Remembering Ernst Kalinke

Ernst W. Kalinke was born on September 23, 1918 in Berlin, Germany. He was trained in film composition and began in 1934 as a camera assistant. Kalinke became a cinematographer after the Second World War.

 
In the 1960s Kalinke was the first choice for the cinematographer of the Karl May and Edgar Wallace movies. The first of the Karl May movies “The Treasure of Silver” he captured on celluloid as well as Winnetou I, II, III. The first Edgar Wallace film, “Der Frosch mit der Maske” goes on his resume as well as the most successful productions “Der unheimliche Mönch” and “Die blaue Hand”.
 
In later years Kalinke photographed very different projects behind the camera, including Ludwig Ganghofer films, and the ambitious works “Anita Drögemöller und die Ruhe” and “Der Ruhr und Der Bockerer”. Several movies such as “Lederhosenfilme” and used the pseudonym Rainer Ernst for his only directorial effort “Die liebestollen Lederhosen” in 1982. In his last years he was limited to additional films as “Schtonk!” by Helmut Dietl. Kalinke died in Munich, Germany on January 14, 1992.
 
Today we remember one of the great cinematographers of the Euro-westerns: Enrst W. Kalinke on what would have been his 95^th birthday.