In Neubabelsberg

Near Berlin, Germany, rises the curious town of Neubabelsberg. To walk through Neubabelsberg is to imagine oneself the Wandering Jew, reviewing his travels in a dream. Here one may stand in awe before India's Taj Mahal, turn the corner and climb an Egyptian pyramid. Miserable Chinese hovels may adjoin the chateau of the French Renaissance. One may be anywhere, at any time, in Neubabelsberg. It is Germany's Hollywood.

Dominating Neubabelsberg, as no producer is able to dominate Hollywood, are the studios of the mighty UFA (Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft), chief among European cinema companies. Here were filmed such popular and artistic successes as Variety, The Last Laugh, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. And from Neubabelsberg, last week, there journeyed many a cinemactor, many a director, to the Berlin premiere of UFA's latest production, The Homecoming.

For the fashionable Berlin cinemaddict, The Homecoming held no particular significance. First-nighters watched the story of two German soldiers imprisoned in Russia during the War, returning to the Vaterland to find vast and disturbing changes. What the average cinemaddict failed to mark was a brief announcement at the picture's opening:

PRODUCTION MANAGER--ERICH POMMER.

In Berlin, last fortnight, European film producers met in weighty conclave. When each and every one had taken his seat in the auditorium of the Prussian Diet, the First International Film Congress was declared to be in session. More strictly honest, President Leopold Gutmann would have substituted "European" for "International." For the U. S. which produces 57% of the world's pictures was not represented. Deliberately, invitations had been mailed to U. S. producers too late to allow them to reach Berlin for the Congress.

The position of UFA at the Congress was no less commanding than its position at Neubabelsberg. Behind the scenes was the slightly sinister figure of Dr. Alfred Hugenberg, owner of UFA and the most powerful publisher in Germany. Among his agencies are the Telegraphen Union Internationale, greatest independent agency in Europe and the Berlin newspapers Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger, Der Tag and Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (official organ of the German Foreign Office).

As an avowed monarchist, nationalist, militarist, his influence is feared by many a German Republican. When he bought UFA's 130 theatres, in 1927, Republicans openly charged he would change UFA into an organ of nationalist propaganda. In 1926, his newspapers groomed him for the dictatorship of Germany, a move which came to an end abruptly with a police search of his offices.

Herr Hugenberg remained in the background while the Congress deliberated. But his lieutenant, General Director Ludwig Klitzsch of UFA, made a significant speech. He hinted at new tariffs to keep the flood of U. S. pictures from German theatres. He spoke of "cooperation in the European film industry and the word 'film-Europe,' " strongly suggestive of a European cartel aimed at the U. S. cinema industry. When he had finished, alarmed U. S. observers hastened to Paris to confer.

To many a German producer, however, UFA seems to possess a threat to U. S. competition more potent than any cartel. Many are the difficulties in the way of open warfare with U. S. companies. UFA itself has contracts with American producers. By the terms of a convention signed at Geneva, restrictions on imported pictures must be abolished after June 30, 1929. And open-minded producers agree U. S. films will invade Europe until European pictures can compete on even terms on the basis of quality.

UFA's more potent threat is not an artificial combine, but the possibility that Germany can produce BETTER pictures than the U. S. importations. The one prime factor in that possibility is Production Manager Erich Pommer, whose The Homecoming was shown in Berlin last week.

It was Erich Pommer who was responsible for The Last Laugh, Variety and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Three years ago, he quit UFA and went to the U. S. for contracts with Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. To Hollywood also went UFA's most famed stars, Pola Negri, Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt.

Last year, Publisher Hugenberg brought Erich Pommer back from California. Methodically, Herr Pommer set about the task of finding new stars. He developed Dita Parlo, Jenny Jugo, Gerda Maurus, Brigitte Helm. He started work on The Homecoming, first round of UFA's comeback. UFA now is fighting not only for full control of the German market, but also for a fair slice of the enormously profitable U. S. market. Manhattan cinemaddicts will see The Homecoming this fall.