Private company

Tobis Film

German film company

Tobis Film was a German film production and film distribution company. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent to sound films, the organisation emerged as a leading German sound studio. Tobis used the Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system under the Tobis-Klang trade name.2 It is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.1 Its chief executive is Hans Henkel (since 1933).1 It is part of UFA.1 It ceased to exist in 1942.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1928Founded1
  • Industryleisure park industry1
  • HeadquartersBerlin, Germany1
  • Legal formGesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung3
  • LEI529900OIJMI9F67QEI873
  • StatusActive3
  • LEI statusIssued and current3
  • Registered addressKurfürstendamm 68, 10707 Berlin, Germany3
  • Registered withLocal Court Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 1749163

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Tobis Tonbild-Syndikat AG 1931
Photo: Unbekannte Autoren und Grafiker; Scan vom EDHAC e.V., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons5

Tobis Film was a German film production and film distribution company. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent to sound films, the organisation emerged as a leading German sound studio. Tobis used the Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system under the Tobis-Klang trade name. The UFA production company had separate rights to the Tobis system, which it used under the trade name of Ufa-Klang. Some Tobis films were released in Germany by the subsidiary Europa Film.2

Corporate structure

Tobis Film is part of a group headed by Bertelsmann. 253 entities, 23 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

Leadership

Who has led Tobis Film, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chief executive

  1. Hans Henkel1933–now
197019801990200020102020

Products and brands

From 1933 until 1938, Tobis controlled the dominant Austrian producer Sascha-Film which was known as Tobis-Sascha. From 1932, it also owned a majority share of one of the main Portuguese producers known as Tobis Portuguesa, a name which the company kept even after the German participation was terminated at the end of world War II.

Tobis established a Paris subsidiary and produced French-language film at the Epinay Studios during the 1930s. Among the directors under contract to the company was René Clair who produced the films Under the Roofs of Paris and Le Million during the early sound era.

From Wikipedia’s article on Tobis Film, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1942Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. May 1933New chief executive Hans Henkel becomes CEO1
  3. 1928Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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