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Edith Kiel

Edith Kiel

Directing

Biography

Edith Kiel (1904–1993) was a German‑Belgian screenwriter, film editor, director, and producer who played a key role in the early development of Flemish sound cinema. She was born on 30 June 1904 in Berlin and died on 12 September 1993 in Belgium. She began her career at the German film studio UFA before meeting filmmaker Jan Vanderheyden, with whom she formed both a lifelong partnership and one of the most influential creative collaborations in early Flemish cinema. She wrote the screenplay for De Witte (1934)—the first major Flemish sound film—and also directed it, though she did not receive formal credit at the time. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Kiel shaped many of the popular Flemish folk films associated with the “Jan Vanderheyden film” tradition. She contributed to screenwriting, directing, editing, and production, often remaining uncredited due to prejudice against women, foreigners, and unmarried partners in key creative roles. After World War II, she continued working in Belgium and later in Germany, eventually gaining more public recognition—especially during the 1950s through the Antwerpse Filmonderneming (AFO), where she directed and wrote several films under her own name.

Known For

The Blue Angel
7.3

Prim professor Immanuel Rath finds some of his students ogling racy photos of cabaret performer Lola Lola and visits a local club, The Blue Angel, in an attempt to catch them there. Seeing Lola perform, the teacher is filled with lust, eventually resigning his position at the school to marry the young woman. However, his marriage to a coquette -- whose job is to entice men -- proves to be more difficult than Rath imagined.

The Blue Angel

1930
A Nice Case
9.0

A good bourgeois couple have adopted Monneke, a country boy. Maybe they should not have as their peaceful life is turned upside down by the antics of the little rascal.

A Nice Case

1941
The Dafter the Better
10.0

Julleke would have loved to have been a student but he never made it beyond the post office of Mussegem. His friends Mil and Frans have no financial worries and their motto is 'the dafter the better'.

The Dafter the Better

1960
The Silent Hedonist
7.0

Gaston is a rather simple office clerk. He is about to marry and has just rented a new flat. Life is smiling upon him. But then it turns out that the house is being used as a refuge for Gaston's boss and his girlfriends. Even worse, his two cousins appear to want to help him out of problems that are not really there at all.

The Silent Hedonist

1961
De Duivel Te Slim
9.0

The only thing Pol Rubens has in common with the Great Paul is his place of residence, Antwerp. Pol's problems begin when he loses his wallet and tries to get by with his broken German. His blunders land him and his friend on a ship full of criminals.

De Duivel Te Slim

1960
Villain princess
7.0

The film follows the spirited press photographer Jo Markus (played by Denise De Weerdt), who works for an Antwerp weekly magazine. Nicknamed "The Princess" because of her aristocratic mother, she teams up with two bumbling friends (De Woodpeckers, Jef and Cois Cassiers) to not only bring a gang of thieves to justice but also discover love along the way..

Villain princess

1956
No image
N/A

Short wartime comedy in which mister Dingemans and madam Babbel are trying to do some clandestine business in Brussels.

Mister Dingemans and madam Babbel are having fun in Brussels

1942
De wonderdoktoor
9.0

Steven Martens wants to establish himself as the village doctor. His cousin Boone, a cunning farmer, manages to persuade Steven to act as a "miracle doctor." This earns him an extensive clientele. Steven refuses to marry Marietje, the mayor's daughter. This prompts the angry village potentate to launch an investigation into Steven's qualifications. The young doctor is, of course, cleared of any wrongdoing, but the villagers feel betrayed and stop visiting him.

De wonderdoktoor

1936
Uit hetzelfde nest
8.0

Folk comedy in which the import/exportbusiness of Jef Dijckman is getting in dire straits ... .

Uit hetzelfde nest

1952
Whitey
7.8

The first movie version, from the age of black & white, of Flemish (heimat-)author Ernest Claes' classical novel, titled after the nickname (Dutch 'the White', referring to a blond male) of the main character: a smart but naughty farmhand's son whose eternal mischief, pranks and disobedience drive his elders (especially teachers, family and father's grumpy employer, a rich farmer) and classmates to despair in a time when a boy's punishment was still inevitable, swift and often severe.

Whitey

1934
Antwerp Through and Through
9.0

Smugglers try to ship their products via Pol Knol, a trader in medical products. Due to circumstances, the package remains on Mr Knol's desk. The smugglers think that Pol has deliberately withheld it. They come to pay him a "visit."

Antwerp Through and Through

1953
The Bargee District
7.4

In the heart of the Schipperskwartier, a grocery store and a café sit side by side, run by two inseparable friends, Jef and Rik. Rik, a widower, has three spirited children who can only be kept in line by Anneke, the ever-patient housekeeper. Wanting to see his friend happily remarried, Jef places an ad in the newspaper seeking potential brides. Two women respond, but Rik refuses to meet them himself. Undeterred, Jef takes it upon himself to investigate…

The Bargee District

1953
Good Luck, Monique!
10.0

Four aspiring young artists live together in the same apartment: Monika wants to be an actress ; Sonny, her sister, studies at the Academy of Fine Arts ; Marina dreams of being a professional dancer ; and Lena hopes to be a singer. One day, Victor and Helena, Monika and Sonny's uncle and aunt, come to visit them unannounced. As they are conservative people, the four friends do their best to hide their free lifestyles from them. On the other hand, the girls realize that it is now or never for them and one by one they end up landing the long hoped-for assignments. But, sentimentally, Monika is not happy. She does not care for her rich fiancé. The one she would like to share her life is a mere garage mechanic...

Good Luck, Monique!

1941
Heaven on Earth
7.0

As Alex is about to get married, his father Charles sets off for a secret mission in Germany. Hilarity ensues when their personal contacts start to interfere with one another.

Heaven on Earth

1954
Uilenspiegel Still Lives
7.0

A local brass band rehearses for a music competition in Bruges. They are confident that a new march by a young music teacher will get them the first prize. Their chance of winning seems to get an awful lot smaller when a a fight breaks out between the chairman and the music teacher -- urging the latter to sell the march to another band.

Uilenspiegel Still Lives

1935
Drie flinke kerels
8.0

Three reporters are being fired by their old fashioned editor after a compromising photo of them appeared in some newspapers.

Drie flinke kerels

1938
No image
8.0

May 1940, a mother is on the run with her two little girls. Due to a lack of gasoline she can't go far and harbours her children near a Lourdes grotto.

The Girl and the Madonna

1958
Met den helm geboren
9.0

Meldodrama/folk comedy about a lower class guy who falls in love with the daughter of the lord of the castle ... .

Met den helm geboren

1939
Janssens en Peeters dikke vrienden
8.0

Sequel to the hugely popular folk comedy Janssens versus Peeters.

Janssens en Peeters dikke vrienden

1940
Music in the Harbour
7.0

Frits and Jef are mates on a ship and have been friends for long. Frits, who is the steward, is also engaged to Jef's sister Marieke. When the two men disembark in Antwerp, their birth town, Frits realizes to his shock that a drug runner has hidden his contraband in his baggage. He informs the police at once and starts his own investigation...

Music in the Harbour

1937