]'' (1952) * ''[[Hit Parade (1953 film)|Hit Parade]]'' (1953) * ''[[Hocuspocus (1953 film)|Hocuspocus]]'' (1953) * ''[[The First Kiss (1954 film)|The First Kiss]]'' (1954) * ''[[Three Men in the Snow (1955 film)|Three Men in the Snow]]'' (1955) * ''[[The Last Man (1955 film)|The Last Man]]'' (1955) * ''[[I Often Think of Piroschka]]'' (1955) * ''[[The Spessart Inn]]'' (1958) * ''[[La Paloma (film)|La Paloma]]'' (1959) * ''[[Peter Shoots Down the Bird]]'' (1959) * ''[[The Indian Tomb (1959 film)|The Indian Tomb]]'' (1959) * ''[[The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959 film)|The Tiger of Eschnapur]]'' (1959) * ''[[The Good Soldier Schweik (1960 film)|The Good Soldier Schweik]]'' (1960) * ''[[The Strange Countess]]'' (1961) * ''[[Ramona (1961 film)|Ramona]]'' (1961) * ''[[Via Mala (1961 film)|Via Mala]]'' (1961) * ''[[Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace]]'' (1962) * ''[[The Secret of the Black Trunk]]'' (1962) * ''[[Axel Munthe, The Doctor of San Michele]]'' (1962) * ''[[The Black Abbot (1963 film)|The Black Abbot]]'' (1963) * ''[[Breakfast in Bed (film)|Breakfast in Bed]]'' (1963) * ''[[The Hangman of London]]'' (1963) * ''[[The Phantom of Soho]]'' (1964) * ''[[The Seventh Victim (1964 film)|The Seventh Victim]]'' (1964) * ''[[The Dirty Game]]'' (1965) * ''[[A Holiday with Piroschka]]'' (1965) * ''[[Praetorius (film)|Praetorius]]'' (1965) * ''[[Liselotte of the Palatinate (1966 film)|Liselotte of the Palatinate]]'' (1966) * ''[[The Wedding Trip (1969 film)|The Wedding Trip]]'' (1969) {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * High, Peter B. ''The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Years' War, 1931-1945''. University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. * Reimer, Robert C. & Reimer, Carol J. ''The A to Z of German Cinema''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2010.
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0029940}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Angst, Richard}} [[Category:1905 births]] [[Category:1984 deaths]] [[Category:Swiss cinematographers]] [[Category:Swiss collaborators with Nazi Germany]] [[Category:Film people from Zurich]]