Irena Gawecka

August 18, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Christian Marquand

≪ Previous: Photo by Félix

$

0

0

Polish actress Irena Gawęcka (1901-1982) was a star of the silent cinema, who made 5 films between 1928 and 1930.


Polish postcard by Polonia, Kraków, no. 1337. Photo: Dorys, Warszawa.


Polish postcard by Polonia, Kraków, no. 1350. Photo: Enhafilm. Publicity still for Magdalena (Konstanty Meglicki, 1929).

Cross of the Civil Service Ceremony

Irena Gawęcka was born in 1901 in Buk, Germany (now Poland).

As a young girl, she participated in the Greater Poland Uprising in the supply department, for which she was awarded the Cross of the Civil Service Ceremony by the Supreme People's Council in 1919.

Then, after high school, Irena Gawęcka travelled around Europe, nothing is known about her acting work during this period.

After returning to Poland, she made her film debut as Countess Zofia opposite Boleslaw Szczurkiewicz as her father in Szaleńcy/Madmen (1928), which was also the directorial debut of Leonard Buczkowski.

Gawęcka contributed with her role to the success of the film. In 1929, the film was awarded the Grand Prix and the Gold Medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.

In 1934, the film returned to the screens already in the sound version with music developed by Tadeusz Górzyński.


Polish postcard by Polonia, Kraków, no. 1352. Photo: Enhafilm. Publicity still for Magdalena (Konstanty Meglicki, 1929).

A promising acting career broken

In 1929, Irena Gawęcka appeared in three more Polish silent films.

The first was the drama Ponad snieg/Above the snow (Konstanty Meglicki, 1929) in which she had a supporting part.

The second was Magdalena (Konstanty Meglicki, 1929) and the third was the war drama Z dnia na dzien/One Day to the Day After Next (Joseph Lejtes, 1929), in which she played the leading role.

When the sound entered the Polish cinemas, Gawęcka retired. She only appeared in the small role of a fisher woman in the film Wiatr od morza/Wind from the Sea (Kazimierz Czynski, 1930), but it was not a success. Her promising acting career was broken.

After the war, Irena Gawęcka settled in France. There she died in 1982 in Le Chesnay at the age of 81.


Polish postcard by Polonia, Kraków, no. 1335. Photo: Dorys, Warszawa.


Polish postcard by Polonia, Kraków, no. 1351. Photo: Enhafilm. Publicity still for Magdalena (Konstanty Meglicki, 1929).

Sources: Filmpolski.pl (Polish), Wikipedia (Polish) and IMDb.

---

Christian Marquand

August 19, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Lilly Flohr

≪ Previous: Irena Gawecka

$

0

0

Handsome Christian Marquand (1927-2000) was a French director, actor and screenwriter working in French cinema. With his virile good looks, easy charm and ready laugh, he was often cast as a heartthrob in French films of the 1950s.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 646. Photo: Sam Lévin.

A steamy love scene on the beach of St Tropez

Christian Marquand was born in Marseille, in 1927. He was the son of a Spanish father and an Arab mother, and the older brother of director Nadine Trintignant and actor Serge Marquand. The fact that he spoke Spanish, Arabic, French, English and Italian - all learned as a child – later helped his international career.

After school, Marquand studied acting under Tania Balachova - one of his classmates was Roger Vadim. Marquand worked on stage from the age of seventeen.

His first film appearance at 21 was a bit part in Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête/Beauty and the Beast in 1946. The following year he had another bit part in Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic thriller Quai des Orfevres (1947).

In 1949, the director of Paris Match, Herve Mille, introduced Marquand to Marlon Brando, who had recently arrived in Paris after a long run on Broadway in A Street Car Named Desire. Marquand and Brando hit it off at once. Marquand already had a reputation as a ladies' man and, as Mille recalled, was "able to speak to any girl and bring Brando that girl if he wanted her". Marquand and Brando would enjoy a long friendship.

His dark good looks were first noticed on film in Christian-Jaque's Lucrèce Borgia/Lucretia Borgia (1953). The film tells the story of the Borgia family of Italy during the Renaissance. Marquand played Lucrezia's lover, picked up in the Roman streets during Carnival. The next day he is pursued through a forest like a game at bay by Lucrezia (Martine Carol) and her brother Cesare (Pedro Armendáriz).

He was the Bohemian officer friend of the caddish soldier hero (Farley Granger) in Luchino Visconti's lush melodrama Senso (1954). Marquand also had a role in L'amant de lady Chatterley/Lady Chatterly's Lover (Marc Allègret, 1955), which starred Danielle Darrieux as the erring English aristocrat.

In 1956 Marquand appeared as Brigitte Bardot’s dour but handsome brother-in-law in Et Dieu créa la femme/And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956). In a steamy scene they make love on the beach of St Tropez. The scandalous film was a big hit in France and one of the ten most popular films at the British box office in its year of release.

One of his best pictures was Une Vie/ A Life (Alexandre Astruc, 1958), based on a Guy de Maupassant story. In this somber 19th-century tale, Marquand was the womanising husband of a young, innocent aristocrat (Maria Schell). Ronald Bergan in The Guardian: “The main strength of the film, apart from Claude Renoir's wonderful impressionistic Technicolor photography, was the way in which Marquand managed to find many nuances in the unsympathetic character he played.”


Belgian collectors card by Merbotex, Bruxelles. Photo: Sam Lévin.


French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 1058. Photo: Noa.

Struck by Alzheimer's disease

In 1962, Christian Marquand appeared as the French Naval Commando leader Philippe Kieffer in the D-Day epic The Longest Day (Ken Annakin a.o., 1962), based on Cornelius Ryan's book.

This lead to later roles in American produced films such as Fred Zinnemann's post-Spanish civil war film Behold A Pale Horse (1964), the adventure film Lord Jim (Richard Brooks, 1965) starring Peter O’Toole, and The Flight of the Phoenix (Robert Aldrich, 1965) with James Stewart.

In Claude Chabrol's The Road To Corinth (1967), he portrayed an American NATO security officer investigating mysterious boxes jamming US radar installations in Greece. He later played the leader of a group of French in Apocalypse Now Redux, a 2001 extended version of Francis Ford Coppola's epic war film Apocalypse Now, which was originally released in 1979. Coppola added 49 minutes of material that had been removed (including the scenes with Marquand) from the original film. It represents a significant re-edit of the original version.

Marquand directed two films. In 1962, he made Of Flesh and Blood, a competent thriller featuring Anouk Aimée. His other film as a director was the sex farce Candy (1968) with Marlon Brando and former Miss Teen Sweden Ewa Aulin. Disappointed by the mainly negative reception of the film Marquand returned to acting.

His later French films included the romantic comedy Je Vous Aime/I Love You All (Claude Berri, 1980) with Jean Louis Trintignant and Catherine Deneuve, the crime film Le Choix des armes/Choice of Arms (Alain Corneau, 1981), starring Yves Montand, and Emmanuelle 4 (Francis Leroi, 1984), the fourth official theatrical feature in the Emmanuelle franchise starring Sylvia Kristel.

In some of his last screen appearances he was directed by his sister Nadine Trintignant, in the drama L'été prochain/Next Summer (Nadine Trintignant, 1985) with Philippe Noiret and Claudia Cardinale, and in the TV series Qui c'est ce garçon?/Who’s that boy? (1987) with Marlene Jobert and Ugo Tognazzi.

Tragically, in the 1980s, he was struck by Alzheimer's disease and retired from the world. He spent many of his last years in hospital, not knowing anybody who visited him. His sister, Nadine Trintignant, wrote a moving book about his plight, Ton Chapeau au Vestiaire (His Hat in The Cloakroom).

Marquand was married to French actress Tina Aumont from 1963 till 1966. In the early 1970s, he had an affair with the actress Dominique Sanda with whom he had a son, Yann Marquand. Christian Marquand died in Ivry-sur-Seine, near Paris of Alzheimer's disease, aged 73. Marlon Brando named his son Christian after him, as did Roger Vadim.


French postcard by Editions P.I., offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. FK 122 A. Photo: UFA.


Spanish collectors card by Romantica, 2nd series. Photo: Unifrance Films.

Sources: Ronald Bergan (The Guardian), The Telegraph, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Lilly Flohr

August 20, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Walter Giller

≪ Previous: Christian Marquand

$

0

0

Austrian film star Lilly Flohr (1893-1978) was a busy actress, soubrette, cabaret artist and chanson singer on stage. From 1918 on she starred in 25 silent films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 759/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Alex Binder. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4357. Photo: Atelier d'Ora, Wien.

Total Manoli

Lilly (also written as Lily or Lilli) Flohr was born in 1893 (some sources say 1903) in Wien (Vienna), Austria.

She grew up in an artistic environment because her father was a versatile and gifted artist - he worked as an actor, singer, musician and painter.

Lilly had her first appearance at the Raimund Theater in Vienna. Later she became a busy stage actress, soubrette, cabaret artist and chanson singer.

In Berlin, she performed from 1917 till 1919 at the famous Berliner Theater where she played the title role in the premiere of Walter Kollo’s operetta Die tolle Komtess (The Crazy Countess) and a year later she had another success in the original production of Kollo’s operetta Blitzblaues Blut (Lightning Blue Blood).

She soon experienced the drawback of the theatre where an actress had to play the same role several hundred times which created a kind of monotony. Then she discovered the film business where an actress could impersonate different roles within a year.

Lilly Flohr began her career in the cinema with the comedy Ein Lied von Hass und Liebe/A Song of Hate and Love (Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1918) with Leo Peukert, and Die Erbin/The Heiress (Walter Schmidthässler, 1918).

Then she was cast for the leading role in the film Das Mädchen aus der Ackerstrasse/The Girl from the Ackerstrasse (Reinhold Schünzel, 1919) opposite Otto Gebühr.

In 1920, she returned to the stage in Total Manoli, the first cabaret revue of the Nelson-Theatre, with Fritz Grünbaum, Paul Morgan and dancer Anita Berber, which became a very popular and even legendary show.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 396/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Atelier Balázs.

Shanghai, the last hope for Jewish emigrants

In the 1920s, the attractive Lilly Flohr appeared in more successful productions like Das Haus in der Dragonergasse/The House in the Dragonergasse (Richard Oswald, 1921) with Werner Krauß, and the sequel Wie das Mädchen aus der Ackerstrasse eine Heimat fand/How the Girl from the Ackerstrasse found a homeland (Martin Hartwig, 1921).

The following year, she could be seen in Se. Exzellenz der Revisor/His Excellency the Revisor (Friedrich Zelnik, 1922), Schande/Shame (Siegfried Dessauer, 1922), and the historical epic Fridericus Rex (Arsen von Cserépy, 1922) starring Otto Gebühr.

Later she appeared in the comedy Die Kleine aus der Konfektion/The Little Girl from Confection (Wolfgang Neff, 1925) with Reinhold Schünzel. In 1927 she appeared in the Romanian film Lia (Jean Nihail, 1927) with an all Romanian cast.

Her last film was Kinder der Strasse/Razzia (Carl Boese, 1928) starring Lissy Arna and Heinrich George.

After the introduction of the sound film she retired from the film business. Flohr could continue her successful stage career for a while and in the early 1930s, she performed at the Metropol-Theater and at the Neuen Theater am Zoo and in famous variety theatres as the Scala and the Wintergarten.

She also appeared in Kurt Robitschek’s Kabarett der Komiker. She played the title role in August Strindberg’s Fräulein Julie (Miss Julie) and Polly in Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper (The Three Penny Opera).

Then in 1934, she got a prohibition to work in Nazi-Germany because of her Jewish roots.

In 1939, she emigrated to Shanghai where she was able to continue her stage career at the side of other German-speaking emigrants. Between 1938 and 1941, ca. 18.000 Jews from Germany and Austria emigrated to the Chinese Metropole. A visa was not necessary to enter the country and therefore Shanghai was the last hope for Jewish emigrants.

After the war, she moved to Australia and never returned to Europe. Lilly Flohr passed away in 1978 in North Ryde, a suburb of Sydney.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2984. Photo: Mac Walten, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1003/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.

Sources: Stephanie d’Heil (Steffi-Line.de), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, and IMDb.

Walter Giller

August 21, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Trainspotting (1996)

≪ Previous: Lilly Flohr

$

0

0

German actor Walter Giller (1927-2011) was the cute boy next door of the German cinema of the 1950s. With Nadja Tiller he became a Dream Couple of the European cinema.


German postcard by Ufa, no. CK-44. Photo: Arthur Grimm / Ufa.


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. W 1621. Photo: Berolina / Herzog-Film / Wesel. Publicity still for Die Drei von der Tankstelle/The Three from the Filling Station (Hans Wolff, 1955).


German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3206. Photo: Gabriele / Real Film / Europa. Publicity still for Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Koepenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956).


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 708. Photo: Filmaufbau.

Prisoner of War

Walter Giller was born in Recklinghausen, Germany in 1927. He was the son of the children’s doctor Dr. Walter Giller and Edwine Giller-Röver and grew up in the Hamburg borough of Hamm.

In 1942, at the age of 15, the grammar school pupil was ordered to serve as a Flakhelfer (a German student deployed as child soldier during World War II) in anti-aircraft support. In 1944, Giller became a prisoner of war but got released after staying in a sanatorium for one year to recuperate from a torn lung.

Giller then started to study medicine but soon quit his studies to become a trainee at Hamburg's Kammerspiele (Chamber Theatre) where he also worked as an assistant director.

He later attended actor's training and worked as a supporting actor and assistant director. Giller made his film debut in Artistenblut/Artist’s Blood (Wolfgang Wehrum, 1949) starring Hans Richter, which was followed by Kein Engel ist so rein/No Angel Is As Pure (Helmut Weiss, 1950).


East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertreib, Berlin, no. 27/322, 1957. Photo: Real Film. Publicity still for Die Tolle Lola (Hans Deppe, 1954).


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 1777. Photo: Berolina / Herzog-Film / Wesel. Publicity still for Die Drei von der Tankstelle/The Three from the Filling Station (Hans Wolff, 1955) with Adrian Hoven and Walter Müller.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. S 559. Photo: Bertolina / Constantin / Wesel. Publicity still for Charleys Tante/Charley's Aunt (Hans Quest, 1956).


German postcard by Netter's Starverlag, Berlin. Photo: publicity still for Schwarzwaldmelodie/Black Forest Melody (Géza von Bolváry, 1956) with Kurt Reimann and Hans Richter.

Shy Teenage Lover

Walter Giller mainly appeared in the part of the shy teenage lover, for instance as a student in Primanerinnen/Sixth-Formers (Rolf Thiele, 1951) with Ingrid Andree.

In 1953, Giller quit working at the theatre to focus on his film career, and soon started to play comic roles in light entertainment films like Liebe im Finanzamt/Love in the Tax Office (Kurt Hoffmann, 1952), Skandal im Mädchenpensionat/Scandal at the Girls' School (Erich Kobler, 1953) with Marianne Koch, and An jedem Finger zehn/Ten on Every Finger (Erik Ode, 1954) with Germaine Damar.

Often comical, often shy, but always cute and never abusive, Walter Giller represented in numerous productions the boy next door.

In 1956 Giller married beautiful actress Nadja Tiller. In the 1950s and 1960s they were seen as a Traumpaar (Dream Couple) of the German entertainment world.

Giller played next to Heinz Rühmann in the classic comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956).

In 1959 he won the Bundesfilmpreis for his role in Rosen für den Staatsanwalt/Roses for the Prosecutor (Wolfgang Staudte, 1959) as a man sentenced to death for a minor offence during the last months of the war who meets his judge (Martin Held) after the war.

Two years later Giller won the the Bundesfilmpreis again for his role as a trucker from East Berlin in the East-West drama Zwei unter Millionen/Two Among Millions (Victor Vicas, Wieland Liebske, 1961).


With Nadja Tiller. German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 47. Photo: Huster.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 146. Retail price: 10 Pfg. Photo: Arthur Grimm.


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 22. Photo: Arca / NF / v. Mindszenty.

Predestined for a Great Film Career

Walter Giller seemed predestined for a great film career, but in the 1960s he appeared mainly in Krimis (German crime films), Karl May Westerns and Pauker comedies.

He starred in the international production Fanny Hill (Russ Meyer, 1964) and in a remake of the Heinz Rühmann success Die Feuerzangenbowle/The Fire Tongue Bowl (Helmut Käutner, 1970) but to no avail.

One of Walter Giller's few important roles was the part as writer Daddy in the Kurt Tucholsky adaptation Schloss Gripsholm/The Gripsholm Castle (Kurt Hoffmann, 1963).

He also played the lead in the award winning TV film Der geborgte Weihnachtsbaum/The Borrowed Christmas Tree (Dietrich Haugk, 1966).

From the 1970s on, he changed his focus to television series as Das Traumschiff/The Dream Boat (1983) and Sylter Geschichten/Tales From Sylt (Karsten Wichniarz, 1995).

He intensified his stage work, and did many tours, often together with Nadja Tiller. In 2006 the duo won a Bambi award for their lifetime achievements.

In 2009, about 30 years after his last appearance in the cinema, director Leander Haußmann rediscovered Walter Giller for the big screen. In the comedy Dinosaurier – Gegen uns seht ihr alt aus!/Dinosaur (Leander Haußmann, 2009), he plays a member of a spritely gang of pensioners alongside Eva-Maria Hagen, Ezard Haußmann, and Nadja Tiller.

In 2009, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He underwent a major (but unsuccessful) operation.

Walter Giller died in 2011 in a retirement home in Hamburg, aged 84. He and Tiller had a daughter, Natascha, and a son, Jan-Claudius.


German postcard by ISV, no. M 3. Photo: Europa Film / Arthur Grimm.


Big German card by ISV, no. MX 3. Photo: Europa Film / Arthur Grimm.


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2675. Photo: Divina / Bavaria. Publicity still for Liebe auf krummen Beinen (Thomas Engel, 1959).


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg, no. 5009, 1969. Photo: Constantin / Rialto / Vogelmann. Publicity still for Klassenkeile/Spanking at School (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1969) with Wilma.

Sources: Tom B. (Boot Hill), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, Prisma, and IMDb.

Trainspotting (1996)

August 22, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Paul Wegener

≪ Previous: Walter Giller

$

0

0

Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996) is a British black comedy film starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald in her acting debut. It was one of the most popular and controversial British films of the 1990s. John Hodge received an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh.


French promotion card by Cardcom. Photo: Liam Longman for PolyGram Film Distribution. Promotion for Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996).


French promotion card by Cardcom. Photo: Liam Longman for PolyGram Film Distribution. Promotion for Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996).

A twisting, riff-filled, almost plot-free story

Trainspotting (1996) follows a group of heroin addicts in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life.

The film focuses on Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) and his attempt to give up his heroin habit. Renton's two best friends are also junkies: Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), a snappy dresser obsessed with James Bond, and Spud (Ewan Bremner), a guileless nerd who suggests Pee Wee Herman's debauched cousin.

Renton and his pals also hang out with Begbie (Robert Carlyle), a borderline psychotic who loathes junkies even though he drinks like a fish. After one too many brushes with the law, Renton kicks heroin and moves to London, where he finds a job, a flat, and something close to peace of mind.

However, Sick Boy, Begbie, and Spud all arrive at his doorstep on the trail of a big score, leading Renton back into drugs and crime.

Rebecca Flint Marx at AllMovie: "A twisting, riff-filled, almost plot-free story, Irvine Welsh's novel was almost unfilmable in its original form. The screen adaptation successfully streamlined Welsh's ungainly material into a slick social commentary that smoothed the book's rough edges without losing its vitriol and insight. Trainspotting is not merely about drug addiction, but about the relationship between wasted youth and the spiritually bankrupt society that has alienated them."


French promotion card by Cardcom. Photo: Liam Longman for PolyGram Film Distribution. Promotion for Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996).


French promotion card by Cardcom. Photo: Liam Longman for PolyGram Film Distribution. Promotion for Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996).

A must-have on every student's bedroom wall

Producer Andrew MacDonald worked with Miramax Films to sell Trainspotting as a British Pulp Fiction.

They flooded the market with postcards, posters, books, soundtrack albums and a revamped music video for Lust for Life by Iggy Pop directed by Boyle. The poster became a must-have on every student's bedroom wall.

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, the company responsible for the distribution of the film launched a publicity campaign of half as much as the film's production costs (£850,000) in the UK alone, making the film stand out more as a Hollywood blockbuster rather than a smaller European production.

Trainspotting was able to portray itself as British and as an 'exotic' element to the international market while also staying relevant to the American public, making it an international success in its marketing.

Trainspotting was screened at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival but was shown out of competition, according to the filmmakers, due to its subject. It went on to become the festival's one unqualified critical and popular hit.

The film was nominated for two British Academy Film Awards in 1996, Best British Film and John Hodge for Best Adapted Screenplay. Hodge won in his category. Hodge was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay but lost to Billy Bob Thornton's Sling Blade.

Trainspotting has been ranked 10th by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of the 20th century. In 2004 the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 10th best British film ever.

A sequel, T2 Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 2017), was released in January 2017. After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton returns to Scotland and reunites with his old friends Sick Boy, Spud, and Begbie...


Ewan McGregor. French promotion card by Cardcom. Photo: Liam Longman for Polygram Film Distribution. Promotion for Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996).


French promotion card by PRO MC Freecards France, 1997. Photos: Liam Longman for Polygram Vidéo S.A., Paris. Promotion for Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996).

Sources: Rebecca Flint Marx (AllMovie), AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Paul Wegener

August 23, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Photo by Rembrandt

≪ Previous: Trainspotting (1996)

$

0

0

German actor, writer and film director Paul Wegener (1874-1948) is one of the true fathers of the horror and fantasy genre. He is particularly remembered for his three silent films centred around the Jewish legend of the Golem. Wegener was one of the pioneers of the German cinema who realised the potential of the new medium and used the possibilities of cinematic trick photography as a method for presenting fantastic tales in a serious matter.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3338. Photo: Rembrandt. Probably a publicity still for Der verlorene Schatten/The Lost Shadow (Rochus Gliese, 1921) in which Wegener played Sebaldus, der Stadtmusikant (the city musician).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1688. Photo: A. Mocsigay, Hamburg.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Union Film. Publicity still for Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Pola Negri and Jenny Hasselqvist.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 2014/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) / FaNaMet. Publicity still for The Magician (Rex Ingram, 1926). The FaNaMet company was one of the cooperations in Europe of the First National Pictures Corporation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer company and the Paramount Famous Lasky Cooperation. It was located in Austria and till 1928 in former Yugoslavia. Another cooperation was the ParUfaMet in Germany.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3351/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Ama-Film. Publicity still for Alraune/Mandrake (Henrik Galeen, 1928).

Haunted by the actions of his evil reflection

Paul Wegener was born in 1874 in in the West Prussian village of Arnoldsdorf, Germany (today Jarantowice, Poland) to Anna Wolff and Otto Wegener.

He grew up on his father's estate Bischdorf in Ermland before he was sent to Rössel in 1883, and later to Königsberg, to attend secondary school. As a school boy Wegener already appeared on stage as an extra at the Königsberger Stadttheater which began his life-long devotion to the stage.

After finishing school in 1894, he started to study law in Freiburg (Breisgau) and Leipzig but he dropped out of university already one year later to start a career as an actor. He set off for Berlin to make his stage debut at the Stadt Nurnberg.

He toured the provinces, until he appeared in the film Die Byzantier/The Byzantines (Victor Hahn, 1905). The film's premiere was seen by a talent-scout for Max Reinhardt of the Deutschen Theater. Reinhardt himself saw Wegener in a production of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths in Hamburg and took him to his distinguished theatre company in Berlin in 1906.

There, Wegener became one of the best-known German actors during the following years. He starred in productions of such classical plays as Richard III and Mephisto. But after two years his contract was denied renewal.

Unlike so many other actors of his generation, he openly welcomed the challenge of the the new medium of motion pictures. His first film was Der Verführte/The seduced (Max Obal, Stellan Rye, Carl Ludwig Schleich, 1913).

He had always enjoyed experimenting with trick photography, particularly the double exposed ghost effect that visually illustrated the ‘doppelganger’ of German literature. Fascinated that this might be achieved in motion pictures, Paul approached Bioskop Studios where innovative cameraman Guido Seeber claimed it could be done.

Filming began on Der Student von Prag/The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye, Paul Wegener, 1913) in an old section of Prague with interiors shot at Lobkowitz castle. The story had been written by Hanns Heinz Ewers, who was called the successor of Edgar Allan Poe.

Der Student von Prag incorporated elements borrowed from both Poe and E.T. Hoffmann to create the tale of the impoverished student Balduin (Paul Wegener) who is offered 100 thousand gold pieces by the mysterious Dr. Scapinelli (John Gottowt) in exchange for his reflection. Balduin becomes haunted by the actions of his evil reflection, freed from its owner and bent on destroying his life.

Double exposure had long been a staple of humerous trick films like those of Georges Méliès, but Wegener used the technology to create a brooding atmosphere in what became one of the first true feature films. The premiere was a roaring success and international critics hailed Der Student von Prag as one of the first artistically important German films.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 1233. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin. Publicity still for the play Der Arzt am Scheideweg (The Doctor's Dilemma) by George Bernhard Shaw.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4581a. Photo: Zander & Labisch, Berlin. Paul Wegener in König Oedipus (1910). Tiresias at the palace of Oedipus.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, no. 4612. Photo: Becker & Maass. Paul Wegener as Jago in Othello by William Shakespeare.


German postcard by Verl. Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 7574. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still for a stage production of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.


German postcard by Verl. Hermann Leiser, Berlin Wilm, no. 8152. Photo: Hänse Hermann. Publicity still for a stage production of König Richard III/Richard III by William Shakespeare.

At the forefront of the world's fantasy film output

Paul Wegener had a sincere interest in folklore and legends. He had first heard the 16th-century Jewish legend of Rabbi Loew and the Golem while making Der Student von Prag on location.

Der Golem/The Golem (Henrik Galeen, Paul Wegener, 1915) tells the tale of a a clay statue created by Rabbi Loew during the sixteenth century to defend the Jews from the pogrom. In 1915 the statue is magically brought to life again by an antique dealer (Henrik Galeen) but the Golem falls in love with the antique dealer's daughter (Lyda Salmonova).

Paul Wegener played the Golem himself and was well-suited for the part. The over 1.8 m long actor didn't look like a typical German; his face seemed created from stone and his sticking out cheekbones and narrow eyes let him seem like a Mongolian. His performance and the film itself were a success and firmly established Wegener's reputation.

Another of his early films, Der Yoghi (Rochus Gliese, Paul Wegener, 1916), provided him with another ‘doppelganger’ role: the yogi and the young inventor. The film which he also wrote and produced, accommodated three of his interests, trick photography (it was one of the first films to feature invisibility), the supernatural and Eastern mysticism. Sadly, only fragments of this film survive.

In 1917, he made the parody Der Golem und die Tänzerin/The Golem and the Dancer (Rochus Gliese, Paul Wegener, 1917). This film may well be the first horror film sequel ever. A man (Wegener), after seeing Der Golem in a cinema, dresses up as the Golem to frighten a dancing girl (again Lyda Salmanova). All footage of this comedy is believed lost.

It was the big budget epic Der Golem - Wie er in die Welt Kam/The Golem (Carl Boese, Paul Wegener, 1920) which stands now as one of the classics of the German cinema and helped to cement Wegener's place in cinematic history. The cast included formidable actors as Ernst Deutsch, Albert Steinruck, and Otto Gebühr, and cameraman was Karl Freund.

The 1920 film is a prequel to the 1914 film, set in 1580 Prague as Rabbi Loew (Albert Steinruck) creates the clayman to protect the Jewish ghetto from the persecution of Emperor Rudolph II (Otto Gebühr). Brought to life at a time decided by the stars and when the magic word Aemaet is placed in his amulet, the creature saves the community, but the rabbi's assistant (Ernst Deutsch) causes the statue to go on the rampage until it is rendered lifeless by a small child.

Der Golem put Germany at the forefront of the world's fantasy film output. The film ran in New York for ten months. The Golem would later influence the Universal horror cycle of the 1930s. It was an inspiration for director James Whale, whose Frankenstein (1931) was a direct descendant in style and approach. For Universal Karl Freund would photograph Dracula (Tod Browning, 1930) featuring Béla Lugosi, and he also would direct Boris Karloffin The Mummy (1932).


Russian postcard, no. 4, 1927.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilh., no. 278.


German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin, no. 7941. Photo: Dr. Hans Boehm.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1582/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Becker & Maass.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1582/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Becker & Maass.

Artificial insemination using the seed of a hanged murderer's corpse

In the following years, Paul Wegener concentrated solely on his acting career. He appeared in the Arabian Nights adventure Sumurun/One Arabian Night (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Pola Negri, and also in Lubitsch's Das Weib des Pharao/Pharoah's Wife (Ernst Lubitsch, 1922) as the King of Ethiopia.

Wegener appeared twice with his favourite film actress Asta Nielsen, first in Steuerman Holk/Helmsman Holk (Rochus Gliese, Ludwig Wolff, 1920) and then in Vanina Vanini/Vanina (Arthur von Gerlach, 1922), in which he portrayed a crippled sadistic govenor.

In 1922 he also appeared in Lucrezia Borgia/Lucretia Borgia (Richard Oswald, 1922) featuring Liane Haid, and in Monna Vanna (Richard Eichberg, 1922) with Lee Parry, set during the Renaissance.

In 1923 Wegener formed his own company Paul Wegener AG. and invested heavily into a production about one of his primary interests, Buddhism. Although the film was completed it was never released. Wegener's hard work and images never got to be seen and the project left him severely in debt.

In 1926 he appeared in his only Hollywood production, The Magician (Rex Ingram, 1926), a gothic melodrama based on the career of ‘black arts’ practitioner Aleister Crowley.

In Germany he appeared in Svengali (Gennaro Righelli, 1927) as a musician with extra sensory powers and in Die Weber/The Weavers (Friedrich Zelnik, 1927). The following year he returned to co-writing and acting in Ramper der Tiermensch/Ramper the Beastman (Max Reichmann, 1928) as an Arctic explorer who loses his way in the cold terrain and devolves into a shaggy beast.

1928 saw another of his key roles: Professor Jakob ten Brinken in the highly erotic and horrific Alraune/Mandrake (Henrik Galeen, 1928). Ten Brinken creates the title character (Brigitte Helm) by artificial insemination using the seed of a hanged murderer's corpse. The result is a woman without a soul who leads all men who fall in love with her to destruction.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Union Film. Publicity still for Sumurun (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Paul Wegener and Pola Negri.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazines, no. 161. Paul Wegener in his only Hollywood film, The Magician (Rex Ingram, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 77/4. Photo: Zelnik-Film. Publicity still for Die Weber/The Weavers (Friedrich Zelnik, 1927) with Wilhelm Dieterle.


French postcard by CE, no. 613. Photo: publicity still for Alraune/Mandrake (Henrik Galeen, 1928) with Brigitte Helm. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 167/7. Photo: Biograph-Film. Publicity still for Marschall Vorwärts/Marshall Forward (Heinz Paul, 1932) with Oscar Marion.

Compromised

Paul Wegener made his sound debut in the black comedy/horror film Unheimliche Geschichten/Unholy Tales (Richard Oswald, 1932), in which he took great delight in sending himself up as well as the whole expressionist film genre. He appeared in five tales based on stories by Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Louis Stevenson.

In 1933 the National Socialists took over in Germany and theatre companies were disbanded and many of the actors and directors were arrested, persecuted or exiled. According to Ronald V. Borst on Missing Link, Wegener was a pacifist and was unwanted by the new political power, but Hal Erickson at AllMovie typifies Wegener as ‘a fervent supporter of the Third Reich’. Erickson mentions that Wegener was appointed Actor of the State by German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in 1941.

In his 2004 review in Senses of Cinema of the study Paul Wegener - Frühe Moderne im Film by Heide Schönemann, Thomas Elsasser called Wegener's politically position during the Nazi era as ‘compromised’.

Between 1933 and 1945, Wegener directed no less than seven feature films, among them Ein Mann will nach Deutschland/A Man Wants to Get to Germany (1934) with Karl Ludwig Diehl, and Der Weg nach Shanghai/Moscow-Shanghai (1936) starring Pola Negri.

He also starred in 20 more films, including such infamous propaganda films as the Horst Wessel glorification Hans Westmar (Franz Wenzler, 1933, Der Grosse König/The Great King (Veit Harlan, 1942), and the morale booster Kolberg/Burning Hearts (Veit Harlan, 1945) starring Heinrich George. Elsaesser concludes though that describing Wegener as “a convinced Nazi, or even an opportunist fellow-traveller neither captures his philosophy of life”.

Under the Nazis Wegener also continued his work on stage, at the Schillertheater under direction of Heinrich George and at the Staatliche Bühne in Berlin under Gustaf Gründgens.

After the end of the war, Wegener was permitted by the Soviet occupators to perform again: he was one of the first to rebuild cultural life in Berlin. Despite ill-health he became president of the Kulturbund zur Erneuerung Deutschlands, an organisation to improve standards for its inhabitants. In September 1945 he reopened the Deutsches Theater with a memorable performance in G.E. Lessing’s Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise), according to Elsaesser "German literature's most eloquent plea for multi-ethnic tolerance and religious emancipation".

His last film performances were in Der grosse Mandarin/The Mandarin (Karl-Heinz Stroux, 1949) and Augen der Liebe/Eyes of Love (Alfred Braun, 1951) starring Käthe Gold.

In July 1948 he reprised his role as Nathan at the Deutsches Theater, but in the very first scene he collapsed and the curtain was brought down. Two months later he died in his sleep in Berlin.

Paul Wegener was married six times, twice to actress Lyda Salmonova who was his co-star on several occasions. She became his widow. His other wives were the actresses Änny Hindermann, Ida Ahlers, Elisabeth Rohwer and Greta Schröder.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3283/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis / Binz.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3927/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz, Berlin.


A scene from Der Golem - Wie er in die Welt Kam (1920). Source: Crvendramini (YouTube).


Rare footage from the lost film Lebende Buddha (1923). Source: Infamous Monsters (YouTube).


Alraune (1928). Source: Olex Melnyk (YouTube).

Sources: Ronald V. Borst (Missing Link), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Thomas Elsaesser (Senses of Cinema), E.H. (Erick) Larson, Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Stephen P. (BBC-h2g2), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Photo by Rembrandt

August 24, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Friedl Hardt

≪ Previous: Paul Wegener

$

0

0

Besides the famous Amsterdam painter, there also used to be an interesting German photo studio called Atelier Rembrandt. Under this name, the photographers Else and Alfred Cohn created the stills for stage productions and some classic German silent films of the 1910s and 1920s. Their star portraits are likewise exquisite and were reproduced on many film star postcards at the time. Atelier Rembrandt was located at Brückenstrasse 6 b, near the Jannowitzbrücke in Berlin and was active between 1911 and 1936


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 645/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Union Film. Emil Jannings as the British King Henry VIII and Henny Porten as Anna Boleyn in Anna Boleyn (1920) by Ernst Lubitsch.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3338. Photo: Rembrandt. Probably a publicity still for Der verlorene Schatten/The Lost Shadow (Rochus Gliese, 1921) in which Paul Wegener played Sebaldus, der Stadtmusikant (the city musician).


German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, no. 6120. Photo: Atelier Rembrandt, Berlin-Charlottenburg. Publicity still for a stage production of Weg dem, der lügt! by Franz Grillparzer with Carl Clewing in the role of Leon, the kitchen help.


Helene Thimig. German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 6895. Photo: Rembrandt Atelier.


Albert Paulig. German postcard, no. 9434. Photo: Atelier Rembrandt.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 9696. Photo: Rembrandt Arelier. Maria Orska in her role as Lulu in the stage play Erdgeist (Earth Spirit) by Franz Wedekind directed in 1916 by Max Reinhardt.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 401/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt Phot. / Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Anna Boleyn (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Henny Porten.


Lyda Salmonova. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 403/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt phot. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Pola Negri. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 407/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt Phot.


Ernst Lubitsch. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 415/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt.


Harry Piel. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 456/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt.


German postcard iby Ross Verlag, no. 658/7. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Publicity still for Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923) with Henny Porten.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 659/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner Film Co. Publicity still for Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant Of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923) with Harry Liedtke.


Italian actor Carlo Aldiniimitating Myron's discus thrower. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 858/4, 1925-1926. Photo: Phoebus Film / Rembrandt.


Grete Mosheim. German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 3162/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Rembrandt, Berlin.

Source: Lexicon der fotografen (German).

Friedl Hardt

August 25, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Elke Sommer

≪ Previous: Photo by Rembrandt

$

0

0

German actress Friedl Hardt (1919-1991) appeared in a dozen West-German and Austrian light entertainment films of the 1950s.


German postcard by Ufa/Film-Foto, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 604. Photo: Wesel / Berolina / Constantin. Publicity still for Hurra - ein Junge/Hooray, it's a boy! (Ernst Marischka, 1953).

The Tiger Bride

Friedl Hart was born in München (Munich), Germany, in 1919.

As a young girl she was in the children's ballet of the Bremer Stadttheater. A little later she performed on many operetta stages in Germany.

She made her film debut as Jutta Sarris, the ‘Tiger bride’ opposite Harry Pielin the West German thriller Der Tiger Akbar/The Tiger’s Claw (Harry Piel, 1951).

Next, she had a minor part as a dancer in the comedy Mikosch rückt ein/Mikosch Comes In (Johann Alexander Hübler-Kahla, 1952), starring Georg Thomalla, Willy Fritsch and Paul Hörbiger, and a supporting part in the Austrian musical Hab’ ich nur Deine Liebe/If I only have your love (Eduard von Borsody, 1953) with Johannes Heesters.

Then followed a co-starring role in the Austrian-German crime film Die Todesarena/Arena of Death (Kurt Meisel, 1953) opposite Richard Häussler and Katharina Mayberg.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 637. Photo: K.L. Haenchen / Berolina / Herzog Film. Publicity still for Mikosch rückt ein/Mikosch Comes In (Johann Alexander Hübler-Kahla, 1952).

Yes, yes, love in Tyrol

In the comedy Hurra - ein Junge/Hooray, It's a Boy! (Ernst Marischka, Georg Jacoby, 1953), Friedl Hardt played the supporting part of chambermaid Anni. The comedy, which stars Walter Müller, Theo Lingen and Ingrid Lutz, is one of several film adaptations of the 1926 play of the same name.

It was one of a series of remakes made during the 1950s of major hits during the Weimar and Nazi eras. Another example is the musical Die Drei von der Tankstelle/The Three from the Filling Station (Hans Wolff, 1955) in which Adrian Hoven, Walter Müller and Walter Giller play three young men who go to work at a filling station after losing all their money. Hardt played a bit part as one of their customers at the tank station.

Hardt also appeared in the French, alternate-language version of Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1955), Le chemin du paradis (Willi Forst, Hans Wolff, 1956) starring Georges Guétary.

She had another small part in the musical Liebe ist ja nur ein Märchen/Love Is Just a Fairytale (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1955) with Willy Fritsch, Georges Guétary and Claude Farell.

Later followed minor roles in films like the German Heimatfilm Ja, ja, die Liebe in Tirol/Yes, yes, love in Tyrol (Géza von Bolváry, 1955), based on Ernst Lubitsch’s classic Kohlhiesels Töchter/Kohlhiesel's Daughters (1920).

In her last film appearance, she played a bar lady in Drei Mann auf einem Pferd/Three Men on a Horse (Kurt Meisel, 1957) with Nadja Tiller and Walter Giller.

Friedl Hardt passed away in 1991 in her home place Münich. She was 72.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 803. Photo: Arthur Grimm, Berlin / Algefa / Constantin Film. Publicity still for Du bist die Rose vom Wörthersee/Rose of the Mountain (Hubert Marischka, 1952).


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1004. Photo: Berolina / Constantin / Wesel. Publicity still for Hurra - ein Junge/Hooray, it's a boy! (Ernst Marischka, 1953).

Sources: Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.

---

Elke Sommer

August 26, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Leo Peukert

≪ Previous: Friedl Hardt

$

0

0

Gorgeous German actress and sex symbol Elke Sommer (1940) made 99 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005. With her trademark pouty lips, high cheek bones and sky-high bouffant hair-dos, Sommer conquered Hollywood in the early 1960s. She was also one of the most popular pin-up girls of the sixties, posed twice for Playboy and had a long running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/157. Photo: UFA.


Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, offered by Korès Carboplan, no. C-157, 1964. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963).


Spanish postcard by Ediciones Tarjefher no. 5.008, 1964.


German postcard by ISV, no. T-8.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/347. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Miss Viareggio Turistica

Elke Sommer was born Elke Schletz in 1940 in Berlin to a Lutheran Minister, Baron Peter von Schletz, and his wife, Renata, nee Topp. In 1942, the family was forced to evacuate to Niederndorf, a village near Erlangen, a small university town in the southern region of Germany.

Her father's death in 1955, when she was only 14, interrupted her education at the local Gymnasium (high school). In 1957, she graduated from high school and moved to England. There she worked as an au-pair girl in Chigwell and Hampstead, two expensive residential areas of London. She entertained plans to become a diplomatic translator for the United Nations, but instead decided to try modeling.

After winning the title Miss Viareggio Turistica in 1958 while on vacation in Italy with her mother, she caught the attention of renowned film actor/director Vittorio De Sica and began performing on screen. Her debut film was in the Italian feature Uomini e nobiluomini/Men and Noblemen (Giorgio Bianchi, 1959), which starred De Sica.

Elke changed her surname from 'Schletz' to 'Sommer' which was easier to pronounce for a non-German audience.  A few more Italian pictures followed, including her first starring role in Femmine di lusso/Love, the Italian Way (Giorgio Bianchi, 1960) with Ugo Tognazzi and Walter Chiari.

Within two years Elke made five films in Italy and also two in Germany, the adventure Das Totenschiff/Ship of the Dead (Georg Tressler, 1959) with Horst Buchholz, and the interesting Film Noir Am Tag, als der Regen kam/The Day It Rained (Gerd Oswald, 1959) starring Mario Adorf.

She gradually upgraded her status to European sex symbol, and appeared in such films as the sexy De quoi tu te mêles Daniela!/Daniella by Night (Max Pécas, 1961) with Ivan Desny, Douce violence/Sweet Ecstasy (Max Pécas, 1962) opposite Pierre Brice, and the drama Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt/The Girl and the Prosecutor (Jürgen Goslar, 1962).

Her first English-speaking picture was Don't Bother to Knock (Cyril Frankel, 1961) with Richard Toddand Nicole Maurey. Most of the publicity photographs for Don't Bother to Knock showed her in bikini, and revealed that although she was nothing like as buxom as Sophia Loren or Jayne Mansfield, Elke had a flat stomach and superb legs.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4982. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 502.


German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen no. 789. Photo: Lothar Winkler.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 1127 A. Photo: J.L. Castelli.


West-German postcard by Kolibri (Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag), Minden/Westf., no. 2352.

With Peter Sellers in a nudist camp

Elke Sommer moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s to try and tap into the foreign-born market. Her sexy innocence made a vivid impression in the all-star, war-themed drama The Victors (Carl Foreman, 1963) with Vince Edwards and Albert Finney.

She received considerable publicity when it was reported that she filmed her scenes twice, with a sexier version made for the European market. Elke played a German girl who sexually gratifies her American boyfriend (George Hamilton) with the full knowledge of her parents because he brings chocolate to the family home.

In 1964 she won the Golden Globe as Most Promising Female Newcomer for The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963), an espionage thriller with Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson.

In the classic, bumbling comedy A Shot in the Dark (Blake Edwards, 1964), the second entry in the hilarious Pink Panther series, she proved a shady and sexy foil to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. A scene with Sellers and Elke in a nudist camp received enormous publicity, and the film was a huge hit.

Besides becoming one of the top film stars of the mid-1960s, Sommer also was one of the most popular pin-up girls of the time. She posed for two spreads in Playboy, in the September 1964 issue an in the December 1967 issue.


German postcard by ISV, no. Sort 8/6.


German postcard by ISV, no. Sort 16/6.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 900/300. Photo: Georg Michalke.


German postcard by UFA (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Templehof, no. CK 438. Photo: Herbert Fried / UFA.


German postcard by UFA (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft), Berlin-Templehof, no. CK 407. Photo: Georg Michalke / UFA.

Lingerie or Lederhosen

Elke Sommer was the leading lady opposite hunky sixties stars like James Garner, Robert Vaughn and Dean Martin in such Hollywood productions as the crime melodrama The Art of Love (Norman Jewison, 1965), The Money Trap (Burt Kennedy, 1965), The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), The Venetian Affair (Jerry Thorpe, 1967), and the Matt Helm spy spoof The Wrecking Crew (Phil Karlson, 1969).

The blonde and beautiful Sommer proved irresistible to American audiences whether adorned in lace or leather, or donning lingerie or lederhosen. She continued to make films in Europe as well as in Hollywood.

The Euro-Western Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) was based on one of the Winnetou novels by Karl May. Her co-stars were Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, Götz George and Pierre Brice as Winnetou.

In 1966 she returned to England to work on the Bulldog Drummond extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male (Ralph Thomas, 1968), a film that has minor cult status, mainly because Richard Johnson gives a superb James Bond-like performance, but also because Elke and Sylva Koscina were so eye-catching as two sexually-charged assassins.

Always a diverting attraction in spy intrigue or breezy comedy, she was too often misused and setbacks began to occur when the quality of her films began to deteriorate. Examples are the tacky Hollywood entry, The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966) with Stephen Boyd, and the Bob Hope misfire, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966).

Her title role in the tasteless Cold War comedy The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (George Marshall, 1968) proved her undoing.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 13. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Götz George.


German postcard, no. 13. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman. Caption: "Die wachsame Annie beobachtet heimlich den Geier Weller, der sich als Mormonenprediger auf Baumanns Farm eingeschlichen hat. Angeblich soll er den Diamanten-treck nach Arizona betreuen. Durch eine vorlaute Bemerkung von Old Wabble erfährt er von Annies Geldschatz." (The watchful Annie secretly observes the vulture Weller, who has crept as a Mormon preacher on Baumann's farm. Allegedly, he is supposed to look after the diamond trek to Arizona. By a flippant remark from Old Wabble, he learns of Annie's treasure.)


German postcard, no. 20. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Nur so gern wäre die abenteuer-lustige Annie dabeigewesen. Während sich Martin an seine Arbeit macht, jagen in wildem Galopp zwei Geier heran. Noch weiss Annie nicht, was ihr in den nächsten Minuten blüht. (The adventurous Annie would have liked to be there. While Martin is at work, two vultures are chasing in wild gallop. Annie still does not know what will be imminent in the next few minutes.)


German postcard, no. 23. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman. Caption: "Tapfer verteidigt sich Annie gegen die Banditen, die sie van allen Seiten umringen. Sie wird in ein Zimmer im 1. Stock eingesperrt. Vergeblich versucht sie, den Geiern zu erklären, dass sie das Geld gar nicht bei sich trägt." (Bravely, Annie defends herself against the bandits who surround her on all sides. She is locked up in a room on the first floor. In vain she tries to explain to the vultures that she does not carry the money at all.)


German postcard, no. 41. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman and Götz George as Martin Bauman Jr. Caption: "Von einer Anhöhe aus erblicken Annie und Martin das Lager der Siedler. Noch wissen sie nicht, dass sich mehrere Mitglieder der Geier-bande unbemerkt in den Treck eingeschlichen haben." (From a hill, Annie and Martin watch the settlers' camp. They do not know yet that several members of the vulture gang have crept unnoticed in the trek.)

Vomitting Live Frogs and Insects

Elke Sommer benefitted from speaking seven languages fluently and her career took her to scores of different countries over time. Her films during the 1970s included the British World War I action-drama Zeppelin (Étienne Périer, 1971) in which she co-starred with Michael York and Anton Diffring, and a remake of Agatha Christie's oft-filmed murder mystery Ten Little Indians called And Then There Were None (Peter Collinson, 1974) with Richard Attenborough and Oliver Reed.

In 1972, she starred in two low-budget Italian horror films directed by Mario Bava, which have both become cult classics. Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga/Baron Blood (Mario Bava, 1972) with Joseph Cotten, turned out to be an international box office success, particularly in the U.S. Producer Alfredo Leone offered Bava a contract for another film Lisa e il diavolo/Lisa and the Devil (Mario Bava, 1973) with Telly Savalas, and granted Bava total artistic control on it.

The latter film was later re-edited to a very different film called Casa dell'esorcismo/House of Exorcism, a rip-off of The Exorcist. In 1975, Elke went back to Italy to appear in additional scenes inserted by the producer, against the wishes of the director. In those scenes a demonic Elke swears obscenities at her exorcist, and in typical Linda Blair style spits out pea soup and actually vomits live frogs and insects.

In England she good-naturedly appeared in the ‘comedy’ films Percy (Ralph Thomas, 1971) and its equally cheeky sequel Percy's Progress (Ralph Thomas, 1974), which starred Hywel Bennett (later Leigh Lawson) as the first man to have a penis transplant.

She also showed up in one of the later ‘Carry On’ farces entitled Carry on Behind (Gerald Thomas, 1975) as the Russian Professor Anna Vrooshka.

In Germany she appeared in Edgar Reitz’s Die Reise nach Wien/The Trip To Vienna (1973) with Hannelore Elsner, and in Wolfgang Petersen’s thriller Einer von uns beiden/One or the Other (1974) opposite Klaus Schwarzkopf and Jürgen Prochnow.


Italian postcard. Photo: DEAR Film. Publicity still for Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (George Marshall, 1966).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1091. Photo: Anders.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/269.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/169. Photo: Fried Agency.


Yugoslavian postcard by Cik Razglednica.

Long-running Feud

From the mid-1970s, Elke Sommer worked more and more for TV. She appeared as a guest star in such popular series as The Six Million Dollar Man (1976), Fantasy Island (1981) and The Love Boat (1981, 1984).

She played in the mini-series Inside the Third Reich (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1982), Jenny's War (Steve Gethers, 1985), Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (Marvin J. Chomsky, 1986) and Peter the Great (Marvin J. Chomsky, Lawrence Schiller, 1986).

Elke Sommer had a long-running feud with Zsa Zsa Gabor that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993 when Gabor and her husband made disparaging remarks about Sommer to several German publications. The jury ruled in favour of Sommer, and Gabor and her husband were sentenced to pay $2 million.

Sommer also made appearances as a cabaret singer and in time put out several albums. She found a creative outlet on stage too with such vehicles as Irma la Douce and Born Yesterday, eventually becoming a director.  Sadly, while performing in Chicago, she lost twins in her sixth month of pregnancy.

Since the 1990s, she has concentrated more on book writing and painting than on acting. Her artwork shows a strong influence from Marc Chagall. She even hosted a TV-series on painting.

Nevertheless, on occasion she tackles an acting role. Out of the blue, she was cast in a Fangoria magazine production, the horror picture Severed Ties (1992). In her native Germany, she played in the TV film Ewig rauschen die Gelder/Eternally rustling funds (Rene Heinersdorff, 2005) and the comedy Das Leben ist zu lang (Dani Levy, 2010) with Markus Hering and Meret Becker.

Divorced from writer and journalist Joe Hyams, she has been married since 1993 to hotelier Wolf Walther.  In a 2014 interview, Sommer described how she met him: "I was in New York City starring in Tamara and had to stay there for four months. So, I had to find an apartment but they were excruciatingly expensive, tiny and loud. As I knew the managing director of the Essex House, I wanted to talk to him about renting a room but the hotel had a new managing director, a man by the name of Wolf Walther. So we met. For him, it was love at first sight. For me, it took a little longer, but not much longer. As you may know, Tamara is a play in which the audience follows the actor of their choice, and as you may also know, my husband is 6'5" and hard to miss. I saw him every night in the audience, following me. Every night. And that was the beginning of the greatest love story of my life, still unfolding and getting better by the day."

Elke Sommer lives in Los Angeles, California. Last year, she gave her voice to the short animation film A Thousand Kisses (Richard Goldgewicht, 2017).


American trailer De quoi tu te mêles Daniela!/Daniella by Night (1961). Source: Deathtrap Trailers (YouTube).


Trailer The Prize (1963). Source: InnuMaccaband (YouTube).


Trailer A Shot in the Dark (1964). Source: Movieclips Classic Trailers (YouTube).


Scene from Deadlier Than The Male (1968). Source: Fan90042 (YouTube).


Trailer Casa dell'esorcismo/House of Exorcism (1975). Source: trailersdaculto (YouTube).

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Cult Sirens, Brian’s Drive-in Theater, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Leo Peukert

August 27, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Nino Ferrer

≪ Previous: Elke Sommer

$

0

0

Leo Peukert (1885-1944) was a prolific German actor, singer and comedian who appeared in more than 170 films from 1910 on. He mostly appeared as a stocky, plump character actor in comedies. Peukert also directed eleven short and feature films during the silent era.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 135/1. Photo: Curt Meyer, Berlin.

Leo Saperloter

Leonhard ‘Leo’ Peukert was born in 1885 in Munich, German Empire.

He began his acting career on stage at the Vereinigten Theatern (United theatres) in Munich, from 1904 to 1908. In 1909 he moved to the Berliner Lustspielhaus and there he was discovered for the cinema.

In 1910, he started his film career with the early silent film Pro Patria (Charles Decroix, 1910). He soon became a very busy film actor and starred for BB-Film-Fabrikation in such shorts as Leo und seine drei Bräute/Leo and his three brides (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1911), Leo Saperloter (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1911), Leo als Witwenfreund/Leo as a widow friend (Carl Wilhelm, 1912), Leo, der schwarze Münchhausen/Leo, the black Münchhausen (Carl Wilhelm, 1913) and Leo, der Aushilfskellner/Leo, the temporary waiter (Leo Peukert, 1913).

Between 1913 and 1927 he directed 12 silent films for BB-Film-Fabrikation in Berlin. He played the male lead opposite the legendary Asta Nielsen in the dramas Heißes Blut/Hot blood (Urban Gad, 1911) and Die arme Jenny/Poor Jenny (Urban Gad, 1912).

He also appeared in three versions of the comedy Mein Leopold/My Leopold (1914, 1919, 1924) all directed by Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers and based on the 1873 play Mein Leopold by Adolphe L'Arronge. Peukert also appeared in another L’Arronge adaptation, Hasemanns Töchter/Hasemann's Daughters (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1920) with Sabine Impekoven. Peukert and Impekoven were married in 1914 and appeared together in several silent films.

For director Bolten-Baeckers, Peukert also appeared in the comedy Die zweite Mutter/The Second Mother (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1925) starring Margarete Lanner and Hans Mierendorff. These popular comedies were released by UFA alongside its more prestigious art films.

Peukert only occasionally played a leading role in his films. A rare example is the comedy Die Fahrt ins Glück/The Happy Journey (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1923). Mostly he appeared as a character actor, such as in the silent comedies Funkzauber/Radio Magic (Richard Oswald, 1927) starring Werner Krauss, Xenia Desni and Fern Andra, and Mikosch rückt ein/Mikosch Comes In (Rolf Randolf, 1928) starring Gyula Szőreghy, Lydia Potechina and Claire Rommer.

Peukert played more leading roles in the comedy Ein besserer Herr/A Better Master (Gustav Ucicky, 1928) with Lydia Potechina as his wife and Willi Forst as his son, and Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland/I Once Had a Beautiful Homeland (Max Mack, 1928) with Grete Reinwald as his daughter.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1935. Photo: Oliver-Film, Berlin. Leo Peukert, Melitta Petri and Herbert Paul Müller.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2631. Photo: Oliver-Film, Berlin. Leo Peukert, Melitta Petri and Herbert Paul Müller in Wer niemals einen Rausch gehabt/Who never had an intoxication (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1918).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2632. Photo: Oliver-Film, Berlin. Leo Peukert, Melitta Petri and Herbert Paul Müller in Wer niemals einen Rausch gehabt/Who never had an intoxication (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, 1918).

Playing wine merchants, editors, and fathers

During the 1930s, Leo Peukert continued successfully into sound films and played key supporting roles in films of the 1930s and early 1940s. Often cast as senior civic leaders, theatrical directors, wine merchants, editors, and fathers.

A major hit was the farce Drei Tage Mittelarrest/Three Days Confined to Barracks (Carl Boese, 1930) starring Max Adalbert, Ida Wüstand Gretl Theimer. The film is set around a military barracks.

Another hit was the sound version of the comedy Kohlhiesels Töchter/Kohlhiesel's Daughters (Hans Behrendt, 1930), in which he played the father of Henny Porten in a double role. The significant success at the box office established Porten as a sound star.

In the early 1930s followed comedies like Moritz macht sein Glück/Moritz Makes his Fortune (Jaap Speyer, 1931) starring Sig Arno, and Die schönen Tage von Aranjuez/Happy Days in Aranjuez (Johannes Meyer, 1933) starring Brigitte Helm.

He played a vet in the rural comedy Alles weg'n dem Hund/All Because of the Dog (Fred Sauer, 1935) starring Weiß Ferdl and Julia Serda. He also appeared in comedies like Die Umwege des schönen Karl/The Roundabouts of Handsome Karl (Carl Froelich, 1938) starring Heinz Rühmann, Ein hoffnungsloser Fall/A Hopeless Case (Erich Engel, 1939) as the father of Jenny Jugo, and Das Ekel/The Scoundrel (Hans Deppe, 1939) starring Hans Moser. He had a bigger role in the comedy Links der Isar - rechts der Spree/Left of the Isar, Right of the Spree (Paul May, 1940) with Fritz Kampers.

Prestigious was the musical comedy Frauen sind doch bessere Diplomaten/Women Are Better Diplomats (Georg Jacoby, 1941) starring Marika Rökk and Willy Fritsch. The film was the first German feature film to be made in colour, and was one of the most expensive films produced during the Third Reich. The film was among the most popular German films of the early war years.

Another hit was Quax, der Bruchpilot/Quax the Crash Pilot (Kurt Hoffmann, 1941) starring Heinz Rühmann. Later films include the operetta Maske in Blau/Mask in Blue (Paul Martin, 1943) with Clara Tabody, the melodrama Damals/Back Then (Rolf Hansen, 1943) starring Zarah Leander, and the historical drama Romanze in Moll/Romance in a Minor Key (Helmut Käutner, 1943) with Marianne Hoppe.

His final film was Ein schöner Tag/A beautiful day (Philipp Lothar Mayring, 1944), shot in the summer of 1943. Leo Peukert died in January 1944 in Tiengen on the Upper Rhine (now Waldshut-Tiengen), Germany. He was 58.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 141/1. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 1946. Photo: Willinger.


German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden Deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, no. 39, group 41. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Lohengrin's Heirat/Lohengrin's marriage (Leo Peukert, 1922).

Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-Line – German), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.

Nino Ferrer

August 28, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Ein Walzertraum (1925)

≪ Previous: Leo Peukert

$

0

0

French-Italian singer, jazz musician and actor Nino Ferrer (1934-1998) was an immensely popular pop star during the second half of the 1960’s. L'homme a tout faire (The Jack of all Trades) also appeared in seven films.


French postcard by Publistar / Riviera, no. 1426. Photo: Gérard Bousquet.


Italian postcard by Grafiche Biondetti (GB), Verona, no. 54.

Musical Revelation

Nino Ferrer was born Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari in Genoa, Italy, in 1934. He had an Italian father and a French mother.

A considerable part of his pre-teen years was spent under the stress of World War II, but Nino himself later declared having had a pleasant childhood in a bourgeois, art-loving family. His father worked as an engineer in a nickel mine in New Caledonia.

On holiday in France in 1939, Nino and his mother were unable to leave Europe because of the World War II. While his father carried on working in New Caledonia, they spent difficult years stuck and penniless in Italy, where Nino’s mother was considered the wife of an enemy.

In 1947, the family, re-united and moved to France. Nino was sent to the best colleges in Paris and earned a degree in ethnology and prehistoric archaeology. As a student, much of his free time was spent on archaeological digs and his first job was at the Musée de l'Homme with André Leroi-Gourhan. Alongside his passion for history, he developed numerous other interests.

He became a keen painter, and remained so until his death. Above all, he learned to play several instruments (piano, guitar, clarinet, trombone and trumpet) and composed, wrote lyrics and became a fervent jazz lover. When he finished his studies, his grandmother offered him a trip to New Caledonia, a gift he took advantage of by going round the world on a cargo ship.

On his return to Paris, he tried several jobs. Starting out as a hired hand in the capital's jazz circles, he was employed by bandleader Richard Bennett and later worked for Nancy Holloway, an American jazz and rock singer, who was popular in France in the 1960s. He also continued to write gospel-inspired songs which received only refusals from most of the record companies. Hearing Otis Redding and Sam Cooke for the first time was a musical revelation and transformed his writing style.

Although already spotted by the Barclay record label, he had to wait until 1963 to record his first release, Pour oublier qu’on s’est aimé. He was 29, whereas most of the young stars of the time were hardly 20. It was a four-track EP, written in a fairly classical vein, and did not sell well in France.

However, one of the tracks, C'est Irréparable, was a hit in some European countries, in Japan and even in the Middle East. The song was picked up by Italian Mina as Un anno d'amore, hitting #1 of the Italian singles chart. Having left Barclay for a small label, Bel Air, Nino Ferrer was still unknown in France.

In 1964, he started a gospel group, Reverend Nino and the Jubilees, but it broke up before recording anything worth being released. He had small parts in two Policiers starring hard-boiled Eddie Constantine, Laissez tirer les tireurs/Let the Marksman Fire (Guy Lefranc, 1964) and Ces dames s'en mêlent/These ladies get involved in it (Raoul André, 1965), and he also went on to bring out several solo singles, but all without any success.


French postcard in the Collection Princesse series. Photo: Disques Riviera.


Nancy Holloway. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/266. Photo: Neuvelle.

Love Affair with Brigitte Bardot

After so many lean years, Nino Ferrer’s big break came unexpectedly in 1965 when he returned to Barclay, who gave him the chance to record his new material. After a few unsuccessful trials, a new artistic director, Richard Bennett, gave Nino free rein to record his compositions as he wanted. And so Nino Ferrer recorded Mirza, an effective cocktail of rhythm ‘n’ blues and caustic lyrics. The song was immediately a huge hit.

His record company called for more songs in the same vein. These records sold very well and overnight he became an idol. Now the zany singer in vogue, he followed Mirza up with Les Cornichons and Oh! Hé! Hein! Bon. Although he was now very popular, his success was founded on material with which he never felt really comfortable.

Nevertheless, hit followed hit and he lived his new life as a star at breakneck rhythm. In 1966, he gave 195 live performances and made nearly thirty TV appearances. As an actor he appeared in the TV film Palpitations (Marcel Moussy, 1966). He soon grew tired of his deliberately blasé and provocative seducer image of which people compared him to Jacques Dutronc. In 1966 he released Le Téléfon, another hit to which people are still dancing years later.

He left Paris for Italy where, at the same time, his song Je veux être noir was a success of an entirely different kind. Smothered by his own success, Nino stayed about three years in Italy, from 1967 to 1970. In France, his releases continued to sell well. His lyrics became increasingly iconoclastic, even politicised, while remaining just as sarcastic or even cynical.

In 1967, he brought out Mao et Moa and Mon copain Bismarck and in 1968, le Roi d’Angleterre, with biting lyrics echoing his irritation with show business and society in general. Around this time, Nino hired a young organist from Cameroon, Manu Dibango, later to become famous as a saxophonist. In Italy, Nino became notorious in 1969 as the presenter of the satirical TV variety show, Io, Agata e tu with Raffaella Carrà, famed for the disco smash A Far l'Amore Comincia Tu (1977).

Ferrer also played in three films: the Canadian TV film L'homme qui venait du Cher/The man who came from Cher (Maurice Dumay, 1969) with Eddy Mitchell, the French production Delphine (Eric Le Hung, 1969) starring Dany Carrel, and the French-Italian drama Un été sauvage/A Savage Summer (Marcel Camus, 1970) with Juliet Berto, and he also composed the soundtrack of the Belgian-French film Il pleut dans ma maison/It Rains in my House (Pierre Laroche, 1969).

Then, after a brief love affair with Brigitte Bardot, Nino Ferrer decided to return to France in 1970.


Portugese postcard by Radio Triunfo, Porto, no. 20008, 1966. Photo: Discos Riviera.

Darker, More Personal Lyrics

Determined now to conduct his career as he alone saw fit, Nino Ferrer took up residence in the South West of France and began breeding horses. But music remained his first love and his meeting with Englishman Mickey Finn, a guitarist who had played with T.Rex, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones, changed his attitude towards his work.

With Mickey Finn, Nino launched into rock music and began to write darker, more personal lyrics. 1972 saw the release of the Métronomie album, considered by Ferrer to be his first ‘real’ album. Very much in the style of the time, the album was conceived as an ‘experience’, with the music accompanied by sound effects, but included a new version of his very first release, Pour oublier qu’on s’est aimé.

However, it was not the album which sold but one of its tracks, La Maison près de la fontaine. Very different from the rest of the album, the single sold more than 500,000 copies. Yet again, the red carpet was unrolled for Nino which only redoubled his contempt for show business.

In 1973 he and Finn started the group Leggs, who would accompany Ferrer on several albums from this point onward. On these he would switch directions many times: from rock & roll to gospel and from prog rock to laid-back funk. The latter style made up most of Nino and Radiah (1974), which included another fruitful Estardy collaboration in the song Ferrer is best remembered for in France: Le Sud. It became one of Ferrer’s biggest hits, selling over a million copies. However, once again, the success of one track had overshadowed all the hard work on the rest of the album.

The following year, he brought out Suite en œuf, a commercial flop. The same was true of Véritables vérités verdâtres, (1977) and which marked his departure from CBS. The success of Le Sud nevertheless enabled Ferrer to buy a 15th century fortress at Lataillade, where he installed a recording studio and continued raising horses and painting.

In 1978, he married Jacqueline Monestier, known as Kinou. Now without a record company, Ferrer released each new album on a different label. In 1979, he brought out Blanat on a small independent label, Free Bird. This gospel inspired, even jazz orientated album had again both English and French lyrics. The same year, Ferrer met Jacques Higelin, and went on tour with him. The rock singer’s crazy imagination and powerful personality seduced Ferrer and encouraged him to perform live again, a practice he had abandoned a long time before.


French promotion card by Bibliothèque de Toulouse. Photo: Pietro Pascuttini. Caption: Nino Ferrer - Il était une fois l'homme. Événement du 15/11/13 au 16/02/14, Médiathèque José Cabanis, Médiathèque Saint-Cyprien, Médiathèque Grand M.

Death in a Cornfield

1981 was a year both of return and departure for Nino Ferrer. He brought out another rock and roll album in the Leggs vein, Rock ‘n’ roll cowboy, and sang at l’Olympia, the most prestigious of the Paris music venues. Yet, that same year, Ferrer slammed the door on show business definitively. Nevertheless, he appeared the following year in a stage musical for children, L’Arche de Noé, at the Théâtre de l’Unité in Paris. Composer of the music, he also played God in this moderately successful show.

He both composed the soundtrack and co-starred in the surreal, dreamlike horror film Litan (Jean-Pierre Mocky, 1982) with Marie-José Nat, but it was to be his last film appearance.

From the end of 1984 until 1986, Ferrer totally disappeared from the cultural scene. He retired to his castle where he painted, had several exhibitions and brought up his two sons, Pierre and Arthur. Nevertheless, he recorded an album in 1986, soberly entitled, 13ème album, and whose release went almost unnoticed.

It was on the new FNAC label that Ferrer made his come-back in 1993. That year, he released an album of entirely original material, recorded for the most part at Lataillade. The sleeve and the lyrics were illustrated by the singer’s own paintings. Co-written with Mickey Finn, the album, as its title La Désabusion (a play on the words désabuser and illusion) suggests, marked only a half-hearted, morose return.

For around two years after La Désabusion, Ferrer popped up in the news here and there. In 1994, he had an exhibition in Paris, published a collection of his writings and continued to promote the album. Then, from April to June 1995, he went on tour for the first time in years, with his faithful group, the Leggs. He was a guest at the Francofolies festival in la Rochelle in July.

Also that year, he released a small ten-track album of original material recorded at home. A genuine family effort, recorded between 1987 and 1992, it includes versions of old hits such as Mirza and Le Sud, traditional folk songs, all of them sung by his wife Kinou, his son Arthur, Mickey Finn and other musicians.

There followed another period of silence spent in the company of family and friends and helping Arthur, now a student like his brother, to prepare a debut album. In 1998, his mother Mounette’s death left a vacuum in Nino's life. A month later, Ferrer shot himself in the heart in the middle of a cornfield a few kilometres from his home, two days before his 64th birthday.

The anonymous biographer at English Wikipedia concludes: “An unpredictable, moody character, Ferrer refused artistic compromise and therefore compromised his career. Nevertheless, with songs as different as Les Cornichons and Le Sud, he left behind several indelible traces in French musical heritage, not forgetting numerous songs now hardly known.”

But his songs can be heard on the soundtracks of some popular films. C'est irreparable can be heard in Pedro Almodovar’s comedy-drama Tacones lejanos/High Heels (1991) and in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003), while Les Cornichons is featured on the soundtrack of the romantic comedy J'me sens pas belle/Tell Me I’m Pretty (Bernard Jeanjean, 2004).


Clip of Mirza (1965). Source: opoco2007 (YouTube).


Live performance of Les cornichons. Source: Azitis (YouTube).

Sources: Nino Ferrer.com, Quint Kik (AllMusic), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Ein Walzertraum (1925)

August 29, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Teri Tordai

≪ Previous: Nino Ferrer

$

0

0

Willy Fritsch, Mady Christians and Xenia Desni were the stars in the German silent Ufa production Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925), based on the Oscar Strauss operetta. The success of the film lead to a wave of operetta films in Germany and Austria, andf paved the way to Hollywood for director Ludwig Berger.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 48/1. Mady Christians and Willy Fritsch in the Ufa-film Ein Walzertraum (Ludwig Berger, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 48/2. Photo: Ufa. Lydia Potechina (left) and Willy Fritsch in Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925).

An international successful operetta

Originally, Ein Walzertraum/A Waltz Dream was one of the best known operettas by Oscar Straus, a Viennese composer of operettas and film scores and songs. The German libretto was by Leopold Jacobson and Felix Dörmann, based on the novella Nux, der Prinzgemahl (Nux, the Prince Consort) by Hans Müller-Einigen from his 1905 book Buch der Abenteuer (Book of Adventures).

The young Jacobson presented Oscar Straus with a libretto for Ein Walzertraum at a coffee house in the Vienna Prater in 1906. Straus was inspired by the text and completed the work within 12 months. Ein Walzertraum premiered on 2 March 1907 at the Carltheater in Vienna.

Following the success of the operetta in Vienna, productions of the work, under the name A Waltz Dream, were mounted in English for premieres at the Chestnut Street Opera House in Philadelphia on 6 January 1908, in New York City at the now-demolished Broadway Theatre on 27 January 1908 (with an English libretto adapted by Joseph Herbert), and in London on 28 March 1908 at the Hicks Theatre (adapted by Basil Hood, with lyrics by Adrian Ross, starring Gertie Millar and W.H. Berry). Lily Elsie and Amy Evans starred in the 1911 revival at Daly's Theatre.

The international success of the operetta exceeded Straus's expectations, and special praise was reserved for the famous waltz theme from Act Two. Straus later arranged various numbers from the operetta and included the graceful main waltz theme into a new concert waltz. The piece made Straus's international reputation, touring internationally after the Vienna, New York and London runs and enjoying many revivals.

The operetta did not remain as popular over the decades as Straus'The Chocolate Soldier, but a number of modern productions have been mounted. In 1991, Ohio Light Opera produced the work, and in 1992, Light Opera Works of Illinois mounted a production.

Film versions of the operetta include the Hungarian silent film Varázskeringö/Magic Waltz (1918) directed by Michael Curtiz, the German film Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (1925) directed by Ludwig Berger, and releases in Finland (1926) and Poland (1931). Ernst Lubitsch made the best known film version, The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), starring Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 48/3. Photo: Ufa. Xenia Desni and Willy Fritsch in Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 48/4. Photo: Ufa. Xenia Desni in Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925).

The amorous lieutenant and the princess

Erich Pommer produced for the Ufa a wonderful silent film version of the operetta, Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925), with a great cast and fine exterior shots at the famous Imperial Schloss Schönbrunn.

Sunnyboy Willy Fritsch plays the amorous lieutenant Nicholas Count Preyn of the Austrian royal guard. 'Niki' has a new girlfriend, the violin playing Franzi Steingruber (Xenia Desni). He's crazy about her and is smiling at her while on duty in the street. King Eberhard XXIII (Jacob Tiedtke) and his daughter Princess Alix (Mady Christians) from the neighboring kingdom of Flausenthurm drive by, and Alix intercepts a wink meant for Franzi.

The princess falls for Niki, marries him (he has no choice in the matter), and whisks him off to Flausenthurm. Franzi follows and enjoys a brief affair with Niki before Anna finds out. Franzi, much more experienced in the ways of the world, gives the socially awkward princess Alix lessons on how to win the affections of her husband.

The cast of Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream also included such great character actors as Lydia Potechina, Mathilde Sussin, Karl Beckersachs, Julius Falkenstein, Hans Brausewetter and Lucie Höflich. The film was a great box office hit but also a critical success. For director Ludwig Berger, Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream brought  an invitation to Hollywood.

In Germany, Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream lead to a wave of silent operetta and Vienna films. In the sound era, this genre culminated in the world hit Der Kongress tanzt/The Congress dances (Erik Charell, 1931) with Lilian Harveyand of course Willy Fritsch.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 48/5. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925) with Xenia Desni and Willy Fritsch.


German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, picture no. 115, group 40. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Ein Walzertraum/A Waltz-Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925) with Mady Christians and Willy Fritsch.

Sources: Wikipedia (English and German), and IMDb.

Teri Tordai

August 30, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Photo by Studio Arnal

≪ Previous: Ein Walzertraum (1925)

$

0

0

Hungarian actress Teri Tordai (1941) appeared in interesting films by such noted directors as Karoly Makk, István Szabó, Márta Mészáros and Péter Bacsó. During the late 1960s and 1970s she showed her strikingly beautiful looks in several mediocre German and Austrian comedies and sexploitation films.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2613, 1966. Retail price: 0,20 MDN.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2694, 1966. Retail price: 0,20 MDN.

Sexy Susan

Teri Tordai (also Teri Torday and Terry Torday) was born in Debrecen, Hungary, in 1941.

She received early ballet training and from 1960 on she took acting lessons at the television and film school in Budapest. After graduating in 1964 she played at the National Theatre and the Comedy Theatre.

Already in 1962, she made her first film appearance in the Hungarian film Esös vasárnap/Rainy Sunday (Márton Keleti, 1962). She played one of the leads opposite Gyöngyi Polónyi and Ilona Béres.

In the next years, parts followed in such Hungarian productions as Utolsó elötti ember/The Last But One (Karoly Makk, 1963) and the comedy Mit csinált Felséged 3-tól 5-ig?/What did Sire do between 15 and 17 hour? (Károly Makk, 1964) with Éva Pap and Ildiko Pecso.

She starred opposite Mari Töröcsikin Tilos a szerelem/Forbidden love (Tamás Rényi, 1965).

In 1965 she also made her first German film, the comedy Ferien mit Piroschka/Holiday with Piroschka (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1965) starring Marie Versini and Götz George. Paradoxically she played a German in Hungary.

Under the name Terry Torday she played title character Susanne in the sexy comedy Susanne, die Wirtin von der Lahn/The Sweet Sins of Sexy Susan (Franz Antel, 1967). The success of this sexy comedy led to a series of six films about the Wirtin von der Lahn (Hostess of the Lahn) all under the direction of Franz Antel.

But she also continued to appear in Hungarian films, including the historical drama Egy magyar nabob/The Hungarian nabob (Zoltán Várkonyi, 1966), and A gyáva/The Coward (Imre Mihályfi, 1971).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2368, 1965. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: publicity still for Mit csinált Felséged 3-tól 5-ig?/What did Sire do between 15 and 17 hour? (Károly Makk, 1964).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2.555, 1966. Photo: Hungarofilm. Publicity still for Mit csinált Felséged 3-tól 5-ig?/Where Was Your Majesty Between 3 and 5 (Károly Makk, 1964).

Dangerous Temptress

From the 1970s on, Teri Tordai regularly appeared on Hungarian television. Among the TV-films in which she appeared were the romance A vasrács/The iron bars (Tamás Rényi, 1971), Jó estét nyár, jó estét szerelem/A good summer evening, good evening, love (Sándor Szönyi G., 1972) and the Pan-European adventure series Les évasions célèbres/The famous escapes (Christian Jacque a.o., 1972).

An interesting Hungarian film in which she appeared during this period was the adventure film A Pendragon legenda/The Pendragon Legend (György Révész, 1974) with Iván Darvas.

At the time, she appeared in a total of 18 productions for the Austrian film studio Neue Delta. She often played a dangerous temptress, who seduced young men in Monika und die Sechzehnjährigen/Monika and the sixteen-year-old (Charly Steinberger, 1975), Verbrechen nach Schulschluß/Crime after school (Alfred Vohrer, 1975) and very old men like Heinz Rühmann in Der Kapitän/The Captain (Kurt Hoffmann, 1972). Happily, these films could not be shown in her native Hungary, which was a communist state at the time.

More interesting was her work for director István Szabó. Their cooperation started with the TV film Ösbemutató/Opening Night (István Szabó, 1974). She also played the sculptor Lenie in Mephisto (István Szabó, 1981) starring Klaus Maria Brandauer, and the Countess Festetich in Oberst Redl/Colonel Redl (István Szabó, 1985), also featuring Brandauer.

Franz Antel, who had directed her in several sexploitation comedies, also gave her a small part in his interesting war film Der Bockerer (Franz Antel, 1981), the story of Viennese butcher Karl Bockerer (Karl Merkatz) from the moment the Nazis took power in Austria until their end.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2692, 1966. Photo: publicity still for Ketten haltak meg/Two died (György Palásthy, 1966) with Gezá Tordy.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2693, 1966. Photo: publicity still for Ketten haltak meg/Two died (György Palásthy, 1966) with Antal Páger.

The Inspector General

Teri Tordai appeared in several films by noted Hungarian director Márta Mészáros. She had a supporting part in her TV film Anna (Márta Mészáros, 1981) starring Marie-José Nat.

Sh then played Jan Nowicki’s wife in the satirical comedy of errors Délibábok országa/The Inspector General (Márta Mészáros, 1984) based on the play by Nikolai Gogol, and she had a small part in Napló szerelmeimnek/Diary for My Loved Ones (Márta Mészáros, 1987).

She was successful as a grandmother in Mészáros’ Bye bye chaperon rouge/Bye Bye, Red Riding Hood (Márta Mészáros, 1989), and she had small parts in the biographical drama Napló apámnak, anyámnak/Diary for My Father and Mother (Márta Mészáros, 1990) and the drama A magzat/Foetus (Márta Mészáros, 1994).

Also interesting were the surreal comedy Banánhéjkeringö/Banana Skin Waltz (Péter Bacsó, Tamás Tolmár, 1987) and the family comedy Szeleburdi vakáció/Giddy holiday (György Palásthy, 1987). In 1985 she was honoured with the Jászai Mari Award.

In later years, Teri Tordai received only relatively small roles in Hungarian films and television programs. Notable among these films are Ébredés/Awakening (Judit Elek, 1995), Caligula (Sándor Cs. Nagy, 1996) based on the play by Albert Camus, and the musical Hamvadó cigarettavég/Smouldering Cigarette (Péter Bacsó, 2001).

Her daughter Lili Horvath (1976) is also an actress. They appeared together in A temetetlen halott/The Unburied Man (Márta Mészáros, 2004) featuring Jan Nowicki.

Teri Tordai continues to play in Hungarian productions. Most recently she was seen in the romantic drama Kaland/Adventure (József Sipos, 2011) and in the Dutch war film Het Bombardement/The Blitz (Ate de Jong, 2012) with Jan Smit.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 2819, 1967. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Photo: Hungariafilm.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 3142, 1968. Photo: Lussa Vince.


German trailer Hurra, wir sind mal wieder Junggesellen/Hurray We Are Bachelors Again (Harald Philipp, 1970). Source: RialtoFilm (YouTube).

Sources: Dr.Štefan ‘Cicis’ Rencz (CSFD.cs - Cszech), Wikipedia (German and Hungarian) and IMDb.

Photo by Studio Arnal

August 31, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Paola Borboni

≪ Previous: Teri Tordai

$

0

0

Today EFSP presents some old film star postcards which will allow you to have a glimpse of the work of the French photo studio Arnal. The small studio was located at the time in Paris at the Boulevard de Rochechouart, the street situated at the foot of Montmartre. In the 1930s, Arnal was specialised in glamorous portraits of stars of the stage and the screen. They were produced on many postcard of publishers like Editions Chantal and Cinémagazine-Édition. The Lithuanian exile photographer Izis (Izraëlis Biderman), to whom the city of Paris paid tribute in 2010 with the exbibition ‘Izis, Paris des rêves’, worked at studio Arnal in 1933-1934.


Paulette Dubost. French postcard by EC, no. 57. Photo: Studio Arnal.


Jean Weber. French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinematographiques, no. 19. Photo: Arnal.


Josette Day. French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinematographiques. Photo: Studio Arnal, Paris.


Monette Dinay. French postcard. Photo: Arnal.


Mircha. French postcard, no. 4. Photo: Arnal.


Reda Caire. French postcard, no. 78. Photo: Arnal.


Tino Rossi. French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinématographiques, no. 119. Photo: Arnal.


Jean-Pierre Aumont. French postcard by Cinémagazine-Édition (CE), Paris, no. 2104. Photo: Studio Arnal, Paris.


Paulette Dubost. French postcard by Cinémagazine-Édition (CE), Paris, no. 2105. Photo: Studio Arnal.


Henri Alibert. French postcard by Editions Chantal, Paris, no. 6. Photo: Studio Arnal.


Ila Meery. French postcard by Editions Chantal, no. 56. Photo: Arnal, Paris.

Source: Marlene Pilaete (La Collectionneuse - French).

Paola Borboni

September 1, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Mike Bongiorno

≪ Previous: Photo by Studio Arnal

$

0

0

Paola Borboni (1900-1995) was one of the greatest Italian stage actresses of the 20th Century. From 1918 on, she played in over 80 films. She was also often heard on the radio and seen on television, but her true passion was the stage.


Italian postcard, no. 602/3. Photo: Massaglia, Torino.


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 1045.


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 381 Photo: Trevisani, Bologna.

Ever Seen A Mermaid Wearing A Coat?

Paola Borboni was born near Parma on New Year's Day 1900, as daughter of a lyrical impresario.

Paola started to act on stage at age 16. Two years later, she was already 'prima attrice' next to Romano Calò and later to Irma Gramatica.

She excelled in particular in the lighter genre, helped by her beauty and her uninhibited behaviour. When playing a mermaid in 1925, she showed her breasts, creating a scandal, but reacting: 'Ever seen a mermaid wearing a coat?'

With the years her roles became more mature and complex. In the 1930s and 1940s, she played for two seasons with Ruggero Ruggeri and in 1934 she also founded her own company. She'd play anything, from Gabriele D'Annunzio to George Bernard Shaw, but Luigi Pirandello was her favourite.

From 1918 on, Paola Borboni also played in films, starting with the silent film Jacopo Ortis/Jacob Ortis (Giuseppe Sterni, 1918), a Milano Film production based on a novel by Ugo Foscolo.

Until 1921, Borboni played in 6 more silent films, directed by Giuseppe Sterni, Giuseppe Guarino and Eugenio Perego.

After that, she exclusively focused on the stage, until the mid-1930s, when she returned with the female lead in Gennaro Righelli's sound film Lo smemorato/The Forgetful (1936), costarring Angelo Musco.

Between 1936 and 1956 her career was at its peak. She had a steady and continuous output of film performances, mainly in supporting roles as in the Tito Schipa vehicle Vivere/To Live (Guido Brignone, 1937).

She played leading parts as in the romantic comedy Ho perduto mio marito/I Have Lost My Husband (Enrico Guazzoni, 1937) with Nino Besozzi, Ricchezza senza domani/Wealth without a future (Ferdinando Maria Poggioli, 1940), and Il viaggio del signor Perrichon/The journey of Mr. Perrichon (Paolo Moffa, 1943). Mostly, however, Borboni played supporting parts in the cinema.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 535. Photo: Badodi, Milano.


Italian postcard, no. 602/1. Photo: Massaglia, Torino.


Italian postcard, no. 140.

A Husband 40 Years Younger Than She Was

In the postwar era, Paola Borboni played twice on stage under direction of Luchino Visconti: in Vittorio Alfieri's Oreste (1949), and in Arthur Miller's Il Crogiuolo (The Crucible) (1955).

In the 1950s and 1960s, she became famous for her monologues on stage. In these years she was also well-known for her open air theatre performances all over the country.

In the cinema she had substantial or minor parts in several classic titles of the Italian film history. She played the school principal in the comedy Il biricchino di papà/The mischievous Dad (Raffaele Matarazzo, 1943) featuring Armando Falconi, the Russian princess in Sorelle Materassi/The Sisters Materassi (Ferdinando Maria Poggioli, 1944) featuring Emma andIrma Gramatica, the actress Dejanira in La locandiera/The landlady (Luigi Chiarini, 1944), Matilde in Roma ore 11/Rome at 11 (Giuseppe De Santis, 1952), and the aunt baroness in Pietro Germi's Gelosia/Jealousy (1953).

Borboni was a charwoman in William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953) starring Audrey Hepburn. Other roles were signora Rubini in I vitelloni (Federico Fellini, 1953), the mother of Bruno Sacchi in Terza liceo/High School (Luciano Emmer, 1954), and signora Monti in Casta diva (Carmine Gallone, 1956) starring Antonella Lualdi.

During the 1960s and 1970s, her films included L'oro di Roma/Gold of Rome (Carlo Lizzani, 1961), Arabella (Mauro Bolognini, 1967), and Per grazia ricevuta/Between Miracles (1971), directed by and starring Nino Manfredi.

From 1942 to 1946 Paola Borboni had a relationshop with the Sicilian actor Salvo Randone. In 1972 the 72-years old Borboni married poet and actor Bruno Vilar, who was 40 years younger than she was. In 1978 they had a terrible car accident, which killed Vilar and crippled Borboni.

Borboni, though, continued to play in films. Her later roles included Mrs. Baldi in La cage aux folles II (Edouard Molinaro, 1980), sister Theresa in Yes, Giorgio (Franklin Shaffner, 1982), and the marchioness of Querceto in the Johnny Dorelli comedy Occhio, malocchio, prezzemolo e finocchio/Eye, evil eye, parsley and fennel (Sergio Martino, 1983).

Her final film appearance was in Blue dolphin - l'avventura continua/Blue Dolphin - The Adventure Continues (Giorgio Mosa, 1990).

While staying in a home in Varese, Paola Borboni died in 1995 because of a stroke and was buried in the family tomb in Parma. She was 95. All in all, she had played in 86 films in nine decades of cinema.


Italian postcard by G. Ballerini & Co., Firenze, no. 602/4. Photo: Massaglia, Torino.


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 1071. Photo: Trevisani, Bologna.


Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 342. Photo: Miniati, Livorno.


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scaramaglia Ed. Roma), no. 205, early 1940s. Photo: Vaselli / Lux Film.

Sources: Wikipedia (English and Italian), and IMDb.

---

Mike Bongiorno

September 2, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Walter Byron

≪ Previous: Paola Borboni

$

0

0

Mike Bongiorno (1924-2009) was an Italo-American journalist and television host. For the history of Italian television he has been an institution as Italy’s famous quiz master between the 1950s to the 1980s. Il Re del Quiz (The Quiz King) played himself in various films too.


Italian postcard. Photo: publicity still for Totò lascia o raddoppia.


Italian postcard by Turismofoto, no. 74.

Go-Between for the Italian partisans and the Allies

Michael Nicholas Salvatore Bongiorno was born 26 May 1924 in New York. He was of Italo-American descent, his paternal grandfather being a merchant who emigrated from Mezzojuso in Sicily.

While he was a child his parents divorced and his mother took him to her hometown Turin, where he visited college. All his life he remained a fan of Juventus, Turin’s soccer club.

During the Second World War he was not mobilised thanks to his American nationality. He dropped his studies and joined the Italian resistance as a go-between for the Italian partisans and the Allies in Switzerland. He was captured and escaped execution because of his American passport.

For six months he was held at the San Vittore prison of Milan, and was then deported to a German concentration camp. Early 1945 he was liberated even before the war had ended, thanks to an exchange between war prisoners.

He returned to New York and in 1946 he started to work at the radio headquarters of Il progresso italo-americano (The Italian-American progress) newspaper.

Bongiorno established himself in Italy in 1952. There he became the most popular television host form the earliest days of the medium on. He worked for the national public broadcasting company RAI, and started with the programme Arrivi e partenze (1953, Arrivals and Departures).

In the mid-1950s, Bongiorno acted in various films. First in Luigi Zampa’s comedy Ragazze d'oggi/Girls of Today (1955), starring Marisa Allasio.

In the same year Bongiorno re-enacted himself in the comedy Il motive in maschera/Reason masked (Stefano Canzio, 1955), based on Bongiorno’s popular homonymous radio show in which the contestants had to recognise a popular tune disguised as a classical one.

Next followed a lead in Guido Malatesta’s comedy I milliardari/The billionaires (1956), and a part in the film Il prezzo della gloria/The price of glory (Antonio Musu, 1956), starring Gabriele Ferzetti, and shot in the province of Puglia, in South-East Italy. Bongiorno acted in a scene shot at Taranto, where his character has car trouble.

In the 1950s Bongiorno also appeared in several Fotoromanzi, the typical Italian photo novel in which the characters are often portrayed by well-known actors.


Italian postcard. Photo: publicity still for Ragazze d'oggi (1955) with Marisa Allasio.


Italian postcard by Editions R.D.V., Milano, no. 163.

Italy’s quiz master ‘par excellence’

From 1955 to 1959 Mike Bongiorno ran the first Italian television quiz Lascia o raddoppia?, based on the French Quitte ou double?, which again was based on the American quiz The $64,000 Question.

Buongorno became Italy’s quiz master ‘par excellence’. Italian writer and semiologist Umberto Eco even dedicated a famous essay to him: Fenomenologia di Mike Bongiorno/Phenomenology of Mike Bongiorno (1963).

This also affected Bongiorno’s film acting, who from the 1950s on was seen as a quiz master, like in Totò lascia o raddoppia?/Totò, double or nothing? (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1958) with Totò, and Giudizio universale (Vittorio De Sica, 1961) with Vittorio Gassman, Fernandel and Alberto Sordi.

In the classic C'eravamo tanto amati/We All Loved Each Other So Much (Ettore Scola, 1978) one of the three idealistic friends, played by Stefano Satta Flores, is a candidate in Bongiorno's quiz Lascia o raddoppia.

His other films include the comic Western La vita, a volte, è molto dura, vero Provvidenza?/Sometimes Life Is Hard - Right, Providence? (Giulio Petroni, 1972) with Tomas Milian, and the Sci-Fi comedy Sogni mostruosamente proibiti/Dream Monster dreams (Neri Parenti, 1982) with Alida Valli.

After Lascia o raddoppia followed the quizzes Campanile sera (1959-1962, Bell Tower Evening), La fiera dei sogni (1962–1965, Dream Fair) and Rischiatutto (1970-1974, Jeopardy!). With 20 to 30 million watchers every Thursday night, Rischiatutto had the highest audience in the history of Italian TV. From 1963 on Bongiorno also presented the Festival of San Remo for over a decade.


Italian promotion card by Brunner & Co, Como, 1956, offered by Oreal. Photo: Giole. Mike Bongiorno was at the time the host of the radio show Il motivo senza Maschera (1956).


Italian autograph card by Afga-Gevaert.

Allergia!

In 1979, Mike Bongiorno presented his first show for commercial television: I sogni nel cassetto (The dreams in the drawer), produced by Telemilano, which later became Canale 5. His last RAI quiz show was Flash (1980-1982), after which he completely moved over to Mediaset, the television group of Silvio Berlusconi.

Afterwards, Telequiz Bis (1981) Superflash (1982), Pentathlon (1985), Telemike (1987) and La ruota della fortuna (1989, Wheel of Fortune) followed. In 2000 he co-presented the animal programme Qua la zampa. For the Retequattro channel, he presented two quizzes for youngsters: Genius and Il migliore (The Best).

Mike Bongiorno was rewarded with a doctorate honoris causa at the university IULM of Milan in August 2007. For decades, Bongiorno, who always opened his programmes with his famous "Allegria!" (Cheers!), was known everywhere. Also known were his problems with finding the right quiz papers, his endearing old-fashioned Italian, but also his rages against technicians and candidates during his shows, even in live recordings.

His mistakes were proverbial, in particular during La ruota della fortuna. During one quiz he asked who was this Mr. Paolovi? Meant was Paolo VI (pope Paul VI). Imitation and parody resulted in maliciously changing his "Allegria!" in "Allergia!" (allergy). Bongiorno was nicknamed 'SuperMike' and 'Telemike'. Even if he lived in Italy for most of his life, he kept his American nationality until he turned 79.

Mike Bongiorno died of a heart attack in 2009 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He was married was three times and with Daniela Zuccoli, he had 3 children. Their son Michele Bongiorno (1973) is a television producer, and their second son Nicolò Bongiorno (1976) is a director of documentaries.


A fan's tribute to Mike Bongiorno. Source: Enzo Livero (YouTube).

Sources: Wikipedia (English, Italian and French), and IMDb.

Walter Byron

September 3, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Darry Cowl

≪ Previous: Mike Bongiorno

$

0

0

English film actor Walter Byron (1899-1972) appeared in 66 films between 1926 and 1942. Most notably he starred opposite Gloria Swanson in the legendary 'lost' film Queen Kelly (Erich von Stroheim, 1929). Though handsome, he was rather uncharismatic and never quite made the grade as a star.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4125/1, 1929-1930. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for Queen Kelly (Erich von Stroheim, 1929) with Gloria Swanson.


British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 331.


Spanish postcard by Casa Molina, Madrid. Gloria Swanson and Walter Byron in Queen Kelly (Erich von Stroheim, 1929).

Full of innuendo

Walter Byron was born Walter Clarence Butler in 1899 in Leicester, England. He made his film debut as Walter Butler in the lead role of the English short film Dream Faces (Hugh Croise, 1926). In France, he made the comedy Croquette (Louis Mercanton, 1928) opposite Betty Balfour.

Walter's brother, Jack Byron, appeared in Hollywood films from the early 1920s on and Walter joined him in 1928. The handsome young actor got a contract with Samuel Goldwyn. He soon got leading roles in silent films such as the romantic drama The Awakening (Victor Fleming, 1928) opposite Vilma Bánky, now credited as Walter Byron.

His Hollywood career seemed to go uphill when he was cast opposite Mega-star Gloria Swanson in the costume drama Queen Kelly (Erich von Stroheim, 1929). He played Prince Wolfram, the betrothed of mad Queen Regina V of Kronberg (Seena Owen). As punishment for partying with other women, he is sent on manoeuvres. He sees Kitty Kelly (Swanson) walking with other convent students and flirts with her. She is embarrassed when he makes a comment after seeing that her underwear is visible, so she takes it off and throws it at him, to the horror of the nuns, who punish her for her 'indecency'.

Enthralled by her beauty, he kidnaps her that night from the convent, takes her to his room and professes his love for her. When the Queen finds them together the next morning, she whips Kelly and throws her out of the castle. Regina then puts Wolfram in prison for not wanting to marry her.

This part of the film, more than 200,000 feet of footage was directed by Erich von Stroheim when production shooting was halted by Gloria Swanson on 21 January 1929. Only about one-third of the scenario was shot since 1 November 1928 at a cost of $400,000 at the time with a budget of $800,000.

Swanson complained about the direction the film was taking. Though the already filmed European scenes were full of innuendo, and featured a philandering prince and a sex-crazed queen, the coming scenes set in Africa were grim and, Swanson felt, distasteful. Original plot was that Kelly goes to German East Africa to visit her dying aunt and is forced to marry a repulsive man named Jan.

The aunt dies after the wedding and Kelly refuses to live with him, instead becoming the madam of her aunt's brothel. Her extravagances and style earn her the name 'Queen Kelly'. In later interviews, Swanson claimed that she had been misled by the script which referred to her character arriving in, and taking over, a dance hall. When she was looking at the rushes, it was obvious the 'dance hall' was actually a brothel.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3669/1, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for The Awakening (Victor Fleming, 1928) with Vilma Bánky.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3669/2, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for The Awakening (Victor Fleming, 1928) with Vilma Bánky.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4634/1, 1929-1930. Photo: United Artists. Publicity still for The Awakening (Victor Fleming, 1928).

Heavy irony

On 9 December 1929, synchronised sound retakes were shot for Queen Kelly. Franz Lehár was hired, at one stage in the rewrite stage, to compose music for the film, but that work was never completed or used. On 24 November 1931, a rewritten ending in which the prince discovers that the desperate Kelly has successfully committed suicide by drowning was after her humiliation at the hands of the Queen was shot by cinematographer Gregg Toland.

This version was released in 1932 in runs that were limited to Europe and South America due to a clause in Erich von Stroheim’s contract. In 1933, von Stroheim submitted a script called Poto Poto to MGM. Though it was never produced, the script contained several elements recycled from the African story of Queen Kelly.

A short extract of Queen Kelly appears in Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950), representing an old silent picture Swanson's character Norma Desmond - herself a silent movie star - had made. Von Stroheim is also a primary character in Sunset Boulevard, as her ex-director, ex-husband, and current butler. By some accounts, Von Stroheim suggested the clip be used for its heavy irony.

This was the first time viewers in the US got to see any footage of the infamous collaboration. A restoration of the film was produced by Dennis Doros of Kino International in 1985. Kino International restored two versions: one that uses still photos and subtitles in an attempt to wrap up the storyline, and the other the European 'suicide ending' version.

On IMDb, reviewer jrd-73 writes about the restoration: "The Swanson cut is a good movie, with a weak ending. However, it does work as a movie, if a somewhat stunted one. There is a beginning (lovers meet), a middle (lovers spend an enchanted night together), and a quick ending. Along the way, the film conjures some wonderful scenes: Queen Regina with her cat descending upon Prince Wolfram and his dog, Kelly meeting the Prince and losing a piece of clothing, Kelly in the church sanctuary bathed in candlelight, and the climatic meeting between Kelly and the Queen.

By contrast, the restoration is problematic because it fails to go anywhere. There is a beginning, the start of a middle, and then a bunch of scenes, great masterful scenes, but scenes that do not pay off. Then the film ends with an epilogue explaining what the viewer might have seen had the film finished shooting and had then been edited and released the way von Stroheim intended (not a guarantee considering what happened with Greed which was all filmed).

I can appreciate Kino's dilemma. The found, unused scenes from the film feature some of the most astounding visuals and drama of any American silent film. The brothel setting oozes ornamental decadence. Film fans owe a lot to whomever preserved these scenes. Yet, I don't think the restoration works as a self-contained film. The found footage plays like a fascinating twenty minute trailer for a grand epic that no one will ever get to see. By taking out Swanson's ending and putting in this footage, the restorers end with an unfinished film and a frustrating viewing experience."

Walter Byron's career went downhill after Queen Kelly. He was the leading man in lesser Hollywood productions, and could only find supporting or minor roles in A-pictures like Vanity Fair (Chester M. Franklin, 1932) with Myrna Loy, and If You Could Only Cook (1935) with Herbert Marshall and Jean Arthur.

At the end of the 1930s, his parts were often so small he did not get a credit. His final film appearance was as a Ringside Telegrapher in Gentleman Jim (Raoul Walsh, 1942) starring Errol Flynn. In 1972, Walter Byron passed away in Signal Hill, California, USA. He was 72.

French postcard by Europe, no. 593. Photo: United Artists / Regal Film. Publicity still for The Awakening (Victor Fleming, 1928).


British postcard in the Film Partners series, London, no. P 8. Photo: publicity still for The Reckless Hour (John Francis Dillon, 1931) with Walter Byron and Dorothy MacKaill.


British postcard in the Film Partners series, London, no. PC 8. Photo: publicity still for The Reckless Hour (John Francis Dillon, 1931).

Sources: Silent Era, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Darry Cowl

September 4, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Drohende Wolken am Firmament (1919)

≪ Previous: Walter Byron

$

0

0

French comic actor and musician Darry Cowl (1925-2006) appeared in more than 150 films, often as a clown with a chronic stutter. Many of his comedies were not worth his talents, but at the end of his life, he made a glorious come-back and won the César twice.


French postcard by Ed. Borde, Bal, no. 106. Photo: Wiezniak / Philips.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 233 (?). Photo: Sam Lévin.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 743.

Silly ass

Darry Cowl was born as André Darricau in Vittel, France, in 1925. His father was a doctor.

He studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris. After he had finished his studies successfully, he did not chose to work for an orchestra, but became a musical clown in the nightclubs and cabarets of Paris.

He made his film debut in Quatre jours à Paris/Four Days in Paris (André Berthomieu, 1955) with Luis Mariano, and soon appeared in small roles in films like Bonjour sourire/Good Morning Smile (Claude Sautet, 1955), and En effeuillant la marguerite/Mademoiselle Striptease (Marc Allégret, 1956) with Brigitte Bardot.

Director Sacha Guitry cast him twice in Assassins et voleurs/Assassins and Robbers (1957) and in Les Trois font la paire/Three Make a Pair (1957). Cowl decided to focus on film acting.

He gained celebrity status with his role as Antoine Péralou in Le Triporteur/The Tricycle (Jacques Pinoteau, 1957). The stuttering Antoine is a football fanatic, who follows his favourite team from one game to the next madly peddling his tricycle to his various destinations.

Between 1955 and 1965, Cowl played in more than 60 films made by directors like André Berthomieu, Jean Girault and Jacques Pinoteau. He often played the silly ass who stumbles on his lines on purpose.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 700. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 716. Photo: Studio Harcourt.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 680. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Game Addict

Darry Cowl was a game addict, and he often acted only for the money in films that did not stretch his acting ability. An exception was Archimède, le clochard/The Magnificent Tramp (Gilles Grangier, 1959) in which he appeared opposite the great Jean Gabin.

In 1964, Cowl directed a feature film himself, Jaloux comme un tigre/Jealous as a Tiger (Darry Cowl, 1964). He also appeared in this comedy, wrote the scenario and composed the score. Sadly it was not a success.

He continued to appear in dozens of comedies, including Les tribulations d'un chinois en Chine/Up to His Ears (Philippe de Broca, 1965) and an episode of Les bons vivants/High Lifers (Gilles Grangier, Georges Lautner, 1965).

In 1974 he played Major Archibald in Touche pas à la femme blanche/Don't Touch the White Woman! (Marco Ferreri, 1974) with Catherine Deneuve, the only film he pretended to be proud about. The next decades most of his films were not very interesting.

He wrote three memoirs, Le flambeur (1986) about his passion for the game, Le triporteur se livre (1994) and Mémoires d'un canaillou (2005).

During the 1990s, he appeared in better films like Ville à vendre/City for Sale (Jean-Pierre Mocky, 1992) starring Michel Serrault, and Les misérables (Claude Lelouch, 1995) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.

In 1999, he even made a magnificent comeback as the only Caucasian employee of a Chinatown shop in Augustin, roi du Kung-fu/Augustin, King of Kung-Fu (Anne Fontaine, 1999).

Twice he was a awarded a César, the French equivalent of an Oscar. In 2001 he received a César d'honneur for his career, and in 2004 he won another César for for his supporting role as a concierge in Pas sur la bouche/Not on the lips (Alain Resnais, 2004).

He also won a Molière award for Best Supporting Role on the French stage, in 1995. He had hoped to return to theatre acting in Hold Up, a play by Jean Barbier, in September 2005, but ill-health prevented this.

His last film was L'homme qui rêvait d'un enfant/The man Who Dreamed About a Child (Delphine Gleize, 2006). He would never see the finished film.

In 2006, Darry Cowl died in Neuilly-sur-Seine from complications of lung cancer, aged 80. He was married twice, first to Nelly Marco, and the second time to actress Rolande Kalis.


French promotion card by Metropole Le Palais du Cinéma. Publicity still for L'ami de la Famille/A Friend of the Family (Jacques Pinoteau, 1957).


French photo. Publicity still for Vous n'avez rien à déclarer/You have nothing to declare? (Clément Duhour, 1959) with Pierre Mondy.


Scene from Le Triporteur/The Tricycle (1957) with Pierre Mondy. Source: lhierckens111 (YouTube).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Drohende Wolken am Firmament (1919)

September 5, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Michèle Mercier

≪ Previous: Darry Cowl

$

0

0

The German silent film Drohende Wolken am Firmament/Threatening clouds in the sky (1918) was directed (probably) and written by its star, Fern Andra. It was also produced by her own studio, Fern Andra Atelier. The American actress was one of the most popular film stars of the German cinema in the 1910s and early 1920s.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 557/1. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Publicity still for Drohende Wolken am Firmament/Threatening clouds in the sky (Fern Andra, 1918). In the foreground Paul Passarge as Hans and Fern Andra as Fern, in the background Alfred Abel as the husband, doctor Alfred.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 557/2. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Publicity still of Fern Andra in Drohende Wolken am Firmament/Threatening clouds in the sky (Fern Andra, 1918).

Can he commit adultery without being noticed?

In Drohende Wolken am Firmament/Threatening clouds in the sky, Dr. Alfred (Alfred Abel) takes a bet with his friend Hans (Paul Passarge) that he can commit adultery without being noticed. Alfred seems to manage but then he loses his wallet.

Hans finds it and uses it as proof to convince Alfred's wife Fern (Fern Andra) to agree with his indecent proposal. Alfred overhears a talk between them and suspects his wife may commit adultery.

The dramatic development in Fern's and Alfred's marriage crisis finds its redemption only when their child is in dire straits. Alfred's operation rescues the child and the couple reconciles.

Drohende Wolken am Firmament was shot during the first half of 1918 in the Fern Andra Filmatelier in Berlin's Chausseestrasse 42. The four-act film was 1170 meters long, passed the censorship in July 1918 and premiered in the following month at the Berlin U.T. Nollendorfplatz.

In Austria, it started on September 13, 1918. The version shown there was at about 1700 meters, significantly longer than the German original version. In the Austrian source Paimann’s Filmlisten one reads: "script and cinematography really good, performance outstanding."


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 557/3. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Publicity still of Fern Andra in Drohende Wolken am Firmament/Threatening clouds in the sky (Fern Andra, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 557/4. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Publicity still of Fern Andra in Drohende Wolken am Firmament/Threatening clouds in the sky (Fern Andra, 1918).

Sources: Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Michèle Mercier

September 6, 2018, 10:00 pm

≫ Next: Photo by Massaglia

≪ Previous: Drohende Wolken am Firmament (1919)

$

0

0

Entrancing, luscious-lipped Michèle Mercier (1939) worked with such famous directors as François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Melville, and Mario Monicelli. And although she appeared in more than fifty films she will always be best known as seductive Angélique, ‘the Marquise of the Angels’. This star making role proved to be a blessing but also a curse.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/33. Photo: Sam Lévin.


Vintage card. Photo: publicity still for Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964).


West-German postcard by ISV, no. H-137. Photo: publicity still for Angelique et le roy/Angélique and the King (Bernard Borderie, 1965).


Small French playing card. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Petit Rat

Michèle Mercier was born as Jocelyne Yvonne Renée Mercier in Nice (France) in 1939, the oldest daughter of a French pharmacist father and an Italian mother.

She initially wanted to be a dancer. She studied dancing and at 8 years she became a 'petit rat' (little chorus girl) at the Opera de Nice.

At 15, she played a small part in the film J'avais sept filles/I Have Seven Daughters (Jean Boyer, 1954) starring Maurice Chevalier, who predicted her a successful career.

At 17, she moved to Paris, and studied dance with the company Ballets de la tour Eiffel under the direction of Roland Petit. At the same time she followed drama classes with Solange Sicard. After a stay in London, she had her debut in the theatre.

When she went to her parents for a holiday, she met director Denys de La Patellière, who was filming Retour de manivelle/There's Always a Price Tag (1957) in Nice. He gave her a role – as the chambermaid Jeanne.

Her birth name seemed too long and old-fashioned for a film career, so she adopted the name Michèle. This was the name of her younger sister, who had died at the age of five from typhoid fever, and also of the star of Retour de manivelle, the great actress Michèle Morgan.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 937. Offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'. Photo: Sam Lévin.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 673. Photo: Sam Lévin.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 728. Photo: Sam Lévin.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2420. Photo: Gloria-Film. Publicity still for Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964).


West-German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen. Photo: Gloria Film. Publicity still for Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Photo: publicity still for Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964).

Shoot the Pianist

Michèle Mercier was noticed by Léonide Moguy, who offered her the leading part in his film Donnez-moi ma chance/Give Me My Chance (1958).

Robert Lamoureux made her the leading lady of La brune que voilà/There Is the Brunette– both in the theatre (1958) and on screen (1960). In 1959 she was invited to go to Hollywood but she quickly returned to Europe and became a star in Italy.

She played parts in such European coproductions as Ein Engel auf Erden/Angel on Earth (Géza von Radványi, 1959) co-starring with Romy Schneider and Henri Vidal, and Le Notti di Lucrezia Borgia/The Nights of Lucretia Borgia (Serge Grieco, 1959) starring Belinda Lee.

In Tirez sur le pianist/Shoot the Pianist (François Truffaut, 1960) she played the part of a prostitute next to Charles Aznavour. Then followed Aimez-vous Brahms/Goodbye Again (Anatole Litvak, 1961) starring Ingrid Bergman.

She continued her career in France in Symphonie pour un massacre/Symphony for a Massacre (Jacques Deray, 1963), and L’aine des Ferchaux/An Honorable Young Man
(Jean Pierre Melville, 1963) with Jean-Paul Belmondo.

She sometimes worked in England, but more often in Italy. There she appeared in such films as Gli anni ruggenti/Roaring Years (Luigi Zampa, 1962), I Mostri/The Monsters (Dino Risi, 1963), and Alta infedeltà/High Infidelity (Mario Monicelli, 1964).

She also starred in two Mario Bava films: Le Meraviglie di Aladino/The Wonders of Aladdin (1961) and I tre volti della paura/The Three Faces of Fear (1963), in the sketch The Telephone.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/127.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 472. Photo: Sam Lévin.


Vintage postcard.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/32. Photo: Sam Lévin.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/295. Photo: Georg Michalke.

Angélique

Michèle Mercier needed a role which could make her a real star of the French cinema. In 1963 she got her chance, when producer Francis Cosne decided to make a film of the sensational novel Angélique, by Anne & Serge Golon.

Cosne considered Brigitte Bardot (refused), Annette Vadim (too unknown), Catherine Deneuve (too pale), Jane Fonda (too American), and Virna Lisi (busy in America) for the part, but the actress he most seriously considered was Marina Vlady.

Vlady almost signed a contract, but Mercier won the role after trying out for it. She did not appreciate this very much since she was being treated like a beginner at a time when she was already well-known in Italy. At the time she was contacted to play Angélique, she had already acted in over twenty films.

Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964) enjoyed an astonishing success. During four years Mercier made a cycle of five Angélique films.

However the role of ‘the Marquise of the Angels’ proved to be both a blessing and a curse, as Ivar Kümnik writes at IMDb: "It catapulted her to almost instant stardom, rivalling Brigitte Bardot in celebrity and popularity", but the character of Angélique overshadowed all other aspects of her career. By the end of the 1960s, the names Angélique and Michèle Mercier were synonymous.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 3181, 1968. Photo: Unifrance. Publicity still for I nostri mariti/Our Husbands (Luigi Filippo D'Amico, Dino Risi, Luigi Zampa, 1966).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress, no. 2912, 1967.


East-German card by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 3201, 1968. Publicity still for I nostri mariti/Our Husbands (Luigi Filippo D'Amico, Dino Risi, Luigi Zampa, 1966).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress, no. 31/69, 1969. Photo: publicity still for Le tonnerre de Dieu/The Thunder of God (Denys de La Patellière, 1965).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 25/71, 1971. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: Progress.

You Can't Win 'Em All

Michèle Mercier attempted to break free from the Angélique character and accepted roles opposite Jean Gabin in Le tonnère de Dieu/The Thunder of God (Denys de la Patellière, 1965), and opposite Robert Hossein in La Seconde Vérité/The Other Truth (Christian-Jaque, 1966).

Mercier then left France and tried to re-start her career in the United States. She played in You Can't Win 'Em All (Peter Collinson, 1970) with Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson, but unfortunately it was a disaster.

Her private life was disastrous too. She married assistant-director André Smagghe in 1961. Sadly he turned out to be an alcoholic who was eventually hospitalised. They divorced in 1967. After a long relationship she married the well-known racing driver Claude Bourillot in 1970, but he disappeared one day with all her jewels and money, leaving her penniless. They divorced in 1976.

Her other relationships were also disastrous. She claimed that her co-star Vittorio Gassman once tried to rape her, and an Italian Prince N. refused to marry her after many years of courtship. She was also pursued by Bettino Craxi and Silvio Berlusconi.

In 1987 she published her autobiography Angélique a cœur perdu, prefaced by Roger Peyrefitte. She started a publishing house and in 1995, the photobook Merveilleuse Angélique was published. At the end of 1996 her second autobiography was released Angéliquement Votre. Unfortunately her business associate stole from her and she ended up with a large debt.

She confessed in the French newspaper Nice Matin: "I am ruined, I'll be obliged to sell part of my paintings, my furnitures, my properties, my jewels and the costumes of Angélique". After a 14-year interval she returned to the screen in La Rumbera (Piero Vivarelli, 1998).

She returned to the area where she was born, and lived in Cannes. In 2002 another autobiography Je ne suis pas Angélique/I am not Angélique was published.

On TV, she played parts in the Italian series Il Bello delle Donna/The Beauty of Women (Luigi Parisi a.o., 2003) with Stefania Sandrelli and Gabriel Garko, the Russian war series Krasnaya kapella (2004) and the French comedy series Vénus & Apollon/Venus and Apollo (Pascal Lahmani, 2009) with Maria de Medeiros.

In 2011, she returned to the cinema in Celles qui aimaient Richard Wagner/Those Who Love Richard Wagner (Jean-Louis Guillermou, 2011) featuring Jean-François Balmer as the famous composer. In 2013 followed the TV series La Famille Katz/The Katz family (Arnauld Mercadier, 2013), for now her last screen appearance.

In 2006, Michèle Mercier was decorated with the French order of Chevalier dans l'Ordre national des Arts et lettres. In his speech the Minister of the Culture reverted to her "immense popular success" in the mythical series Angélique, in which she personified a "liberated woman, sensual and strong".


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Photo: publicity still for Angelique et le sultan/Angelique and the sultan (Bernard Borderie, 1966) with Jean-Claude Pascal.


French photo by Francos Film - C.I.C.C. (Paris), Gloria Film (Munich), Fono Roma (Rome). Publicity still for Indomptable Angélique/Untamable Angelique (Bernard Borderie, 1967).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Photo: publicity still for Indomptable Angelique/Untamable Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1967) with Robert Hossein.


Trailer of I tre volti della paura/Black Sabbath (1963). Source: Danios12345 (YouTube).


'Mini-trailer' for the film film Une veuve en or/A golden widow (Michel Audiard, 1969). Michèle Mercier sings La Fille Qui Fait Tchic Ti Tchic. Source: Jinoschka (YouTube).

Sources: Ivar Kümnik (IMDb), Wikipedia, Michèle Mercier’s Fansite, and IMDb.