1940-A recently discovered portrait of David Oliver by fellow Austrian/Galician exile Ascher Susser
Imprisoned in the U.K
Original Sources
1928- R.M.S Majestic to New York
Wednesday, June 13th, 1928- The White Star Line’s R.M.S. Majestic, then the largest passenger vessel in the world sets sail for New York.
On board are film producer David Oliver and his wife, Edith Oliver.
Joining them on board are Mr George and Mrs Ira Gershwin.
The Story of Ibérica Films
A group of Jewish film professionals flee Nazi Germany for a new life in Spain. Determined to continue with their careers, David Oliver and director cum theatre manager Kurt-Louis Flatau form “Ibérica Films” in Barcelona, 1934. The expertise they bring with them will leave an indelible mark on Spanish Cinema.
A production still from the Ibérica Films production Doña Francisquita (1935). My grandmother (and production chief) Edith Oliver sits in the foreground . Having to work on shoestring budgets forced Ibérica Films to operate very much as a family affair. Directly behind her stands the film’s director, Hans Behrendt. Both are dressed in the ubiquitous UFA work uniform…a white lab coat.
Bomb on Unter den Linden-1934
Erwin Schulze..A house painter (and apparent Communist) framed by the Nazis for throwing a grenade at the car of “Austrian Jew” David Oliver
Theatre Owner
Built by David Oliver in 1926. Designed by Hans Poelzig.
One of many theatres owned by Oliver, the Capitol was destroyed during the war.
International Producer
Ibérica Films operated as a sort of Spanish “underground railroad” for Jewish film makers on the run from Nazi Germany.
Produced in affiliation with Sascha Films (Vienna)
In 1936, Ibérica is dissolved under Franco, and Oliver moves to England to work with Alexander Korda at Denham Studios. Oliver commissioned and built Denham’s film laboratories, a Bauhaus building now protected by Britain’s National Trust.
The Vanished World of the Oliver Family-44, Königin Augustastrasse-1928
A wedding party is under way. Can you recognize the guests? David Oliver is sitting at the right hand side of the dinner table in the background. The little boy standing on its far left is his son, Herbert. His half English mother, Edith is sitting just in front of him.
Portraits of the Filmmaker as a Young Man
UFA MAN 