Rembrandt Film Co

history

The production company Rembrandt Film Co. was established in 1915 by Johan Gildemeijer. Beginning in 1912, Gildemeijer had been the business manager of the bioscope Union Theater in Amsterdam, and was briefly associated with Filmfabriek Hollandia.

Fatum, the first film by the Rembrandt Film Co., was directed by Theo Frenkel Sr. Afterwards, Gildemeijer himself began directing and producing. Of the several films that the Rembrandt Film co. produced, Gloria transita was the best known and most ambitious. In this film, about the fate of an opera singer, singers played the main roles, and sang in sync with the vocals during the actual screenings. Gloria transita was a great success. The film played in cinemas for years, and other singers later began singing the synchronized parts.

As was the case with many film companies, Rembrandt Film Co. also struggled to survive after World War One. With his film Gloria fatalis, Gildemeijer tried to match the success of Gloria transita, but after a disappointing reception, the Rembrandt Film Co. stopped its productions.

But the company was not dissolved; in the 1930s, Gildemeijer, who at that point was running a successful trading company, produced two short musical films under the name Rembrandt Film Co. The first one of these two films - Romance Impromptu - never was released because the negatives were lost in a fire.

In 1919, Gildemeijer was commissioned by the Vereeniging tot Verbreiding van kennis over Nederland in den Vreemde to produce the two-part nonfiction film Onze Oost, about the Dutch East Indies. For this film, he used footage that had been shot by Captain J.C. Lamster for the Colonial Institute.