Ertl, Hans b. February 21, 1908; Urschalling am Chimsee, Bavaria d. October 23, 2000; La Dolorida, Chiquitania, Bolivia

Pioneering cameraman, filmmaker, and mountaineer Hans Ertl worked with directors Arnold Fanck (1889-1974), Gunther O. Dyhrenfurth (1886-1975), and Luis Trenker (1892-1990) to develop the mountain film genre for German cinema (Freiburger Schule [Freiburg School]).

Collaboration with director Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) on Olympia yielded innovations that included work with a handheld motion picture camera and the first recorded underwater film footage. Travel to South America in the 1950s led Ertl to produce documentaries on the culture of indigenous Bolivian people.

Coming of age in the Bavarian Alps, Ertl developed an affinity for mountaineering and an interest in filmmaking. Expected to follow in the family business, Ertl enrolled at the Kaufmannische Fach- hochschule (Business College) in Munich to study business in 1930. After only one year of study, Ertl left college to work with Fanck, founder of the German mountaineering film genre (Bergfilm [Mountain Film]). Ertl traveled with Fanck’s production team to Greenland to assist as cameraman and stunt actor in the mountaineering film SOS Eisberg (SOS Iceberg, 1933). Further work in the genre of Bergfilm followed with camera work for Dyhrenfurth’s Der Damon des Himalaya (The Demon of the Himalayas, 1935). It is Ertl’s early work with Fanck and his subsequent development of the mountaineering film that established him as a member of Fanck’s Freiburger Schule of filmmaking.

On the set of SOS Eisberg, Ertl developed an important relationship with the actress and aspiring director Leni Riefenstahl. Ertl’s friendship and collaboration with Riefenstahl on Fanck’s films led her to favor him as lead cameraman for Tag der Freiheit—Unsere Wehrmacht (Day of Free

dom—Our Army, 1935). Their collaboration continued in Riefenstahl’s epic documentaries Olympia (1938) and Olympia II (1938).

It was during his period of collaboration with Riefenstahl that Ertl developed his most innovative cinematic techniques. While shooting promotional footage for the 1934 Winter Olympic Games, Ertl’s pioneering work with a handheld camera presented audiences with the perspective of a ski jumper while in flight. Further, while documenting the diving competition for Olympia, Ertl recorded the first known underwater film sequences. After completing work on Riefenstahl’s films, Ertl joined director Luis Trenker’s team as cameraman for Lieheshriefe aus dem Engadin (Love Letters from Engadin, 1938) and collaborated with Arnold Fanck on Ein Robinson (1940) in Chile.

Ertl’s plans to return to Chile for an independent film project in 1939 were thwarted when he was forcefully drafted into the Wehrmacht (Armed Forces). During World War II, Ertl worked primarily as a war correspondent for the Propaganda Ministry. From 1939 to 1945 Ertl documented General Erwin Rommel’s desert campaign in northern Africa, as well as battles in the Caucusus and on the western front. He also served as cameraman for the propaganda films Glauhe und Schonheit (Faith and Beauty, 1940), Der Sinn des Lehens (The Meaning of Life, 1940), and Sieg im Westen (Victory in the West, 1941).

After the war, Ertl returned to filmmaking, directing Nanga Parhat (1953), a documentary of Herman Buhl’s successful ascent of Nanga Parbat in the Pakistani Himalayas. Disappointed by the failure of Nanga Parhat to garner the coveted German Film Prize, Ertl withdrew from public life in Germany and settled in Bolivia. In 1954 Ertl embarked with his family on an Andes-Amazon expedition to locate and photograph Inca cities in the Bolivian jungle. Following the successful completion of his expedition, Ertl released the documentary film Vorstoβ nach Paititi (The Charge into Paititi, 1955) and wrote two books recording his experiences. Paititi (1955) traces Ertl’s progress through the Amazon and describes his discovery of Inca ruins.

A book of photography, Arriha, Ahajo: Vistas de Bolivia (High and Low: The Vistas of Bolivia), followed in 1958. Together with daughter Monika, Ertl produced a second documentary on South American culture, Hito Hito (1958), in which they recorded the culture of the now extinct Sirino Indians. After failing to complete his final film, Ertl retired from filmmaking. He settled near Santa Cruz, where he became a cattle farmer. In the 1980s Ertl wrote two memoirs: Meine wilden dreiβiger Jahre (My Wild Thirties, 1982) and Hans Ertl als Kriegsherichter (Hans Ertl: War Correspondent, 1985). During his lifetime, Ertl also published numerous articles on South American culture and mountaineering. Two documentary films on Hans Ertl’s life have been made: Hans Ertl—Bolivien Urwald (Hans Ertl—Bolivian Jungle, 1981) and Der Grat- wanderer—Die Erinnerungen des Hans Ertl (Wanderer on the Edge: Hans Ertl’s Recollections, 1995).

Marta Folio

Ertl, Hans b. February 21, 1908; Urschalling am Chimsee, Bavaria d. October 23, 2000; La Dolorida, Chiquitania, Bolivia

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