Early career Kettelhut was born in
Berlin in 1893. After leaving school, he received training at a craft school as a theatre artist. In 1909 he first met
Otto Hunte, when they were placed in charge of art direction at the
Aachen's Stadttheater.
Lang, Hunte and Vollbrecht, 1919–1926 Kettelhut was first employed in cinema for May Film's 1919 production
Die Herrin der Welt (
The Mistress of the World), an eight-part epic of German cinema. Kettelhut was employed as a production designer on all eight parts and is also credited as a set decorator on the first part. It is on this film that he was re-united with Otto Hunte, to whom he worked as an assistant, and Karl Vollbrecht. Both of whom would work on many films with Kettelhut in the future. Also employed on
The Mistress of the World, but as a writer, was
Fritz Lang. Kettelhut worked as an assistant to Jacoby-Boy on two further pictures in 1920, the first being
Das wandernde Bild (
The Moving Image), in which Kettelhut was first introduced to Lang who was directing the film. After producing designs on both parts of 1921's
The Indian Tomb, Kettelhut was hired to work on Lang's
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922), where he was reunited with Hunte and Vollbrecht. In 1924, Kettelhut worked on one of his most important films,
Die Nibelungen. With Lang again as director, he reassembled the team of Hunte, Vollbrecht and Kettelhut, charged with designing the mythical world of Siegfried and the Nibelungen. Hunte was placed in charge of set design and construction, while Kettelhut and Vollbrecht assisted as set collaborators, though Kettelhut's speciality was in architectural designs and models. Kettelhut not only created the architectural feel of the film, designing the buildings such as the Icelandic castle surrounded by fire from Part I, but he was also heavily involved in designing more mechanical elements, most notably the life-sized dragon slayed by Siegfried.
Die Nibelungen brought Kettelhut into a working relationship with cameraman
Günther Rittau. The two worked together several times in the future, but their most impressive collaboration was on their next Fritz Lang film,
Metropolis (1927). Kettelhut's drawing's originally featured a large Gothic cathedral style building amongst the skyscrapers, but this was rejected by Lang who had visions of a city which had rejected religion and instead had built a '
Tower of Babel'. Rittau and Kettelhut worked closely, not only to realise Lang's vision, but also on early special effects to bring the enormity of the city to life. Kettelhut's is credited with the positions of Art Direction and Art Department on
Metropolis, but also undertook several uncredited roles, including special effects, visual effects and technical consultant. Hunte and Kettelhut's work during this period is often discussed as a shared output with the two men holding the same design ideology. When they were interviewed to discuss their creations, they would discuss the architectural or mechanical features of their design rather than the artistic. Unlike their contemporaries,
Robert Herlth (
Faust) and
Walter Reimann (
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), Hunte and Kettelhut preferred to approach a challenge by looking at the economic restrictions and technical difficulties to ensure they did not hit problems at construction. Herlth and Reimann were more concerned with the look and artistic design and encouraged on-set improvisation to overcome technical issues.
After Lang, 1927–1932 After
Metropolis, Kettelhut, Hunte and Vollbrecht went their own ways. This allowed Kettelhut to come to the fore as a designer, and from this point he was normally the lead designer in the films he worked on, mainly for
UFA. One of Kettelhut's first solo projects was an uncredited role as art director for
Walter Ruttmann's documentary
Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (
Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis). To maintain the integrity of the documentary, Kettelhut hid and sheltered the cameras around the city to allow them to capture the citizens of Berlin without interruption. The street design was originally given to Herlth, but he resigned after falling out with the director; but Herlth's original vision influenced Kettelhut's final design. Examples of this involving Kettelhut include:
Bombs on Monte Carlo (German),
Le capitaine Craddock (French) and
Monte Carlo Madness (English). Of the films Kettelhut contributed during this period, of note from a design context, is 1932's
F.P.1 antwortet nicht (also shot as
I.F.1 ne répond plus (French version) and
F.P.1 (English version)). This science-fiction film centered around a mid-Atlantic aircraft landing platform, which was designed by Kettelhut. He continued to work throughout Germany, being employed by studios in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. Kettelhut at first found himself designing sets for films similar to those he had been working on during the 1940s, with another Georg Jacoby musical
Sensation in San Remo (1951), starring Marika Rökk. He also teamed up with actor
Gustav Fröhlich, on one of Fröhlich's few forays into directing, the drama
Torreani. In 1954 he found work again with his former boss Erich Pommer who had returned from self-imposed exile in the United States. They made two final films together
Eine Liebesgeschichte (1954) and
Kinder, Mütter und ein General (
Children, Mother, and the General) which became one of the five pictures selected as best foreign film at the
1955 Golden Globe Awards. In the mid-1950s, Kettelhut found himself in constant demand, working on three or four films a year. In 1955, as well as
Kinder, Mütter und ein General he also acted as production designer on
Drei Mädels vom Rhein,
Drei Tage Mittelarrest and
Eine Frau genügt nicht?. In the late 1950s, Kettelhut contributed outstanding design sets to two submarine dramas, the sympathetic anti-war tale ''
(Sharks and Little Fish
) and the loose biographical film U 47 – Kapitänleutnant Prien''. With his career in film behind him, Kettelhut found work in the emerging television industry. He provided art direction for the television movies
Geschichte einer Geschichte (1963)
Das Feuerzeichen (1965) and
Schwarzer Freitag (
Black Friday) and the short lived 1963 television comedy series
Die merkwürdigen Erlebnisse des Hansjürgen Weidlich. He died in Hamburg, West Germany on the 13 March 1979 at the age of 86. ==Awards and recognition==