---
name: "Walter Ruttmann"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/walter-ruttmann"
fi1m_id: "walter-ruttmann"
imdb_id: "nm0752193"
tmdb_id: 2798
wikidata_id: "Q77365"
roles: ["Cinematographer"]
born: "28 December 1887"
died: "15 July 1941"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-25T01:57:12.146386+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Walter Ruttmann

## Identity

Walter Ruttmann

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/walter-ruttmann
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** walter-ruttmann
- **IMDb ID:** nm0752193
- **TMDB ID:** 2798
- **Wikidata ID:** Q77365
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ruttmann, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77365, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0752193/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2798

Cinematographer. Born 28 December 1887 in Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany. Died 15 July 1941.

## Details

- **Work:** Cinematographer
- **Born:** 28 December 1887, Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany
- **Died:** 15 July 1941
- **Active:** 1927–1935
- **Also known as:** Walther Ruttmann
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 writing, 1 crew
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1920s 87 (1), 1930s 64 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ruttmann, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77365, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0752193/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2798

## Streaming the US now

- **The Roku Channel:** [*Metropolis*](https://film.one/film/metropolis.md) (87)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Walter Ruttmann was a German film director, writer, editor and cinematographer. He was born on 28 December 1887 in Frankfurt am Main and died on 15 July 1941 in Berlin.

Ruttmann began making abstract experimental films in the early 1920s, including *Lichtspiel: Opus I* (1921). He is best known for directing, writing and editing *Berlin: Symphony of a Great City* (1927). He received a cinematography credit on *Metropolis* (1927). Later credits include *Melody of the World* (1929) and work during the 1930s on documentary and propaganda films.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Wrote (1)

- *Triumph of the Will* (1935), Fi1m 64, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/triumph-of-the-will.md)

### Crew (1) — the average rests on these

- *Metropolis* (1927), Fi1m 87, Cinematography, Director of Photography — [page](https://film.one/film/metropolis.md)

## Complete filmography (30)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *German Tanks* (1940), Director
- *German Armaments* (1940), Director
- *Behind the Numbers* (1939), Writer
- *Mannesmann* (1938), Director, Writer
- *Mannesmann. Ein Film der Mannesmannröhren-Werke* (1937), Director
- *Stuttgart, die Großstadt zwischen Wald und Reben* (1935), Director
- *Triumph of the Will* (1935), Screenplay — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/triumph-of-the-will.md)
- *Metall des Himmels* (1935), Director
- *Altgermanische Bauernkultur* (1934), Director
- *Blood and Soil* (1933), Director
- *Steel* (1933), Director, Writer, Editor
- *Ceux du viking* (1932), Editor
- *In the Night* (1931), Director
- *Feind im Blut* (1931), Writer, Director, Editor
- *The End of the World* (1931), as Art Direction
- *Weekend* (1930), Director
- *Melody of the World* (1929), Director
- *The White Stadium* (1928), Editor
- *Where the Rhine...* (1927), Director
- *Berlin: Symphony of a Great City* (1927), Editor, Director, Writer
- *Metropolis* (1927), Director of Photography — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/metropolis.md)
- *Hoppla, wir leben* (1927), Director
- *The Climb* (1926), Director, Animation
- *Game of Waves* (1926), Director
- *The Rediscovered Paradise* (1925), Director
- *Opus IV* (1925), Director
- *Opus III* (1924), Director, Animation, Producer, Editor
- *Die Nibelungen: Siegfried* (1924), Director of Photography
- *Lightplay Opus II* (1921), Director
- *Light-Play Opus I* (1921), Director

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/walter-ruttmann