Biography
Carl Eduard Hermann Boese was born in Berlin on August 26th 1887. After studying theatre and philosophy in Berlin and Leipzig, and serving in WWI – where he was severely wounded –, he worked as an influential film critic and finally made his directorial debut in 1917. Boese quickly established himself as one of the most successful directors of the time, though he constantly shifted between genres and therefore didn"t develop a distinctive style. Among his films were melodramas like "Verschleppt" or "Seelenverkäufer", the expressionism-influenced work "Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam", and the socially aware "Kinder der Straße".
But Boese was also responsible for the despicable racist propaganda film "Die schwarze Schmach", which was forbidden in 1922. From 1926 to 1929, Boese had his own production company Carl Boese Film GmbH, and from 1930 on, he directed a string of highly successful military comedies.
With the introduction of sound, Boese – who had now specialized in comedy – began to incorporate song and dance numbers in his films. During the Nazi reign, he continued to produce popular entertainment fare like "...Und die Musik spielt dazu" or "Das Hochzeitshotel", which boasted impressive production values and an almost total lack of intellectual content. Thereby, Boese fulfilled the government's demand for uncritical and distracting movies, and his career flourished under the Nazi regime.
Although he was a key player in Nazi Germany's film industry, Boese was quickly allowed to return to the directing chair after the war. He continued to work with renowned comedians like Hans Moser and Theo Lingen, whom he directed in some of their best known works of the 1950s.
Carl Boese died in Berlin-Charlottenburg on July 6th 1958.