Wilhelm II or William II (German: Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht von Preußen; English: Frederick William Victor Albert of Prussia; 27 January 1859 -- 4 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe, two notable contemporary relations being his cousins King George V of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, founder of the House of Windsor, and Tsar Nicholas II of the House of Romanov, the last ruler of the Russian Empire before the Russian Revolution of 1917 which deposed the monarchy. Crowned in 1888, he dismissed the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914 that led to World War I. Bombastic and impetuous, he sometimes made tactless pronouncements on sensitive topics without consulting his ministers, culminating in a disastrous Daily Telegraph interview that cost him most of his power in 1908. His top generals, Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, dictated policy during World War I with little regard for the civilian government. An ineffective war leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands. Peter Elfelt (1866-1931), director of "Kejser Wilhelms ankomst til Toldboden 2.4" - Denmark, 1903, was born Peter Lars Petersen. He changed his name to Elfelt when he began making films. He apprenticed in photography in Hillerød in 1893 with the photographer Carl Rathsack. He also studied with the camera builder Jens Poul Andersen. In 1893, Elfelt opened his own atelier in Copenhagen with his two brothers as his assistants. As his photographic skills became appreciated, his business flourished and by 1901 Elfelt was named "Kongelige Hoffotograf" (Royal Court Photographer). During a trip to Paris in 1896, Elfelt obtained a set of detailed Cinematographe plans from the French inventor Jules Carpentier. He had a film camera constructed by Jens Poul Andersen. In the beginning of 1897, he shot the first Danish film — a one minute sequence called Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde (Traveling with Greenlandic Dogs). During the following 15 years, he made short nature films and newsreels about the Danish royal family. Elfelt shot almost 200 short films in all. In 1903 Elfelt filmed his only drama. The short film, titled Henrettelsen (Capital Execution), was the first fiction film made in Denmark. Elfelt also shot the first advertising film. . Elfelt opened the "København Kinoptikon" movie theater in 1901. Although Elfelt was Denmark's first pioneer of filmmaking, he considered film as secondary to his work as a photographer. Elfelt died on 18 February 1931. Louis Held (1851 -- 1927), director of "Fruejahrs Parade in Potsdam", 1910, was a German photographer and a pioneer of photojournalism. Held was raised by relatives after the death of his parents in 1860. He first apprenticed in a company producing silk tissues before beginning a second apprenticeship as a photographer. He opened his first studio in Liegnitz in 1876, moved three years later to Berlin, and again three years later to Weimar. There, he became a protégé of Franz Liszt and was appointed court photographer of Carl Alexander, grand duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, in 1888. From 1890 on, he travelled throughout Germany, photographing for illustrated magazines. In 1912, he opened a cinema in Weimar. In 1923, he experimented with color photography. Resources: imdb.com, Wikipedia.org New soundtrack and dubbing: TheGreatClassics Music: Kevin Mac Leod (www.incompetch.com) licensed under Creative Commons licence http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/ . Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

• published: 20 Oct 2013
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