Trivia

Only son of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt.

Austrian writer/director, prominent in the 1920's and 30's. Trained as a graphic designer. Began his career as a camera assistant on documentaries at Sascha Films. Became a director in 1919 and under contract to Ufa from 1929. Soon put in charge of A-grade films like Hokuspokus (1930), Flüchtlinge (1933) and Dawn (1933). Joined Vienna Film after the 1938 Anschluss and directed the classic Der Postmeister (1940). Still made commercially successful films after the war, notably Das Erbe von Björndal (1960).

When he collected first experiences as a cameraman for documentary films he took pictures for the feature film Die Dame mit dem schwarzen Handschuh (1919) (1919) for the first time.

In 1927 he set beside the camera for ever and carried on the position of a director from now on.

Gustav Ucicky signed a contract with the Ufa in 1929 which guaranteed him an agreeable budget for the coming years with which he was able to stage demanding talkies. Movies like Hokuspokus (1930), The Flute Concert of Sans-Souci (1930), Yorck (1931), or Unter heißem Himmel (1936) established him as a successful director.

After the German occupation of Austria in 1938, Ucicky returned to Vienna and became a key figure of Wien-Film, the government-sponsored production company that was intended to shoot propaganda movies on behalf of the Third Reich.

After his leaving from the Ufa he shot movies for the Wien-Film GmbH from 1939. During the shootings to Das letzte Kapitel (1961) died Gustav Ucicky as a result of a brain-beat. The movies was ended by Wolfgang Liebeneiner.

Born in Vienna, Ucicky is often stated to have been the illegitimate son of painter Gustav Klimt for whom his mother Maria Ucicky from Prague worked and modeled, although this paternity is unconfirmed.

As late as 1940, he was still a respected name among American critics in New York City, with his drama A Mother's Love receiving high praise for his direction.

Like most of his colleagues, his career came to a standstill in the years immediately after the war, as economic conditions and the four-power occupation of Vienna made production extremely difficult. It was not until 1948 that Ucicky re-emerged with a film entitled, After the Storm.

He began his extensive film career already at the age of 17, when he applied to the Sascha film factory where he got the job of a camera assistant.

Ucicky achieved acclaim for Der Postmeister (1940), which won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign film at the Venice Film Festival, and among his subsequent movies, Heimkehr (1941) was also honored at the Venice festival.