Editing Max Reinhardt (section)

===Max Reinhardt and film===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H0927-506, Berlin, Max Reinhardt.jpg|thumb|Max Reinhardt is filmed in his garden, 1930.]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-09723, Max Reinhardt unterzeichnet Tonfilmvertrag.jpg|thumb|Max Reinhardt signing a contract with the US film producer Curtis Melnitz in Berlin, 1930]]

Reinhardt took a greater interest in film than most of his contemporaries in the theater world. He made films as a director and from time to time also as a producer. His first staging was the film ''Sumurûn'' in 1910. After that, Reinhardt founded his own film company. He sold the film rights for the [[film adaptation]] of the play ''[[The Miracle (play)|Das Mirakel]]'' (''The Miracle'') to [[Joseph Menchen]], whose full-colour 1912 film of ''[[The Miracle (1912 film)|The Miracle]]'' gained world-wide success. Controversies around the staging of ''Das Mirakel'', which was shown in the Vienna [[Rotunde]] in 1912, led to Reinhardt's retreat from the project. The author of the play, Reinhardt's friend and confidant [[Karl Vollmöller|Karl Gustav Vollmoeller]], had French director [[Michel Carré]] finish the shooting. <!-- Hmm, possibly. -->

Reinhardt made two films, ''Die Insel der Seligen'' (''Isle of the Blessed'') and ''Eine venezianische Nacht'' (''Venetian Nights''), under a four-picture contract for the German film producer [[Paul Davidson (producer)|Paul Davidson]]. Released in 1913 and 1914, respectively, both films received negative reviews from the press and public. The other two films called for in the contract were never made.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eyman|first=Scott|title=Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise|date=30 November 2000|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0801865589|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ernstlubitsch00scot/page/37 37–38]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ernstlubitsch00scot/page/37}}</ref>

Both films demanded much of cameraman Karl Freund because of Reinhardt's special shooting needs, such as filming a lagoon in moonlight. ''Isle of the Blessed'' attracted attention due to its erotic nature. Its ancient mythical setting included sea gods, nymphs, and fauns, and the actors appeared naked. However, the film also fit in with the strict customs of the late German and Austrian empires. The actors had to live up to the demands of double roles. [[Wilhelm Diegelmann]] and [[Willy Prager]] played the bourgeois fathers as well as the sea gods, {{ill|Ernst Matray|de}} a bachelor and a faun, [[Leopoldine Konstantin]] the [[Circe]]. The shooting for ''Eine venezianische Nacht'' by Karl Gustav Vollmoeller took place in Venice. [[Maria Carmi]] played the bride, [[Alfred Abel]] the young stranger, and Ernst Matray Anselmus and Pipistrello. The shooting was disturbed by a fanatic who incited the attendant Venetians against the German-speaking staff.

In 1935, Reinhardt directed his first film in the US, ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)|A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''. He founded the drama schools [[Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch"]] in Berlin, [[Max Reinhardt Seminar]], the Max Reinhardt Workshop ([[Sunset Boulevard]]),<ref name="BritannicaReinhardt" /> and the Max Reinhardt Junior Workshop.