Arnold Fanck was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre, born in Frankenthal, Germany.

Together with Odo Deodatus Tauern, Bernhard Villinger, and Rolf Bauer, Fanck established the company "Berg- und Sportfilm GmbH Freiburg" in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1920. Fanck, who held a PhD in geology, directed mountain films, sports films, and ski films.

During the Nazi regime, Fanck got in trouble with propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, since he refused to cooperate — apparently because of the necessity of joining the party. In 1934, he also began working on his film, The Eternal Dream, which not only starred a French hero in French mountains but also had a Jewish producer, Gregor Rabinovitch. This conflict brought Fanck economic difficulties which he escaped only by accepting a contract from the Japanese Ministry of Culture in 1936.

With The Daughter of the Samurai and other "culture films," Fanck decided to cooperate with the Nazi regime. Fanck joined the NSDAP in April 1940.

After World War II, Fanck's main films made during the regime were proscribed by the Allied military governments. Fanck received no further job offers and went to work as a lumberjack.

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