ARRI launched the ARRIFLEX 35BL in 1972, the company’s first silent 35 mm production camera. The need for such a camera had been strongly expressed by Paul Klingenstein and Volker Bahnemann in the US. Having started as an apprentice at Kling Photo in the late 1960s, Bahnemann had by this point risen to VP of Marketing. In 1978 he would become president of Arnold and Richter’s first subsidiary outside of Germany, ARRI Inc. Today he sits on the Supervisory Board of ARRI AG. 

Designed by Joachim Gerb and Erich Kaestner, the 35BL rested comfortably on the operator’s shoulder. At 33 lb, and around 33 dB, it required a lens blimp for silence, but was light, small and portable. Unveiled at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games, it appeared to be intended as a 35 mm silent newsreel and sports camera with the ability to toggle between sync sound and a top speed of 100 fps for slow motion. Of course, it could do much more than that. In the US, Jack Priestley ASC was one of the first to use a 35BL, on "Across 110th Street" (1972). Priestley described the camera: “It was as quiet as a church mouse and had great flexibility. I don’t know what I would have done in a lot of spots without it, especially in those small rooms where we often had to shoot. You put it on your shoulder and could walk around, bend down, sit down, hold it in your lap.”