European Film Star Postcards

Olivia de Havilland (1916) is a Japanese-born British-American former actress, whose career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films, and was one of the leading stars during the golden age of Classical Hollywood. She is best known for her early screen performances in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Gone with the Wind (1939), and her later award-winning performances in To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948), and The Heiress (1949).

Belgian postcard by Victoria, Brussels, no. 639/24. Photo: Paramount.

British Real Photo postcard, no. 163. Photo: Warner Bros. / Vitaphone Pictures.

French postcard by Viny, no. 124. Photo: Warner Bros.

British Real Photograph postcard, no. 253.

German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 294. Photo: Paramount.

An intense crush on Errol Flynn

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born in 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, to British parents. Her mother was the former film and stage actress Lilian Fontaine (Lilian Augusta Ruse), and her father was an English professor and patent attorney, Walter Augustus de Havilland. He was the author of the 1910 book The ABC of Go, which provides a detailed and comprehensive description of the Japanese board game. Her sister, Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year.

Her surname comes from her paternal grandfather, whose family was from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Her parents divorced when Olivia was just three years old, and she moved with her mother and sister to Saratoga, California. At her high school, she fell prey to the acting bug. She made her acting debut in amateur theatre in Alice in Wonderland.

After graduating, Olivia enrolled in Mills College in Oakland, where she participated in the school play A Midsummer Night's Dream and was spotted by Austrian director Max Reinhardt. She so impressed Reinhardt that he picked her up for both his stage version and, later, the Warner Bros. film version in 1935. She again was so impressive that Warner executives signed her to a seven-year contract.

No sooner had the ink dried on the contract than Olivia appeared in three more films: The Irish in Us (Lloyd Bacon, 1935) with James Cagney, Alibi Ike (Ray Enright, 1935), and Captain Blood (Michael Curtiz, 1935), with the man with whom her career would be most closely identified, heartthrob Errol Flynn.

They acted together in seven more films: The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz, William Keighley, 1938), The Charge of the Light Brigade (Michael Curtiz, 1936), Four's a Crowd (Michael Curtiz, 1938), Dodge City (Michael Curtiz, 1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (Michael Curtiz, 1939), Santa Fe Trail (Michael Curtiz, 1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941). Both are also featured in a ninth film, Thank Your Lucky Stars (David Butler, 1943), although in separate scenes. Years later, she confessed that she had an intense crush on Errol Flynn during the years of their filming, saying that it was hard to resist his charms.

French postcard, no. 706. Photo: Warner Bros.

French postcard by Viny, no. 124. Photo: Warner Bros.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 285. Photo: Warner Bros.

Olivia de Havilland in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)

Vintage postcard. Photo: publicity still for The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936).

An all-out feud between two sisters

Olivia de Havilland achieved her initial popularity in romantic comedy films, such as The Great Garrick (1937), directed by James Whale. In 1939 Warner Bros. loaned her to David O. Selznick for the classic Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Playing the sweet Melanie Hamilton, Olivia received her first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, only to lose out to one of her co-stars in the film, Hattie McDaniel.

After GWTW, Olivia returned to Warner Bros. and continued to churn out films. In 1941 she played Emmy Brown opposite Charles Boyer in Hold Back the Dawn (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), which resulted in her second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress. Again she lost, this time to her sister Joan Fontaine for her role in Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941).

Relations between the sisters were never strong and their mutual dislike and jealousy escalated into an all-out feud after Fontaine won the Oscar. Despite the fact that de Havilland went on to win two Academy Awards of her own, they remained estranged. In a rare act of reconciliation, Olivia and her sister Joan celebrated Christmas 1962 together along with their then-husbands and children.

Denny Jackson at IMDb: "After that strong showing (in Hold Back the Dawn), Olivia now demanded better, more substantial roles than the "sweet young thing" slot into which Warners had been fitting her. The studio responded by placing her on a six-month suspension, all of the studios at the time operating under the policy that players were nothing more than property to do with as they saw fit.

As if that weren't bad enough, when her contract with Warners was up, she was told that she would have to make up the time lost because of the suspension. Irate, she sued the studio, and for the length of the court battle she didn't appear in a single film. The result, however, was worth it. In a landmark decision, the court said not only that de Havilland did not have to make up the time, but that all performers were to be limited to a seven-year contract that would include any suspensions handed down. This became known as the 'de Havilland decision'; no longer could studios treat their performers as mere cattle."

Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland in Gone with the wind (1939)

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 348. Photo: David O'Selznick Production / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) with Leslie Howard.

Leslie Howard, Olivia De Havilland and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the wind (1939)

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 345. Photo: David O'Selznick Production / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) with Leslie Howard and Vivien Leigh. Caption: Bridal scene from Gone with the Wind.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 247. Photo: publicity still for Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) with Leslie Howard.

Belgian collectors card by De Beukelaer, Antwerp, no. A 35. Photo: Paramount. De Havilland is dressed in an outfit for The Heiress (William Wyler, 1949).

The Oldest Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Returning to screen in 1946, Olivia de Havilland made up for lost time by appearing in four films, one of which finally won her the Oscar that had so long eluded her. It was the romantic drama To Each His Own (Mitchell Leisen, 1946), in which she played Josephine Norris to the delight of critics and audiences alike. Olivia was the strongest performer in Hollywood for the balance of the 1940s.

In 1948 she turned in another strong showing in The Snake Pit (Anatole Litvak, 1948) as Virginia Cunningham, a woman suffering a mental breakdown. The end result was another Oscar nomination for Best Actress, but she lost to Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (Jean Negulesco, 1948). As in the two previous years, she made only one film in 1949, but she again won a nomination and the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Heiress (William Wyler, 1949) with Montgomery Clift.

After a three-year hiatus, de Havilland returned to star in My Cousin Rachel (Henry Koster, 1952) with Richard Burton. From that point on, she made few appearances on the screen but was seen on Broadway and in some television shows. In the cinema, she was seen in the romantic drama Light in the Piazza (Guy Green, 1962), and the psychological thriller Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (Robert Aldrich, 1964) opposite Bette Davis.

Her last screen appearance was as the Queen Mother in The Fifth Musketeer (Ken Annakin, 1979), and her final career appearance was in the TV movie The Woman He Loved (Charles Jarrott, 1988) about the love story between American divorcee Wallis Simpson and Edward VII.

Olivia de Havilland married and divorced twice: her first husband was writer Marcus Goodrich (1946-1953) and her second writer-husband was Pierre Galante (1955-1979), an executive editor for the French journal Paris Match. With both husbands, she had a child. She lost her son, Benjamin Goodrich (1949), to Hodgkin's disease in 1991. With Galante, she had daughter Gisèle Galante (1956). The former couple remained close friends, and after Galante became ill with cancer, she nursed him until his death in 1998.

Since the mid-1950s, she lives in Paris in France. In 1962, she showed flair as a writer with 'Every Frenchman Has One', a light-hearted autobiographical account of her attempts at adapting to French life. Two weeks before her 101st birthday, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for services to Drama. She is the oldest woman ever to receive the honour. In a statement, she called it "the most gratifying of birthday presents." Today, Olivia de Havilland enjoys a quiet retirement in Paris.

Dutch postcard by Foto-archief Film en Toneel, no. 3283. Photo: Paramount.

Dutch postcard by DRC. Photo: Paramount / mpea.

French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 285. Photo: Paramount Pictures, 1950.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbone Korès 'Carboplane', no. 328. Photo: Paramount, 1953.

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

In Tugboat Annie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933), Marie Dressler features as the 'old sea cow' Annie Brennan, the tugboat captain of the title. Dressler gives a funny and touching performance. The film became one of the top moneymakers of the depression era, and was beloved by the public as well as the critics. Film Weekly published a little series of postcards on the film.

Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler in Tugboat Annie (1933)

British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tugboat Annie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) with Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler.

Marie Dressler, Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan in Tugboat Annie (1933)

British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tugboat Annie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) with Marie Dressler, Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Queen of the box office despite her weight and age

Tugboat Annie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) is based on stories about a female tugboat captain, written by Norman Reilly Raine and published in the Saturday Evening Post.

The film was the second and last teaming of Marie Dressler with Wallace Beery after their big hit with the bittersweet Min And Bill (George W. Hill, 1930), for which Dressler won an Oscar.

Here, Beery is her often-drunk husband and together the comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple operate the tugboat Narcissus. Robert Young is their grown son, ashamed of his drunken father, and Maureen O'Sullivan is his fiancee.

With their chemistry and craft, Dressler and Beery pull off the slightly weak and episodic story. Despite her age and weight, Marie Dressler was queen of the box office when she made this film. She was beloved by millions of film fans.

Dressler would follow this up with her very grand performance in Dinner at Eight (George Cukor, 1933), where she was briefly reunited with Beery for one scene. After one more film, she would retire due to her terminal illness. She would die of cancer in 1934.

There was a sequel called Tugboat Annie Sails Again (Lewis Seiler, 1940), with Marjorie Rambeau as the widowed Annie. But Tugboat Annie remains one of the finest and most fondly remembered performances of Marie Dressler.

Maureen O'Sullivan, Robert Young, Paul Hurst, Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery in Tugboat Annie (1933)

British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tugboat Annie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) with Maureen O'Sullivan, Robert Young, Paul Hurst, Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery.

Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery and Paul Hurst in Tugboat Annie (1933)

British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Tugboat Annie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) with Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, and Paul Hurst.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) was the first English-language film for Vienna-born Elisabeth Bergner. The historical film was directed by Bergner's husband Paul Czinner and - uncredited - by producer Alexander Korda. Tsar Peter was played by Douglas Fairbanks Junior. Although the film was overshadowed by Josef von Strernberg's masterpiece The Scarlet Empress (1934) with Marlene Dietrich, The Rise of Catherine the Great is a good film taken on its own merits.

Elisabeth Bergner in The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934)

British postcard by De Reszke Cigarettes, no. 24. Photo: British and Dominions. Publicity still for The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934) with Elisabeth Bergner.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934)

British postcard by Valentine's, no. 5904 N. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

The way to the assumption of the throne

The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934) is a straightforward biography of the Russian empress, up to her assumption of the throne. It was based on the play The Czarina by two Hungarian writers, Lajos Bíró and Melchior Lengyel.

In 1745 a German princess, Princess Sophie Auguste Frederika of Anhalt-Zerbst (Elisabeth Bergner), is summoned by Russian Empress Elizabeth (Flora Robson) to marry her nephew, the Russian heir. Elizabeth chose Sophie because of dynastic claims to Swedish and Baltic territories of the Romanov Family dealing with their Holstein blood connections - connections that Anhalt-Zerbst shared.

The young princess arrives at the court of imperial Russia to marry Grand Duke Pyotr (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), who later became Peter III. Sophie, renamed Yekaterina, generally rendered in English as Catherine, initially likes him. But Peter already displays signs of mental instability and a sharply misogynist streak.

Peter rejects Catherine on their wedding night, reacting to something innocently said by his French valet, claiming that she used feminine tricks to win him over. In time, though, Peter accepts her and they have a happy marriage for a while. Meanwhile, Catherine gains important experience of government from working as principal aide to the empress.

Peter's suspicious, unstable nature gradually estranges them, and he finds solace with pretty courtiers. Catherine invents her own fictitious lovers, to make her husband jealous, which temporarily improves matters. But accession to the throne brings out the worst in Peter. After the death of the old Empress, the danger for Catherine increases and she must learn to be very cunning in order to save herself from her insane royal husband.

In reality, Catherine and Peter's marriage lasted for seventeen years, but in the film this period is greatly telescoped and no mention is made of their children. Their son Paul eventually became Tsar after Catherine's death, even though he was nearly as mad as his father.

Peter ascended the throne in 1762. As the Tsar, he proved to be a disaster, and within a few months he was removed from power by a military coup, dying in mysterious circumstances shortly afterwards. The coup plotters invited Catherine to become Empress in her own right. Catherine became the Tsarina Catherine the Great and would rule over Russia for more than 30 years. She became a benign dictator, brought Russia into the modern world, implemented several reforms, and corresponded with Voltaire.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Diana Napier in Catherine the Great (1934)

British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934). Although the postcard credits the kissing lady as Elisabeth Bergner, we think she is Diana Napier who portrays Countess Vorontzova, the mistress of Peter III (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.).

British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Diana Napier.

A homicidal Hamlet

The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) was the first English-language film for Vienna-born Elisabeth Bergner. She is radiant as the obscure German princess who would become the most powerful woman in Russian history. Bergner definitely makes Catherine interesting and worth caring about.

As Grand Duke Peter - later Czar Peter III - Douglas Fairbanks Jr. behaves like a homicidal Hamlet, all moodiness and flares of deadly temper. He makes an interesting effort to create a charmer out of a pathetic man who was obviously a maniac.

The supporting cast is excellent. DameFlora Robson is wonderful as the Empress Elizabeth: suspicious, domineering and rather wanton. Robson portrays Tsarina Elizabeth as a tired, dying woman, desperate to try to save the dynasty and her nation but aware of the rotten material she has to work with. She has the best lines and delivers them impressively.

Celebrated stage actress Dame Irene Vanbrugh makes a rare screen appearance as Catherine's mother. Vanbrugh was a stage star of the 1890s till the 1920s. She was in the original cast of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. The small role of Peter's French valet is performed by Sir Gerald du Maurier, one of the great English actor-managers of the early days of the century. In this, his penultimate role, a few months from his death, Sir Gerald had become largely forgotten by his once enormous public. He gives his few lines great dignity.

The mid-eighteenth century was a period when clothes and furnishings favoured by the wealthy classes of Europe were particularly fanciful and elaborate, and this is reflected in the lavish sets and costumes on view in the film.

The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) was overshadowed by the Hollywood epic The Scarlet Empress (1934), directed by Joseph Von Sternberg and starring a glamorous Marlene Dietrich. However, The Rise of Catherine the Great is still a good effort that is worth watching.

Irene Vanbrugh, and Elisabeth Bergner in Catherine the Great (1934)

British postcard in the Filmshots series by Film Weekly. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934) with Irene Vanbrugh as Princess Anhalt-Zerbst, and Elisabeth Bergner.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Flora Robson and Elisabeth Bergner in Catherine the Great (1934)

Elisabeth Bergner. British cigarette card in the Stars of Screen & Stage series by Park Drive Cigarettes, Gallaher Ltd., London & Belfast, no. 17. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for The Rise of Catherine the Great (Paul Czinner, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Sources: Ron Oliver (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Richard Lund (1885–1960) was a Swedish film and theatre actor, who had a prolific career in the films of Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller. He starred in such Swedish silent films as Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919).

Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, no. 12. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Richard Lund in Sir Arne's Treasure (1919)

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no 1078/1. Richard Lund as Sir Archi(e) in Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919).

The first film that influenced the public debate

Richard Lund was born in Göteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden, in 1885.

He made his stage debut at the Stora Teatern (The Old Theatre) in Göteborg in 1904. He later came to work in ensembles under such varied theatre directors as Hjalmar Selander, Ivan Hedqvist and Karl Gerhard. In 1909 he played in a stage adaptation of Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin at the Stockholm Oscarteatern.

In 1912 Lund began his – long-lasting - career as a film actor and would appear in 73 films between 1912 and 1952. He played his most important roles during the silent film era. He debuted at the company Svenska Biografteatern in Victor Sjöström’s film Ett hemligt giftermål eller Bekännelsen på dödsbädden/A Secret Marriage or Confession on His Deathbed (1912), distributed in the US as A Ruined Life, and with Hilda Borgström in the female lead. The film also was the debut for actress Greta Almroth.

Lund became a regular at Svenska Bio, often cast as the young, handsome love interest. In 1913 he acted in Mauritz Stiller’s smuggler’s drama På livets ödesvägar/The Smugglers/ The Fisherman’s Son (1913) with the Danish actors Carloand Clara Wieth. It was followed by a series of films by Victor Sjöström: Löjen och tårar/Laughter and Tears (1913), Livets konflikter/The Conflicts of Life (1913), Lady Marions sommarflirt/Lady Marion's Summer Flirtation (1913), and Ingeborg Holm (1913). Apart from Löjen och tårar, Hilda Borgström was his co-star in all these films.

Mauritz Stiller directed Richard Lund in the films Gränsfolken/Brother against Brother (1913) and Den moderna suffragetten/The Modern Suffragette (1913). Then followed Blodets röst/The Voice of Passion (Victor Sjöström, 1913) with Sjöström himself in the lead.

While many of these films are lost, Ingeborg Holm (Victor Sjöström, 1913) remains and shows the troubles of a grocer’s widow (Hilda Borgström) who falls down the social ladder and is forced to move to the poor house where her children are taken from her. Lund plays the doctor at the poor house. With its social critique, it was the first film in Sweden - and possibly globally - that influenced the public debate and brought about changes. It is also remarkable for its restrained performance and sophisticated staging.

Swedish postcard by Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 212. Photo: Atelier Gösta Hard.

Swedish postcard by Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 213. Photo: Atelier Gösta Hard.

An incomplete copy found in Zaragoza

In 1914, Richard Lund’s career at Svenska Bio was confirmed in 1914 with Stormfågeln/Stormy Petrel (Mauritz Stiller, 1914) starring Lilli Bech (or Beck), and För sin kärleks skull/Because of Her Love (1914) with Lilli Bech and Victor Sjöström.

That year, he also appeared in five films by Victor Sjöström: Prästen/The Clergyman (1914) with Egil Eide and Clara Wieth, Kärlek starkare än hat eller Skogsdotterns hemlighet/The Poacher (1914) with John Ekman, Hjärtan som mötas/Hearts That Meet (1914) with Alfred Lundberg and Karin Molander, Dömen icke/Judge Not (1914) with Nils Arehn and Hilda Borgström, and Bra flicka reder sig själv/A Good Girl Keeps Herself in Good Order (1914) with Clara Wieth.

In 1915 followed ten new films. Lund made again five films with Sjöström: Strejken/The Strike (1915), Skomakare, bliv vid din läst/Stick to Your Last, Shoemaker (1915), Landshövdingens döttrar/The Governor's Daughters (1915), I prövningens stund/In the Hour of Trial (1915), and Det var i maj/It Was in May (1915).

He also made four films with Mauritz Stiller: Lekkamraterna/Playmates (1915), Hämnaren/The Avenger (1915), Hans hustrus förflutna/His Wife's Past (1915), Hans bröllopsnatt/His Wedding Night (1915). He also appeared in Hans faders brott/His Father's Crime (Fritz Magnussen, 1915).

From 1916, the number of films in which Lund played went down but some of his most memorable film titles date from the late 1910s and early 1920s. In 1916, he played in Lyckonålen/The Lucky Brooch (Mauritz Stiller, 1916), Kärlek och journalistik/Love and Journalism (Mauritz Stiller, 1916), Kampen om hans hjärta/The Fight for His Heart (Mauritz Stiller, 1916) and Havsgamar/Predators of the Sea (Victor Sjöström, 1916).

Lund also acted Balettprimadonnan/Anjala the Dancer (Mauritz Stiller, 1916) opposite the debuting Jenny Hasselqvist and rising star Lars Hanson, who had debuted in 1915. The film deals with a violin player (Hanson) who discovers a peasant girl (Hasselqvist) and promotes her as a dancer but a scheming count (Lund) separates the two by offering the violin player a training abroad. Balettprimadonnan was an international success and distributed all over the world. Two copies of the film sent by ship to England disappeared when the ship was torpedoed and sunk in autumn 1917. The film was long considered as lost, but in 1995 an incomplete copy of the film was found in Zaragoza in Spain and restored and reconstructed, using still images and copyright information.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1078/8. Richard Lund, Bror Berger and Erik Stocklassa in Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919). Caption: On the Lookout.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1078/12. Richard Lund and Mary Johnson in the Swedish silent film Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919). Caption: They have come now to arrest you, escape!

The Masterpiece of the Swedish Silent Cinema

In 1917, Richard Lund did not act in any films by Stiller nor Sjöström, but instead in two by Fritz Magnussen, one by Egil Eide (who had become director) and two by Konrad Tallroth. No films with Lund were released in 1918.

In 1919, Lund appeared in his best-known film role, that of Sir Archie in Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919). In this crime-drama based on Selma Lagerlöf’s novel 'The Treasure', and set on the Swedish coast in the 16th century, Lund is a Scottish mercenary who, together with his cronies Sir Donald (Bro Berger) and Sir Filip (Erich Stocklassa), has escaped from a Scottish prison and fled to Sweden. There, he murders the family of Sir Arne to obtain a treasure, after which he unknowingly starts an affair with the daughter of the murdered family, Elsalill (Mary Johnson).

Sir Arne’s Treasure still goes as one of - if not the - masterpiece(s) of the Swedish silent cinema. Jerzy Toeplitz wrote in his 'Geschichte des Films' (1972): “As with Sjöström, Nature plays a leading role in Stiller's film. Already in the first images, the snow creates the atmosphere of the action. In the tragic finale, the sea becomes a contributor. In the small port of Marstrand lies the ship that should return the Scots to their home. But it is wedged by ice floes.

When the situation is strained to the utmost because the forces of nature cannot be conquered, in the city the news spreads that the criminals want to flee. In the battle with the town guards, Elsalill dies and Sir John Archie is captured. A long train of gray-clad women arrives at the ship to take off the corpse of Elsalill, after which the ice bursts and the occupied ship begins to move. Too late the silent, dangerous sea shows up.”

Next, Lund acted as the antagonist in Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920), based on an 1828 short story by Franz Grillparzer. It deals with a monk (Tore Svennberg) who tells two visitors how the convent was built by a repentant count who killed his unfaithful and treacherous wife (Tora Teje) after he had discovered she had a long-standing affair with her cousin Oleg (Richard Lund) and even his child was not his own. The monk proves to be the count himself. In Germany a competing version was made in 1919 by Union, starring Ellen Richter and Eduard von Winterstein, and causing a fierce battle over the release over the two films in Sweden.

Tora Teje and Richard Lund in Klostret i Sendomir (1920)

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/6. Photo: publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Richard Lund.

Tore Svennberg, Richard Lund and Tora Teje in Klostret i Sendomir (1920)

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/11. Photo: publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tore Svennberg, Richard Lund and Tora Teje.

A foundling left at the university gate

Richard Lund’s following film was Carolina Rediviva (Ivan Hedqvist, 1920), a film set in the Uppsala university world, in which Renée Björling plays a foundling, whose mother Lina has left her at the university gate, to be adopted by students, and whose identity once revealed causes scandal in the academic world. Lund is Björling’s love interest.

In Det omringade huset/The Surrounded House (Victor Sjöström, 1922). Lund was the brother of the leading character Mary (Meggie Albanesi), while co-actors were Victor Sjöström, Uno Henning and Ivan Hedqvist. Lund’s last silent films were Livet på landet/Life in the Country (Ivan Hedqvist, 1924), Farbror Frans/Uncle Frans (Sigurd Wallén, 1926), and Dollarmillionen (Sigurd Wallén, 1926).

Lund easily made the passage to Swedish sound cinema, starting with Konstgjorda Svensson (Gustaf Edgren, 1929), although that was a part-talkie. Lund also had a major part in Hjärtats röst (Rune Carlsen, 1930), shot at Les Studios Paramount outside Paris, and based on Alden Arthur Knipes’ novel 'Sarah and Son', which had been filmed in the US under its original title in 1930 by Dorothy Arzner.

However, in the 1930s Lund’s prime was past and his parts became smaller as in Valborgsmässoafton/Walpurgis Night (Gustav Edgren 1935), starring Lars Hanson, Victor Sjöström and a young Ingrid Bergman. Until 1952 Lund continued to act small parts, even uncredited, in Swedish sound films, all in all, some 35 films from 1930 onwards.

Still, it was clear Richard Lund had peaked in the silent era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Lund died in Mölndal in 1960.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1116/1. Photo: publicity still of Renée Björling and Richard Lund in Carolina Rediviva (1920), directed by Ivan Hedqvist, who also played one of the leads.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1116/2. Photo: publicity still for Carolina Rediviva (Ivan Hedqvist, 1920) with Renée Björling and Richard Lund.

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 255. Photo: Gösta Hard.

Sources: The Swedish Film database, Wikipedia (Swedish and English), and IMDb.

Renée Björling (1888-1975) was a Swedish film and stage actress, who peaked in the Swedish silent cinema. Later she also played small parts in Ingmar Bergman's films and also in his stage plays.

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1116/4. Renée Björling in the Swedish silent film Carolina Rediviva (1920), directed by Ivan Hedqvist, who also played one of the leads.

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, no. 1190. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1275. Photo: M. Benkow, Atelier Kronen, Stockholm.

Swedish postcard by Exclusive Ljunggrens Konstförlag, Stockholm, No. 220. Photo: Atelier Gösta Hard.

The Quest for Happiness

Renée Louise Björling was born in 1888 in Lovö, Sweden. Her mother was actress Manda Björling (1876–1960). Her half-sister was opera singer Sigurd Björling (1907–1983).

Renée Björling debuted in 1909 on stage and studied stage acting in 1915-1917 at the Dramatens elevskola. Afterwards she acted at various theatres, e.g. the Nya Teatern, Lorensbergsteatern and the Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern (now Dramaten).

As film actress, she debuted in Fadren/Father (Anna Hofman-Uddgren, 1912), based on a play by August Strindberg. Björling played Bertha, daughter of the protagonist Adolf (August Falck). Afterwards she acted e.g. in the title role in Dunungen/The Quest for Happiness (Ivan Hedqvist, 1919) opposite Hedqvist himself, as Dortka in Victor Sjöström’s Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (1920) with Tore Svennberg and Tora Teje, and as the lead of Carol[in]a in Carolina Rediviva (Ivan Hedqvist, 1920) with, again, Hedqvist himself.

Her silent career continued to flower with films such as En vildfagel/Give Me My Son (John W. Brunius, 1920) with Tore Svennberg, Vallfarten till Kevlaar/The Pilgrimage to Kevlaar (Ivan Hedqvist, 1921) with Torsten Bergström, and Fröken Fob (Elis Ellis, 1923) with Rudolph Forster.

Later films include Norrtullsligan/The Nurtull Gang (Per Lindberg, 1923) with Tora Teje, Carl XIIs Kurir/King Karl XII's Courier (Rudolph Antoni, 1924) with Gösta Ekmanand Nils Asther,Livet pa landet/Life in the Country (Ivan Hedqvist, 1924), Halta Lena och Vindögda Per/Limping Lena and Cockeyed Peter (Sigur Wallén, 1925), and Tva konungar/Two Kings (Elis Ellis, 1925).

Her last silent parts were in the farce Charlis tant/Charlie's Aunt (Elis Ellis, 1926), and Gustav Wasa del I/Gustav Wasa, Part One (John W. Brunius, 1928) with Gösta Ekman in the lead.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1091/1. Publicity still for the Swedish silent film Dunungen/In Quest of Happiness (Ivan Hedqvist 1919), starring Renée Björling and Ragnar Widestedt.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1091/?. Photo: publicity still for the Swedish silent film Dunungen/In Quest of Happiness (Ivan Hedqvist, 1919), based on a novel by Selma Lagerlöf. The man in the middle is director Ivan Hedqvist as Theodor and the lady on the left is Jenny Tschernichin-Larsson, who plays Teodor's mother.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1091/10. Photo: publicity still for the Swedish silent film Dunungen/In Quest of Happiness (Ivan Hedqvist 1919), starring Renée Björling and Ivan Hedqvist.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1091/12. Publicity still for the Swedish silent film Dunungen/In Quest of Happiness (Ivan Hedqvist 1919), starring Renée Björling, Ivan Hedqvist and Ragnar Widestedt.

Ingmar Bergman

In the early 1930s, Renée Björling played parts in Vi som gar köksvägen/Servant's Entrance (Gustav Molander 1932) and the sequel Vi som går kjøkkenveien/We who walk the kitchen path (Tancred Ibsen, 1933). During the war years, Björling had two leads in Gustav Molander's Striden går vidare/The Fight Continues (1941) opposite Victor Sjöström, and in Släkten är bäst/The family is best (Ragnar Falck, 1944) with Sigurd Wallén.

Björling also appeared in small parts in several films of Ingmar Bergman. She was Aunt Elisabeth in Sommarlek/Summer Interlude (Ingmar Bergman, 1961) starring Maj-Britt Nilsson, and also appeared in Sommaren med Monika/Summer with Monica (Ingmar Bergman, 1953) starring Harriet Andersson, in En lektion i kärlek/A Lesson in Love (Ingmar Bergman, 1954) with Eva Dahlbeck, and in Kvinnodröm/Dreams (Ingmar Bergman, 1955). Bergman also directed Björling four times at the Dramaten, e.g. in 1964 in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.

Among her later films were Sceningang/Stage Door (Bengt Ekerot, 1958), written by Erland Josephson, and Kvinnen i leopard/The Woman with the Fur Coat (Jan Molander, 1958), starring Harriet Andersson. She also acted twice on television, in the 1955 American TV series Foreign Intrigue, and as Mrs. Higgins in Pygmalion in 1968, starring Gunnar Björnstrand (Henry Higgins) and Harriet Andersson (Eliza Doolittle). On stage she had already played Mrs. Higgins at the Dramaten in 1952, opposite Lars Hanson and Anita Björk.

At the Dramaten, she acted in some 130 stage plays. Her partners included Gunnar Björnstrand (e.g. Molière's L'Avare in 1935), Lars Hanson (e.g. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in 1936), Anita Björk (e.g. L'Invitation au Château by Jean Anouilh in 1951), Jarl Kulle (e.g. in Aeschylus'Oresteia in 1954), or Gunn Wållgren (e.g. in Ivanov by Anton Chekhov in 1957).

Björling worked several times with Alf Sjöberg at Dramaten. First as an actor (e.g. in Madame Sans-Gêne by Victorien Sardou and Émile Moreau in 1927), and then as a director (e.g. in Les Mouches by Jean-Paul Sartre in 1945, with Stig Järrel and Mai Zetterling), as well as Mimi Pollak, also as an actress (e.g. in The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov in 1946) and as director (e.g. in A Flea in Her Air by Georges Feydeau in 1968).

Renée Björling stopped her film and TV career in 1968. She had played in some 40 silent and sound films. On stage, she performed for the last time at the Dramaten in 1971, in Euripides'Les Troyennes (in an adaptation by Jean-Paul Sartre), with Gunnel Lindblom and Mona Malm.

Renée Björling died in 1975 in Täby. She lies buried at Skogskyrkogården cemetery in Stockholm. From 1925 to 1932 she had been married to captain Gunnar Ursell and had a daughter Monica with him. Her granddaughter is opera singer Malena Ernman.

Renée Björling and Tora Teje in Klostret i Sendomir (1920)

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/3. Photo: publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Renée Björling and Tora Teje.

Tora Teje and Renée Björling in Klostret i Sendomir (1920)

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/4. Photo: publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tora Teje and Renée Björling.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1116/1. Renée Björling and Richard Lund in Carolina Rediviva (Ivan Hedqvist, 1920).

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1116/2. Photo: publicity still for Carolina Rediviva (Ivan Hedqvist, 1920) with Richard Lund.

Pauline Brunius, Tore Svennberg, Renée Björling, Paul Seelig in En vildfagel (1921)

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, no.288, Stockholm. Photo: Skandia-Film / Svensk Filmindustri. Publicity still for the drama En vildfågel/My adopted son (John W. Brunius, 1921) with Pauline Brunius, Tore Svennberg, Renée Björling and Paul Seelig.

Sources: Svensk Filmdatabas (Swedish), Wikipedia (Swedish, English and German) and IMDb.

AB Svenska Biografteatern, also called Svenska Bio, was a film company operating between 1907 and 1919. During the 1910s, Svenska Bio became internationally recognised with films directed by the former stage directors Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller. In 1913, Sjöström directed Ingeborg Holm (1913), which is now considered the first classic of Swedish cinema. A year later, Svenska Bio introduced feature films in the Swedish cinema. In 1919 Svenska Bio merged with Filmindustri AB Skandia and continued its operations as Svensk Filmindustri AB.

Mary Johnson. Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1054. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.

Harriet Bosse. Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1056. Photo: A.B. Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm.

Lili Beck. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 10. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Victor Sjöström. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 12. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Richard Lund. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 13. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 14. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm. Lars Hanson's last name is spelled Hansson on this card.

The first Swedish film studio

Sweden has only a small population, but no other country matched the fame of the Swedish cinema furing the 1910 and 1920. The main Swedish studio at the time was AB Svenska Biografteatern, or Svenska Bio.

AB Svenska Biografteatern was formed in 1907 through a conversion of Handelsbolaget Kristianstad Biograf-Teater with a share capital of SEK 150,000 and Nils H. Nylander as the first CEO. At first, the company owned about twenty cinemas and had 170 employees.

The company was based in Kristianstad and engaged in production, distribution and exhibition of films. Svenska Bio produced the first Swedish city films in 1907. These were films that portrayed the places where cinemas were opened.

In 1909, Charles Magnusson became the new CEO, and he would become the major, central figure in Swedish film life. Thanks to him, the number of cinemas grew to some forty around the country. AB Svenska Biografteatern inaugurated in March 1909 its newly built film palace in Kristianstad. In addition to the cinema Cosmorama (about 300 seats), the building also houses workshops, offices, film stores, laboratories and a film studio, that was Sweden's first. The film palace is now the Film Museum in Kristianstad.

Four years later Svenska Bio was the only mahor player in the Swedish producvtion market. Pathé withdrew after a clash with the the Swedish censorship board. Most smaller film companies went bankrupt when multiple film-reel became the new film mode. So Svenska Bio became a monopolist in Sweden and even began to export films to other European nations.

John Ekman. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 18. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Jenny Larsson aka Jenny Tschernichin-Larsson. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 19. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Stina Berg. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 21. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Albin Lavén. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 22. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Adolf Niska. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 25. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

Karin Molander. Swedish postcard by Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm, no. 71. Photo: Ferd. Flodin, Stockholm.

The earliest masterpiece in the Swedish silent film

In 1911 Svenska Bio moved to Lidingö, a municipality east of Stockholm. In 1912, three directors were working at the studio: Georg af Klercker, who was also the studio manager, and the stage directors Mauritz Stiller and Victor Sjöström. Magnusson had hired them both as actor-director. The two would become Sweden's most famous film pioneers.

Stiller and Sjöström came to record some sixty films in Lidingöateljén up until 1917. Ingeborg Holm (Victor Sjöström, 1913) is considered the earliest masterpiece in the Swedish silent film. The film tells the story of Ingeborg Holm who loses her mind when she loses her husband and children. The social commentary in the film lead to a heated debate about the shortcomings of poor care.

Other famous films made in Sweden during that time are Terje Vigen (Victor Sjöström, 1917) after a script by Gustaf Molander, Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru/The Outlaw and His Wife (Victor Sjöström, 1918), and Herr Arnes pengar/Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller, 1919) and others.

In 1914, the company began production and screenings of Svenska Bios weekly. These were the first Swedish film journals. In 1919 Svenska Bio bought land in Råsunda, where the studio planned to build a film city with two studios.

Later in 1919 the company joined forces with Filmindustri AB Skandia to form the new Svensk Filmindustri AB. The new company, the biggest film studio in Sweden, had its entire business gathered in the newly built film town, and owned a portfolio of 70 cinemas, then one tenth of the total number of permanent cinemas in Sweden.

A year later, the name of the Svenska Bios weekly was changed to the SF journal and continued to be produced under its new name until 1960.

Lars Hanson in Sängen om den eldröda blomman (1919)

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 550. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm. Publicity still of Lars Hanson' and Lillebil Christensen in Sängen om den eldröda blomman/The Song of the Red Flower (Mauritz Stiller, 1919).

Karin Molander in Tösen från Stormyrtorpet (1917)

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 843. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern AB. Publicity still for Tösen från Stormyrtorpet/The Girl from the Marsh Croft (Victor Sjöström, 1917), with Karin Molander. Caption: Hildur dressed up as bride.

Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru/The Outlaw and His Wife (1918)

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 844/8. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern AB. Publicity still of Victor Sjöström and Edith Erastoff in Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru/The Outlaw and His Wife (Victor Sjöström, 1918). Caption: Outside society.

Victor Sjöström in Thomas Graals bästa film (1917)

Swedish postcard by Ed. Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 876/3. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern AB. Publicity still for Thomas Graals bästa film/Thomas Graal's Best Film (Mauritz Stiller, 1917), with Victor Sjöström. Caption: The author Thomas Graal at sea.

Hauk Aabel and Stina Stockenstam in Alexander den Store

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 877/1. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern AB. Publicitity still for the comedy Alexander den Store/Alexander the Great (Mauritz Stiller, 1917) with Hauk Aabel and Stina Stockenstam. The story of the film deals with a provincial hotel cook, named Alexander the Great, in whose restaurant not only the dishes can be spicy. Caption: Alexander has rediscovered his beloved from his youth.

Lars Hanson in Sången om den eldröda blomman (1919)

Swedish postcard by Forlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 993. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern, Stockholm. Publicity still for Sången om den eldröda blomman/Flame of Life (Mauritz Stiller, 1919) with Lars Hanson'.

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1092/15. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still for Klostret i Sendomir/The Monastery of Sendomir (Victor Sjöström, 1920) with Tore Svennberg and Tora Teje.

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1093/8. Photo: Svenska Biografteatren AB. Publicity still for Karin Ingmarsdotter/God/s Way/Karin Daughter of Ingmar (Victor Sjöström, 1920), starring Tora Teje and with Nils Lundell. It is the second part in Sjöström's large-scale adaption of Selma Lagerlöf's novel 'Jerusalem', following Sons of Ingmar from the year before, and depicting chapter three and four from the novel.

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1094/4. Photo: Svenska Biografteatern. Publicity still of Karin Molander and Egil Eide in Fiskebyn/The Fishing Village/Chains (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).

Sources: Douglas Gomery, Clara Pafort-Overduin (Movie History: A Survey), Nils Kim Gustafsson (Voodoo Film - Swedish), Wikipedia (Swedish) and IMDb.

Yesterday, 15 January 2019, Swiss actor Bruno Ganz passed away. Ganz established himself in Germany, first as co-founder of the Schaubuhne Theatre company, then as a romantic lead in films. International renown came Ganz' way when he starred in Eric Rohmer's The Marquise of O (1976). Subsequent film roles ranged from Jonathan Harker in Werner Herzog's Nosferatu/Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night (1979) with Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani, to misplaced angel Damiel in Wim Wenders'Der Himmel über Berlin/Wings of Desire (1987). He also starred in international features by Franklin J. Schaffner, Jonathan Demme and Francis Ford Coppola, and he played Adolf Hitler in the Academy Award-nominated film Der Untergang/Downfall (2004). Bruno Ganz was 77.

German autograph card.

A spirited argument with Dennis Hopper about acting technique

Bruno Ganz was born in 1941 in Zürich-Seebach, Switzerland. His parents were a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother.

Bruno had decided to pursue an acting career by the time he entered university. His film debut was Der Herr mit der schwarzen Melone/The Gentleman in the Black Derby (Karl Suter, 1960), which was not a success.

He debuted at the theatre in 1961 and gained a reputation as a reflexive, charismatic and technically brilliant stage actor. In 1970 he founded with Peter Stein the theatre company 'Schaubühne' in Berlin.

In cinema, Ganz slowly became one of the best-known and most acclaimed actors in the German language. He collaborated with many of the most respected European directors of his time, most notably Eric Rohmer, Werner Herzog and especially Wim Wenders.

Probably his most memorable collaboration with Wenders was Der Amerikanische Freund/The American Friend (Wim Wenders, 1977), an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel 'Ripley's Game'. Ganz regarded it as one of his favourite films, even though he and co-star Dennis Hopper came to blows during a spirited argument about acting technique.

His performance as the angel Damiel in Der Himmel über Berlin/Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987) became so iconic, that he could make a short and silent appearance as the same character in Börn náttúrunnar (Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, 1991) without confusing the audience. Later, he would reprise the role in the sequel In weiter Ferne, so nah!/Faraway, So Close (Wim Wenders, 1993).

German autograph card. Photo: Ruth Walz.

The German-speaking actor judged 'most significant and worthy'

Bruno Ganz acted in three features nominated for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' Academy Award: Börn náttúrunnar/Children of Nature (Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, 1991), Der Untergang/Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004) and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex/The Baader Meinhof Complex (Uli Edel, 2008) with Martina Gedeck and Moritz Bleibtreu. He also appeared in a feature nominated for 'Best Picture': The Reader (Stephen Daldry, 2008) with Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes.

Der Untergang/Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004) told the story of Hitler's final days in his Berlin bunker. It grossed $92m at box offices around the world when it was released.

On stage, Ganz portrayed Dr. Heinrich Faust in Peter Stein's the 11-hour staging of 'Faust, Part One' and 'Faust, Part Two' in 2000. His great performance was also filmed for TV in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust I (Peter Schönhofer, 2001) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust II (Thomas Grimm, 2001).

Among his more recent films were Unknown (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2011) with Liam Neeson, The Counselor (Ridley Scott, 2013) with Michael Fassbinder, and he played a pseudo-scientific healer in Sally Potter's The Party (2017).

One of his last roles was in Lars von Trier's psychological horror art film The House that Jack Built (2018) on a serial killer, played by Matt Dillon.

At the time of his death, Bruno Ganz was the holder of the Republic of Austria's Iffland-Ring, a 200 years old accolade to the German-speaking actor judged 'most significant and worthy'. In 1996, Ganz inherited it from his colleague Josef Meinrad. The ring is passed from person to person, and it is not yet clear who Ganz had intended it to transfer to on the occasion of his death.

On 15 February 2019, Bruno Ganz died of colon cancer in his hometown Zürich, Switzerland. He was married to Sabine Ganz and the couple had one son, Daniel (1972). They lived separate, and Ganz's longtime companion was the photographer Ruth Walz.

Trailer Der Amerikanische Freund/The American Friend (1977). Source: Dionysus Cinema (YouTube).

Trailer Der Untergang/Downfall (2004). Source: pagontradLT (YouTube).

Trailer The House that Jack Built (2018). Source: IFC Films (YouTube).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Volker Böhm (IMDb), BBC News, Wikipedia and IMDb.

American actor, screenwriter and director John Gilbert (1899-1936) rose to fame during the silent film era and became a popular leading man known as 'The Great Lover'.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1578/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer / FaNaMet. Collection: Didier Hanson.

French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, Paris, no. 393. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925).

John Gilbert and Mae Murray in The Merry Widow (1925)

French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 383. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Film. Publicity still for The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925) with Mae Murray.

Lillian Gish and John Gilbert in La Bohème (1926)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 63/1. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) / Parufamet. Publicity still for La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926) with Lillian Gish.

Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in Flesh and the Devil (1926)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1886/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Clarence Sinclair Bull / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Flesh and the Devil (Clarence Brown, 1926) with Greta Garbo.

Turning from villain to leading man

John Gilbert was born John Cecil Pringle in Logan, Utah, in 1899. His parents, John Pringle (1865–1929) and Ida Apperly Gilbert (1877–1913), were both stock-company actors. His father was a comic with the Pringle Stock Company. John struggled through a childhood of abuse and neglect. His family moved frequently and Gilbert attended several schools throughout the United States. After his family settled in California, he attended Hitchcock Military Academy in San Rafael, California.

After he left school Gilbert worked as a rubber goods salesman in San Francisco, then as a stage manager in stock company in Spokane, Washington in 1915. He lost his job when the company folded. He decided to try acting and got work in films as an extra. Gilbert first appeared in a short directed by Wilfred Lucas, The Mother Instinct (1915). He found work as an extra with the Thomas Ince Studios on films such as the historical war drama The Coward (Reginald Barker, 1915), the drama Aloha Oe (Richard Stanton, Charles Swickard, Gilbert P. Hamilton, 1915), and William S. Hart's Western Hell's Hinges (Charles Swickard, William S. Hart, Clifford Smith, 1916).

Gilbert began to get parts at Kay-Bee Pictures, billed as 'Jack Gilbert' in the Western The Aryan (William S. Hart, Reginald Barker, Clifford Smith, 1916) with William S. Hart, and the war film Shell 43 (Reginald Barker, 1916) with H.B. Warner. He had an early leading part in Kay-Bee's The Apostle of Vengeance (William S. Hart, Clifford Smith, 1916).

His first leading role was in Princess of the Dark (Charles Miller, 1917) with Enid Bennett, but the film was not a big success and he went back to supporting roles in The Dark Road (Charles Miller, 1917), Happiness (Reginald Barker, 1917), and the drama The Hater of Men (Charles Miller, 1917). Gilbert did The White Heather (Maurice Tourneur, 1919) for Maurice Tourneur, Widow by Proxy (Walter Edwards, 1919) for Paramount, and Heart o' the Hills (Joseph De Grasse, Sidney Franklin, 1919) for Mary Pickford.

Tourneur signed him to a contract to both write and act in films. Gilbert acted in and co-wrote The White Circle (Maurice Tourneur, 1920), The Great Redeemer (Clarence Brown, Maurice Tourneur, 1921) and Deep Waters (Maurice Tourneur, 1921). As a writer only he worked on The Bait (Maurice Tourneur, 1921), starring and produced by Hope Hampton. For Hampton, Gilbert wrote and directed, but did not appear in Love's Penalty (1921).

In 1921 he signed a three-year contract with Fox Films. His popularity continued to soar and he was turning from villain to leading man. Fox gave Gilbert his first real starring part in Shame (Emmett J. Flynn, 1921). He followed it with leading roles in such films as Arabian Love (Jerome Storm, 1922) with Barbara LaMarr, Monte Cristo (Emmett J. Flynn, 1922) an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas''The Count of Monte Cristo', and A California Romance (1922). Many of these films were written by Jules Furthman.

He returned to Tourneur to costar with Lon Chaney in While Paris Sleeps (Maurice Tourneur, 1923). Back at Fox, Gilbert starred in Truxton King (Jerome Storm, 1923), St. Elmo (Jerome Storm, 1923) with Barbara LaMarr and Bessie Love, and the drama Cameo Kirby (1923), directed by John Ford, and co-starring Jean Arthur in her film debut. He appeared in The Wolf Man (Edmund Mortimer, 1923) with Norma Shearer. It was not a horror film, but the story of a man who believes he murdered his fiancee's brother while drunk.

In 1924 he signed with MGM which put him into His Hour (King Vidor, 1924), written by Elinor Glyn and co-starring Aileen Pringle. It was a big success. He followed this with such high profile films as He Who Gets Slapped (Victor Sjöström, 1924) co-starring Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer; and The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925), co-starring Mae Murray. The latter was a huge box office success.

Gilbert was once again directed by Vidor in the war epic The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925), which became the second-highest grossing silent film and the most profitable film of the silent era. His performance in this film made him a major star. Now at the height of his career, Gilbert rivalled Rudolph Valentino, another silent film era leading man, as a box office draw. Lillian Gish, who had a new contract with MGM, picked Gilbert to co-star with her in La Bohème (King Vidor, 1926). He then did another with Vidor, Bardelys the Magnificent (King Vidor, 1926).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3254/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

John Gilbert and Aileen Pringle in His Hour (1924)

Italian postcard. Photo: MGM. John Gilbert and Aileen Pringle in the American silent drama His Hour (King Vidor, 1924).

John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman in Bardelys the Magnificent (1926)

French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 322. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Production. Publicity still for Bardelys the Magnificent (King Vidor, 1926) with Eleonor Boardman.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3778/1. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for The Cossacks (George Hill, Clarence Brown, 1928).

French postcard by Europe, no. 21. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

A torrid off-screen affair

Then came Greta Garbo. In 1926, Gilbert made Flesh and the Devil (Clarence Brown, 1926), his first film with Garbo. They soon began a highly publicised, torrid off-screen affair, much to the delight of their fans. The screen chemistry between the two was incredible, and the studio publicity department worked overtime to publicise the romance between the two. The couple starred together again in Love (Edmund Goulding, 1927), and A Woman of Affairs (Clarence Brown, 1928).

When it came time to marry, John was reportedly left at the altar. His performances after that were devoid of the sparkle that he once had and he began to drink heavily. Gilbert's popularity began to wane when silent pictures gave way to talkies. Though Gilbert was often cited as one of the high-profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to talkies, his decline as a star had far more to do with studio politics and money than with the sound of his screen voice, which was rich and distinctive. Throughout his time at MGM, Gilbert frequently clashed with studio head Louis B. Mayer over creative, social and financial matters.

Audiences awaited Gilbert's first romantic role on the talking screen. The vehicle was the Ruritanian romance His Glorious Night (1929), directed by Lionel Barrymore. According to reviewers, audiences laughed nervously at Gilbert's performance. The fault was not Gilbert's voice, it was said, but the awkward scenario along with overly ardent love scenes. In one, Gilbert keeps kissing his leading lady, (Catherine Dale Owen), while saying "I love you" over and over again. The scene was parodied in the MGM musical Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952) in which a preview of the fictional The Dueling Cavalier flops disastrously.

Garbo tried to restore some of his image when she insisted that he played opposite her in Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian, 1933), but by then it was too late. Columbia Pictures gave him what would be his final chance for a comeback in The Captain Hates the Sea (Lewis Milestone, 1934). The film involves a Grand Hotel-style series of intertwining stories involving the passengers on a cruise ship and Gilbert gave a capable performance as a frustrated playwright. But the off-screen cast of heavy drinkers encouraged his alcoholism and the film was his last. By 1934, alcoholism had severely damaged Gilbert's health. He suffered a serious heart attack in December 1935, which left him in poor health. Gilbert suffered a second heart attack at his Bel Air home on 9 January 1936, which was fatal.

Gilbert was married four times. His first marriage was to Olivia Burwell (1918-1921). In February 1921, Gilbert announced his engagement to actress Leatrice Joy. They married in Tijuana in November 1921. As Gilbert had failed to secure a divorce from his first wife and the legality of Gilbert and Joy's Mexican marriage was questionable, the couple separated and had the marriage annulled to avoid a scandal. They remarried in March 1922. The marriage was tumultuous and, in June 1923, Joy filed for legal separation after she claimed that Gilbert slapped her face after a night of heavy drinking. They reconciled several months later. In August 1924, Joy, who was pregnant with the couple's first child, filed for divorce. Joy later said she left Gilbert after discovering he was having an affair with actress Laurette Taylor. Joy also claimed that Gilbert had conducted affairs with Barbara La Marr, Lila Lee and Bebe Daniels. Gilbert and Joy had a daughter, Leatrice Gilbert (1924-2015). Joy was granted a divorce in May 1925.

In 1929, Gilbert eloped with actress Ina Claire to Las Vegas. They separated in February 1931 and divorced six months later. Gilbert's fourth and final marriage was in August 1932, to actress Virginia Bruce, who had recently costarred with him on the MGM film Downstairs (Monta Bell, 1932). Bruce retired briefly from acting following the birth of their daughter Susan Ann; however, she resumed her career after their divorce in May 1934.

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 6017. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn Pictures.

John Gilbert in His Glorious Night (1929)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4510/2, 1929-1930. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for His Glorious Night (Lionel Barrymore, 1929).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5089/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Redemption (Fred Niblo, 1930).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5361/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. John Gilbert in the American pre-Code sound film Way for a Sailor (Sam Wood, 1930).

Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, Queen Christina (1933)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 194/3. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian, 1933) with Greta Garbo.

German postcard by Ross Verlag Foreign, no. 3938/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Grand Hotel (1932) was an all-star drama, directed by Edmund Goulding and produced by Irving Thalberg for M.G.M. William A. Drake wrote the screenplay based on his own play Grand Hotel (1930) which in turn was based on the German novel Menschen im Hotel (1929) by Vicki Baum. The film won an Oscar for Best Picture and was a box office hit. The phrase "Grand Hotel theme" has come to be used for any film drama following the activities of various people in a large busy place, with some characters' lives overlapping in odd ways and some of them remaining unaware of one another's existence.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7244/1, 1932-1933, distributed in Italy by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Jean Hersholt.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7249/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Greta Garbo.

Greta Garbo and John Barrymore in Grand Hotel (1932)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7285/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Greta Garbo and John Barrymore.

People come, people go. Nothing ever happens

The setting for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) is Berlin's plushest, most expensive hotel. Lewis Stone plays Doctor Otternschlag, a disfigured veteran of World War I, usually drunk and a permanent resident of the Grand Hotel. He observes: "People coming, going. Nothing ever happens". His statement proves to be false, as the film follows several guests over the course of one tumultuous day.

John Barrymore is Baron Felix von Geigern, who squandered his fortune and supports himself as a card player and occasional jewel thief. He befriends Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore), a lowly bookkeeper who is dying and has decided to spend his remaining days in the lap of luxury. Kringelein's former employer, industrialist General Director Preysing (Wallace Beery), is at the hotel to close an important deal, and he hires stenographer Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford) to assist him. She aspires to be an actress and shows Preysing some magazine photos for which she posed, implying she is willing to offer him more than typing if he advances her career.

Another guest is the eccentric Russian prima ballerina Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo), whose career is on the wane. When the Baron is in her room to steal her pearls and she returns from the theatre, he hides in her room and overhears as she talks to herself about wanting to end it all. He comes out of hiding and engages her in conversation, and Grusinskaya finds herself attracted to him. The following morning, the Baron returns Grusinskaya's jewels, and she forgives his crime. She invites him to accompany her to Vienna, an offer he accepts.

The Baron is desperate for money to pay his way out of the criminal group he had been working with. He and Kringelein get a card game going, and Kringelein wins everything, then becomes intoxicated. When he drops his wallet, the Baron stashes it in his pocket, intending to keep the winnings. However, after Kringelein begins to search for his lost belongings, the Baron – who desperately needs the money but has become very fond of Kringelein – pretends to have discovered the wallet and returns it to him.

As part of a desperate merger plan, Preysing must travel to London, and he asks Flaemmchen to accompany him. Later, when the two are in her room, which opens on to his, Preysing sees the shadow of the Baron rifling through his belongings. He confronts the Baron; the two struggle, and Preysing bludgeons the Baron with the telephone, killing him. Flaemmchen sees what happened and tells Kringelein, who confronts Preysing. He insists he acted in self-defense, but Kringelein summons the police and Preysing is arrested.

Grusinskaya departs for the train station, expecting to find the Baron waiting for her there. Meanwhile, Kringelein offers to take care of Flaemmchen, who suggests they seek a cure for his illness. As they leave the hotel, Doctor Otternschlag again observes, "Grand Hotel. Always the same. People come. People go. Nothing ever happens."

Greta Garbo and John Barrymore in Grand Hotel

Dutch postcard, no. 357. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Greta Garbo and John Barrymore. The subtitle mentions the German release title Menschen im Hotel, also the title of the book by Vicky Baum on which the film was based. The mark on the card is that of the Dutch Board of Film Censors.

Dutch postcard, no. 359. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Ferdinand Gottschalk (Pimenov), Greta Garbo (Grusinskaya) and Rafaela Ottiano (Suzette).

Dutch postcard by JosPe, no. 381. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Greta Garbo.

I want to be alone

Producer Irving Thalberg purchased the rights to Vicki Baum's novel Menschen im Hotel for $13,000 and then commissioned William Absalom Drake to adapt it for the stage. It opened on Broadway at the National Theatre on 13 November 1930 and ran for 459 performances. Pleased with its success, Thalberg had Drake and Béla Balázs write the screenplay and budgeted the project at $700,000.

Thalberg made it into MGM's first 'all star' film with an A-list of star performers: the divine Garbo, not one but two Barrymores, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, Lewis Stone, and with Jean Hersholt, Rafaela Ottiano and Ferdinand Gottschalk in sterling supporting roles. There was concern that putting so much talent into one film, instead of spreading the stars out over 4 or 5 films, would lose the studio money. But Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) was a great success, critically and financially.

Grand Hotel (1932) was seen as an artistic achievement in its art direction and production quality. The art director, Cedric Gibbons, was one of the most important and influential in the history of American film. The lobby scenes were extremely well done, portraying a 360° desk. This allowed audiences to watch the hotel action from all around the characters. It changed the way sets were made from that point onward.

Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times praised in 1932 the performances of Greta Garbo and John Barrymore, in a mostly positive review. "So far as the direction is concerned, Edmund Goulding has done an excellent piece of work, but occasionally it seems as though he relies too much on close-ups. Nevertheless he has sustained a steady momentum in darting here and there in the busy hostelry and working up to an effective dramatic pitch at the psychological moment. (...) Miss Garbo, possibly appreciating that she was supported by a galaxy of efficient performers, decided that she would do her utmost to make her role shine. And she succeeds admirably. She is stunning in her early scenes and charming in the love scene with Baron Geigern, portrayed by John Barrymore with his usual savoir faire."

More than 80 years later, Ron Oliver reviews at IMDb: "Watch how the plot weaves the threads of the characters' lives into a finished tapestry. One of the great movies. Tremendously satisfying." And Richard Gilliam at AllMovie adds: "Grand Hotel is the prototype for the all-star ensemble film and an excellent example of the rich and glamorous escapist entertainment, often from MGM, that took on enhanced prominence during the Depression. Produced by Irving Thalberg using top-end ingredients and state-of-the-art technology, it is yet another example of MGM's dominance during the 1930s for this type of film."

At the time of the shooting, there was some controversy about Greta Garbo, with her strong Swedish accent, impersonating the Russian dancer Grusinskaya, played on the stage by Eugenie Leontovich. She delivers the line "I want to be alone" and, immediately following, "I just want to be alone." Soon after, in conversation with Baron Felix von Gaigern (John Barrymore), she says "And I want to be alone." Referring to its legendary use as a characterisation of her personal reclusive life, Garbo later insisted, "I never said I want to be alone; I only said 'I want to be let alone.' There is all the difference.

British postcard by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, and John Barrymore.

British postcard by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Greta Garbo and John Barrymore.

British postcard by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, and Lionel Barrymore.

British postcard by Film Weekly. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) with Joan Crawford and John Barrymore.

Sources: Mordaunt Hall (New York Times), Ron Oliver (IMDb), Richard Gilliam (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Against expectations, the romantic epic and disaster film Titanic (1997), directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron, became the highest-grossing film in the world and won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. The gigantic success transformed the young lead actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio into super stars. Young girls the world over idolised the two lovers bound for tragedy, and the film became a hype (remember Leo Mania?). From then on, everybody seemed either to love or hate the film. 20 years after the hype, Cameron's 3-hour epic is still a spectacularly emotional and visually stunning film.

French postcard by Salut. Photo: Paramount / Fox, 1998. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) with Kate Winslet.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic (1997)

German postcard by Sunburst Merchandising GmbH, Osnabrück / Ana Anakos AG, München. Photo: Paramount / Fox, 1998. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) with Kate Winsletand Leonardo DiCaprio.

British postcard by Twentieth Century Fox / 7up, no. DD 2079A. Photo: Paramount / Fox. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Heart of the Ocean

Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) tells the tale of the legendary ship Titanic on its first and last voyage, starting on 15 April 1912 at 2:20 in the morning. The film starts with a group searching the wreck of the RMS Titanic for treasures. They especially look for a necklace set with a valuable blue diamond called the Heart of the Ocean. Unsuccessful, they instead discover a drawing of a young woman wearing the Heart of the Ocean, dated the day the Titanic sank.

101-year-old Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart) learns of the drawing on television, and contacts Lovett to inform him she is the woman in the drawing. She and her granddaughter Lizzy Calvert are flown to the boat where the search is being led to tell of what she remembers to help the search. When asked if she knew the whereabouts of the necklace, Rose Calvert recalls her memories aboard the Titanic, revealing for the first time that she was Rose DeWitt Bukater.

In 1912, the upper-class 17-year-old Rose (Kate Winslet) boards the Titanic in Southampton, Great Britain. She enters 'the most elegant ship in the world' together with her controlling fiance, Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane) and her desperate for money mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater (Francis Fisher).

Distraught and frustrated by her engagement, Rose attempts suicide by jumping from the stern. Before she leaps, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) intervenes who convinces her not to jump. Dawson and his best friend Fabrizio De Rossi have won third-class tickets to the ship in a poker game.

Jack and Rose strike up a tentative friendship as she thanks him for saving her life, and he shares stories of his adventures travelling and sketching. Their bond deepens when they leave a first-class formal dinner of the wealthy for a much livelier gathering of dancing, music and beer in third-class. After revealing their love for each other and wish to leave together when the ship docks, they then witness the ship's fatal collision with an iceberg and now must escape together.

Captain Smith was urged by the White Star Line Director to increase the speed of the ship so they would make the newspaper headlines and receive extra publicity by arriving in New York on Thursday night and not on Friday morning as planned. The Titanic had reports that the waters in the Atlantic they were sailing in were full of icebergs, but the captain ignored these warnings and proceeded at full speed. On 15 April 1912 at 11:39, an iceberg was sighted. The ship crew attempted to shut off the engines and turn the ship out of the path of the iceberg but there was not enough time and the ship hit the iceberg on the starboard side as depicted in the film.

Kate Winslet and Billy Zane in Titanic (1997)

Australian postcard by FX Entertainment Products, Sydney Photo: Paramount / Fox, 1998. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) with Kate Winslet and Billy Zane. Caption: "They call it 'Le Coeur de la Mer'."

Kate Winslet and Frances Fisher in Titanic (1997)

Thai postcard by Starpics / Suwan Studio. Photo: Paramount / Fox. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) with Kate Winslet and Frances Fisher.

Vintage postcard. Photo: publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Why is Titanic a modern classic?

During the production of Titanic, perfectionist James Cameron went massively over time and budget, but this payed of well when it was clear he had managed what many had believed was impossible. Cameron had recreated a completely believable Titanic with accurate historical details. The sinking scenes are still amazing and horrific, as realistic as if you were there. Cameron respectfully shows what terror the victims went through that night. Titanic is both hunting and involving, filled with a wide range of deep feelings.

Cameron created the fictional love story to make sure that the public would remember those who lost their lives on the tragic voyage of the Titanic. The director weaved the historical details seamlessly around the fictional story of Jack and Rose. The audience sees the sinking of the Titanic primarily through their eyes. Cameron shows the various reactions to the crisis. Everyone reacts differently and Cameron gets his audience to contemplate of how they might have reacted in that situation, on the Titanic on that fateful night.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are excellent. Both show great charisma and their chemistry as a romantic couple works. DeCaprio and Winslet flying at the ship's front rail remains a gorgeous magic moment. Winslet is the centre of the film and holds the story together beautifully. Frances Fisher is perfect as her mother, the snobby aristocrat, who forces her daughter to become engaged to marry a rich, arrogant racist. One can feel the fear and loathing she feels every time she looks at Jack.

Also very good is Kathy Bates as 'the unsinkable' Molly Brown, a historical 'nouveau riche' from Denver, who is a lot less uptight than the other folk in the upperclass department. Brown was saved and later had medals made up for the crew of the Carpethia that picked the survivors of Titanic up from the water. Her ticket on the Titanic had cost over four-thousand dollars, but by the end of her life she ended up broke.

Titanic won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Original Song. Deservedly. The wonderful outfits and costuming were an excellent re-creation of the Post-Victorian era of 1912. All of the interiors of the ship were masterfully replicated down to the last pieces of china and silverware. The gymnasium, which is hardly seen in the film was recreated perfectly with all of the machines reproduced to match those seen in old photographs. James Horner's haunting score is also a key ingredient in the film's success. His music intensifies the emotions of the audience. Horner's love theme is still as beautiful as it is tragic.

Yes, Titanic (1997) is a modern classic, if you like it or not. Titanic became the first film to gross $1 billion, and stayed on the top of the box office charts for 12 years. Then it was kicked off the top by another James Cameron film, Avatar (2010). Over the years, it became somewhat fashionable to slag Titanic off, but just see it for yourself.

German postcard by Sunburst Merchandising GmbH, Osnabrück / Ana Anakos AG, München. Photo: Paramount / Fox, 1998. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997).

German postcard by Sunburst Merchandising GmbH, Osnabrück / Ana Anakos AG, München. Photo: Paramount / Fox, 1998. Publicity still for Titanic (James Cameron, 1997).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Little is known about the German silent film Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (Alwin Neuß, Otto Rippert, 1918). The title figure was played by Ressel Orla, whose career peaked at the end of the 1910s and early 1920s.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 548/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (Alwin Neuß, Otto Rippert, 1918).

The Sherlock Holmes of the silent era

What do we know about Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (1918)? The film is considered as lost and the plot is unclear. Das Glück der Frau Beate was produced by Decla Film (originally Deutsche Eclair), a German film production and distribution company of the silent era.

Decla was formed in 1911 as the German subsidiary of the French company Eclair, it was taken into German ownership in 1915 during the First World War. Under the leadership of Erich Pommer, Decla emerged as one of the leading German film companies of the early Weimar era.

The film was directed by a tandem, Alwin Neußand Otto Rippert. Neuss was a well-known actor/director, noted for playing Sherlock Holmes in a series of silent films during the 1910s. Rippert was a noted film director during the silent era. In 1912 he started to work as a director for Continental-Kunstfilm of Berlin and made some ten films between 1912 and 1914. However, his reputation as one of the pioneers of German silent film rests on some of his later achievements,

Otto Rippert directed the classic silent film Homunculus (1916), produced by Deutsche Bioskop in 1916. Homunculus is a six-part serial science fiction film involving mad scientists, superhuman androids and sinister technology. The film foreshadows various elements of Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927), as well as serving as a model for later adaptations of Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'.

Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (1918) was the only film Otto Rippert and Alwin Neuss directed together. In 1924, Rippert stopped directing films and began to work as a film editor. The fame of Alwin Neuss began to fade in the 1920s, and he only appeared in few more films. Sound ended his film career.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 548/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (Alwin Neuß, Otto Rippert, 1918).

Ressel Orla in Das Glück der Frau Beate (1918)

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 548/5, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (Alwin Neuß, Otto Rippert, 1918).

Fritz Lang

The three main characters in Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (1918) were played by Emil Biron as the husband, Ressel Orla as Beate, and Max Ruhbeck as the admirer.

German actor Emil Biron made 29 films between 1917 and 1935, including Die Weber/The Weavers (Friedrich Zelnik, 1927) in which he played King Frederick William IV.

Ressel Orla was an Austrian-Jewish actress, who appeared in some of Fritz Lang's earliest films, including Halbblut/Half-blood (Fritz Lang, 1919), the first film Lang directed, and the serial adventure film Die Spinnen/The Spiders (Fritz Lang, 1919-1920), both starring Carl de Vogt.

Max Ruhbeck was a German actor, who appeared in more than ninety films from 1915 to 1923, including Otto Rippert's six chapter German science fiction film Homunculus, directed by Otto Rippert.

Ressel Orla and Max Ruhbeck in Das Glück der Frau Beate (1918)

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 548/7, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (Alwin Neuß, Otto Rippert, 1918).

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 548/8, 1919-1924. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (Alwin Neuß, Otto Rippert, 1918).

Tomorrow EFSP has a post on another film by director Otto Rippert from the same year, the 'Sittenfilm' Der Weg, der zur Verdammnis führt, I. Das Schicksal der Änne Wolter/The Road to Damnation, 1. The Fate of Anne Wolter (Otto Rippert, 1918), with Charlotte Böcklin.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Yesterday, EFSP had a post on Otto Rippert's Das Glück der Frau Beate/The luck of the Mrs. Beate (1918). Today, another film by Rippert from 1918, Der Weg, der zur Verdammnis führt, I. Das Schicksal der Änne Wolter/The Fate of Anne Wolter, starring Charlotte Bocklin. Der Weg, der zur Verdammnis führt/The Road to Damnation (1918) was a two part-'Sittenfilm', an exploitation film about white slavery. Both parts were directed by Rippert, and the second part was called Hyänen der Lust/Hyenas of Lust (1919). They were a box office hit.

Charlotte Böcklin in Das Schicksal der Anne Wolter (1918)

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 555/5. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Der Weg, der zur Verdammnis führt, I. Das Schicksal der Änne Wolter (Otto Rippert, 1918) with Charlotte Böcklin sitting far right.

Scheming white slave traders

In Der Weg, der zur Verdammnis führt, I. Das Schicksal der Änne Wolter/The Road to Damnation, 1. The Fate of Anne Wolter (Otto Rippert, 1918), Anne Wolter (Charlotte Böcklin) falls in the hands of scheming white slave traders.

In the second part, two other girls fall in the hands of the white slave traders, the two naive girlfriends Ilse von Giersdorf (Käthe Haack) and Lilly Gross (Grete Weixler). The two very young girls pass their first night in a disputable club and soon fall into the hands of the merciless white slave traders Madame Duval (Margarete Kupfer) and Ignatz Czyslow (Guido Herzfeld).

Änne Wolter, the protagonist of the first part, is taken to a bordello to Cairo, while Ilse ends up in the house of pleasure of Madame Forget (Rosa Murger) in Valencia and eventually ends up in Cairo as well. There, with the help of a young-girls-protection association, her father (Paul Otto) manages to free Ilse from the clutches of the ruthless gangs. Änne, though, does not survive her suffered tortures.

In name, the film was made by the Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung des Mädchenhandels (Society for the Struggle Against White Slavery) to inform the public about the trafficking of European girls and their impressment into prostitution, often in South America.

The whole film premiered at the Berlin Marmorhaus on 1 August 1919. The cinematography was by the notable Carl Hoffmann, the script was by Julius Sternheim, and the film was produced by Erich Pommer. It was a huge success at the box office.

Otto Rippert

Director Otto Rippert (1869-1940), a former stage actor, had already started his film career in 1912 as actor in the Titanic disaster film In Nacht und Eis/In Night and Ice (Mime Misu, 1912), produced by Continental Kunstfilm. He then became director for Continental Kunstfilm, where he made some 10 films.

Rippert had his breakthrough in 1916 with the internationally commercially and artistically successful serial film Homunculus, starring Olaf Fönss. A group of scientists, led by a Professor Ortmann (Ernst Ludwig), produce a living human child using scientific processes - a 'homunculus'. This creature is human in every way, except that he cannot experience love. During World War I, Homunculus was the most popular and influential serial in Germany. The film was a coproduction of Deutsche Bioscop and Decla.

From then on, he worked for Erich Pommer's Decla-Film. In the later 1910s he directed various films there with Ressel Orla, e.g. Arme Lena!/Poor Lena! (1918), and Hella Moja, e.g. Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska/The Daughters of Countess Stachowska (1917); Das Mädel von nebenan/The Girl Next Door (1917); Heide-Gretel (1918); and Das verwunschene Schloß/The enchanted castle (1918).

With Richard Oswald, Otto Rippert was one of the most succesful directors of the film genre of the 'Sittenfilme'. These were exploitation films on taboo subjects which served as erotic entertainment. The genre experienced its peak in Germany from about 1918, favoured by the fact that there was no film censorship between November 1918 and May 1920.

In their dramaturgical structure, the majority of the 'Sittenfilme' were based on crime films and melodramas. The plot, however, served only as a motor for the presentation of genre-typical key scenes such as seduction, disguise, rape, fetishism and sexual perversion. The focus was not on sexual pleasure, but on the constraints and violence it exerts on people.

Other major successes of Rippert at Decla where Totentanz/Dance of Death (1919), starring Sascha Gura and based on a script by Fritz Lang, and Die Pest in Florenz (1919), again scripted by Fritz Lang and starring Theodor Becker. In 1925 Rippert stopped directing films.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 555/7. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Der Weg, der zur Verdammnis führt, I. Das Schicksal der Änne Wolter (Otto Rippert, 1918) with Charlotte Böcklin.

Charlotte Böcklin

Charlotte Böcklin (before 1900-1925) was a German actress of the silent screen. During her film career, she worked with directors such as Alexander von Antalffy, Lorenz Bätz, Carl Boese, Arthur Gunsburg, Gerhard Lamprecht, Max Obal and Otto Rippert.

She acted with Conrad Veidt in Die Okarina/The Ocarina (Uwe Jenss Krafft, 1919), based on the novel Good as Gold (1912) by the Danish author Karin Michaëlis. In Das goldene Buch/The Golden Book (1919) she acted opposite Alexander Granach. In Die schwarze Marion/The Black Marion (Uwe Jenss Krafft, 1919), she appeared next to Reinhold Schünzel. In Die Sumpfhanne (Carl Boese, 1919), Ernst Dernburg and Ferdinand von Alten were her partners.

Rather cheerful was the - nowadays forgotten - two-reeler series around the film character Krause, whom the actor Karl Neisser embodied. Böcklin acted in two episodes, Ganz ohne Krause/Without Krause (Lorenz Bätz, Albert Paul, 1918) and Papa Krause/Daddy Krause (Lorenz Bätz, Albert Paul, 1918). Karl Figdor wrote a whole series of scripts for her films, while Hans Hyan and Marco Brociner wrote the scripts for two films each.

Her character was either that of the 'disreputable' wife, or the battered, fate-stricken suffering one. Her role spectrum ranged from the demi-mondaine in crime films such as Die Edelsteinsammlung (Viggo Larsen, 1918) with Viggo Larsen as detective, via social outlaw figures as in Die schwarze Marion and Die Sumpfhanne.

She was the 'Asphalt Rose' Hilde Brunn in the metropolitan crime scene Die Asphaltrose (Richard Löwenbein, 1922). Then followed a role as the unbecoming lover Aline Puvogel in Gerhard Lamprecht's film adaptation of Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks (1923). Her final role was as the 'woman without a conscience' Felicitas Alberti, in Die Frau ohne Gewissen (Richard Strauss, 1925).

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 555/8. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Der Weg, der zur Verdammnis führt, I. Das Schicksal der Änne Wolter (Otto Rippert, 1918). The name Änne Wolter is sometimes also written as Anne Wolter.

Sources: Filmportal.de (German), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

The success of the pioneering Swedish film studio Svenska Biografteatern AB during and after the First World War inspired others. Skandia Film in Stockholm was the most successful competitor. Like Svenska Bio, Skandia relied on the Nordic landscape and literature for its silent films. Skandia's main director was John Wilhelm Brunius, who also was an actor and scriptwriter. Other staff directors were Einar Rudd (or Ruud) and Rune Carlsten. Nils Bouveng, the manager of Skandia, had previously been the manager of Hasselblad studios where Rune Carlsten had also been under the producer's supervision. Among the stars of Skandia Film were Gösta Ekman, Anders De Wahl and actress-director Pauline Brunius, the wife of John W. Brunius. Brunius also gave the salesgirl Greta Gustafsson her first acting chance: the future Greta Garbo appeared as an extra in his film En Lyckoriddare/Soldiers of Fortune (1921). This film and many Skandia productions are presumed lost now. But some postcards of the Skandia films have survived, although they are rare. Ivo Blom shared his collection for this post.

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 1194. Photo: Skandia Film. Gösta Ekman and Carlo Keil-Möller in the romantic film Mästerkatten i stövlar/Puss in boots (John W. Brunius, 1918). It was John W. Brunius's directorial debut and an international success.

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 105. Photo Skandiafilm, 1918. Karin Molander in Surrogatet (Einar Brunn, 1918-1919).

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 127. Photo: Skandiafilm. Still for Synnöve Solbakken/The Girl from Solbakken (John W. Brunius, 1919) with Lars Hanson and Karin Molander. Sent by mail in Norway in 1920. Synnöve Solbakken was based on the novel written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1857. The assistant director to the film was Einar Brunn, it having been filmed in both Sweden and Norway by photographers Hugo Edlund and Arthur Thorell.

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, no. 133. Photo: Skandia Film. Palle Brunius and Solveig Hedengran in Synnöve Solbakken/The Girl from Solbakken (John W. Brunius, 1919).

In Synnöve solbakken (John W. Brunius, 1919), Palle Brunius and Solveig Hedengran play the same characters as the stars, Karin Molander and Lars Hanson, but then in their childhood. Palle Brunius (1909-1976) was the son of the director, John W. Brunius. He would only pay a handful of child roles in films by his father, and another handful in those of his mother. Solveig Hedengran (1910-1956) instead acted in some 28 films, mostly Swedish sound films and often supporting parts. Synnöve Solbakken was her first film.

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstforlag, Stockholm, no 141. Photo: Skandia Film, Stockholm. Lars Hanson and Gull Cronvall in Ett farligt frieri/A Dangerous Proposal (Rune Carlsten, 1919).

The story of Ett farligt frieri/A Dangerous Proposal (Rune Carlsten 1919) deals with Tore, a smallholder's son (Lars Hanson), in love with Aslaug, a farmer's daughter (Gull Cronvall) whose father Knut (Theodor Blich) has ambitious plans to marry her to the son of the wealthiest farmer around. Even after Knut and Aslaug's brothers have beaten Tore black and blue, he persists in visiting Aslaug, even climbing a giant wall of rock...

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 159. Photo: Skandiafilm. Gösta Ekman as an agricultural student in the Swedish silent comedy Bomben/The Bomb (Rune Carlsten, 1920).

Swedish postcard by Ed. Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 166. Photo: Skandiafilm. Still for Bomben/The Bomb (Rune Carlsten, 1920), starring Karin Molander. Caption: Elsa Vendel's first morning amidst her own possessions.

Swedish postcard by Verlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1095/7. Photo: Skandia Film. Pauline Brunius and Jessie Wessel in Thora van Deken (John W. Brunius, 1920). The film was an adaptation of a novel written by Henrik K. Pontoppidan.

Swedish postcard by Verlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1095/9. Photo: Skandia Film. Pauline Brunius, Gösta Ekman, Jessie Wessel and Oscar Johansson in Thora van Deken (John W. Brunius, 1920).

Swedish postcard by Forlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1096/1. Photo: Skandia Film. Gösta Ekman in Gyurkovicsarna/Lieutenant Tophat (John W. Brunius, 1920).

Swedish postcard by Forlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1096/2. Photo: Skandia Film. Gösta Ekman and Pauline Brunius in Gyurkovicsarna/Lieutenant Tophat (John W. Brunius, 1920).

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 193. Photo: Skandia Film. Anders de Wahl in Kvarnen/The Windmill (John W. Brunius, 1921).

Kvarnen/The Windmill (John W. Brunius, 1921) was shot at the Skandia studio at Lidingö and with exteriors shot at Sjöbo and Skåne by Hugo Edlund. The basis for the film was the novel 'Møllen' (The Mill, 1896) by Karl Gjellerup. During filming in Sjöbo a real old mill burned down right in front of the camera. The Swedish Film Institute's film archive holds a restored print of the film. Tommy Gustafsson, in his article 'Travellers as a Threat in Swedish Cinema of the 1920s', in the volume Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader (2010), indicates that Kvarnen was the first Swedish film on miscegenation. Though he has promised his wife on her deathbed not to remarry against the will of his son Hans, miller Jacob (Anders de Wahl) is attracted by the lustful, devious and gypsy-like farm's maid Lise (Klara Kjellblad). Instead Hans hates Lise and prefers the pure sister of the forester, Anna. Indeed, the flimsy and dirty Lise is only after Jacob's money and his mill, while keeping an affair with the farmhand on the side. Jacob and the farmhand are in the palm of Lise's hand, but when Jacob finally catches the couple, he avenges himself by having the mill's millstone crushing the lovers.

Swedish postcard by Ed. Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 295. Photo: Skandia Film, Stockholm / Svensk Filmindustri. Still for De landsflyktiga/The Emigrants/The Exiles (Mauritz Stiller, 1921), starring Jenny Hasselqvist.

De landsflyktiga/The Emigrants/The Exiles (Mauritz Stiller, 1921) is a lost film, except for a few very short fragments. Already in 1919, Skandia had merged with Svenska Biograph, although Skandia Film continued as a distributor of Swedish films like De landsflyktiga, which was produced by Svensk Filmindustri.

Gösta Ekman and Jenny Hasselqvist in Vem dömer

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 304. Photo: Skandia Film. Gösta Ekman and Jenny Hasselqvist in the Swedish silent drama Vem dömer/Love's Crucible (Victor Sjöström, 1922).

Jenny Hasselquist, Ivan Hedqvist, Tore Svennberg and Gösta Ekman in Vem dömer

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 305. Photo: Skandia Film. Jenny Hasselqvist, Ivan Hedqvist, Tore Svennberg and Gösta Ekman in Vem dömer/Love's Crucible (Victor Sjöström, 1922). Nils Asther had a small part in this film. He is the man just left of Jenny Hasselqvist.

Vem dömer/Love's Crucible (Victor Sjöström, 1922) is a Renaissance drama about a young woman named Ursula (Jenny Hasselqvist), who is in love with Bertram (Gösta Ekman), the son of the mayor (Tore Svennberg). She is accused of having poisoned her older husband, the sculptor Master Anton (Ivan Hedqvist). She has to prove her virginity through a fire test. The film's title reads: Who judges?

Swedish postcard by Ed. Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 327. Photo: Skandia Film / Svensk Filminspelning. Postcard for Det omringade huset/The Surrounded House (Victor Sjöström, 1922), starring Meggie Albanesi and Victor Sjöström.

Sources: Scott Lord (Silent Film: Greta Garbo - Victor Seastöm), Mette Hjort and Ursula Lindqvist (A Companion to Nordic Cinema), David Bret (Greta Garbo: A Divine Star), Mariah Larsson and Anders Marklund (Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Last Thursday, 21 February 2019, Peter Halsten Thorkelson (1942-2019), better known as Peter Tork, passed away. Tork was an American musician, composer and actor, best known as the keyboardist and bass guitarist of The Monkees. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert 'Bob' Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the television series The Monkees (1966-1968), the group members were Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, and Englishman Davy Jones. They became known for such hits as I'm a believer.

Dutch postcard by Uitg. en druk. 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6804.

A pilot script entitled 'The Monkeys

Aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed the initial idea for The Monkees in 1962, but was unsuccessful in selling the series. He had tried to sell the idea for a television series about a fictional rock and roll group to Revue, the television division of Universal Pictures.

In May 1964, while working at Screen Gems, Rafelson teamed up with Bert Schneider, whose father, Abraham Schneider, headed the Colpix Records and Screen Gems Television units of Columbia Pictures. Rafelson and Schneider ultimately formed Raybert Productions and tried to get a foot in the door in Hollywood.

The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night (Richard Lester, 1964) inspired Rafelson and Schneider to revive Rafelson's idea for The Monkees. As 'The Raybert Producers', they sold the show to Screen Gems Television in 1965.

Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker completed a pilot script by August entitled 'The Monkeys'. Rafelson and Schneider wanted the style of the series to reflect avant garde film techniques—such as improvisation, quick cuts, jump cuts, breaking the fourth wall, and free-flowing, loose narratives—then being pioneered by European film directors.

Each episode would contain at least one musical 'romp' which might have nothing to do with the storyline. In retrospect, these vignettes now look very much like music videos: short, self-contained films of songs in ways that echoed the Beatles' recent ventures into promotional films for their singles. They also believed strongly in the program's ability to appeal to young people, intentionally framing the kids as heroes and the adults as heavies.

Rafelson and Schneider's original idea was to cast an existing New York folk rock group, the Lovin' Spoonful, who were not widely known at the time. However, John Sebastian had already signed the band to a record contract, which would have denied Screen Gems the right to market music from the show.

American postcard by Ludlow Sales, New York, N.Y., no. FC-250-50.

Vintage postcard.

A proto-star looking for his lucky break

On 14 July 1965, The Hollywood Reporter stated that future band member Davy Jones was expected to return to the United States in September 1965 after a trip to England "to prepare for [a] TV pilot for Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson".

Englishman Davy Jones was a former jockey. He had previously starred as the Artful Dodger in the Broadway theatre show 'Oliver!', and his performance was later seen on The Ed Sullivan Show the same night as the Beatles' first appearance on that show, 9 February 1964. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1963.

In September 1964 Jones was signed to a long-term contract to appear in TV programs for Screen Gems, make feature films for Columbia Pictures and to record music for the Colpix label. Rafelson and Schneider already had him in mind for their project after their plans for the Lovin' Spoonful fell through; when they chose him, he was essentially a proto-star looking for his lucky break.

Out of 437 applicants at an audition, the other three chosen for the cast of the TV show were Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz. Nesmith played guitar, Peter Tork played bass, Mickey Dolenz was their drummer, and Davey Jones was the lead-singer, a role he shared with Dolenz.

Nesmith had been working as a musician since early 1963 and had been recording and releasing music under various names, including Michael Blessing and Mike & John & Bill and had studied drama in college. He showed up to the audition with his laundry and impressed Rafelson and Schneider with his laid-back style and droll sense of humour. He also wore a woollen hat to keep his hair out of his eyes when he rode his motorcycle, leading to early promotional materials which nicknamed him "Wool Hat." The hat remained part of Nesmith's wardrobe, but the name was dropped after the pilot. Of the final four, Nesmith was the only one who actually saw the ad in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

Dolenz was the son of veteran character actor George Dolenz. At the age of 10, Micky had starred in the TV series Circus Boy in the 1950s, using the stage name Mickey Braddock. Later he had also played guitar and sung in a band called the Missing Links, which had recorded and released a very minor single, 'Don't Do It'. By that time he was using his real name. Dolenz found out about The Monkees through his agent.

Peter Tork, the last to be chosen, had been working the Greenwich Village scene as a musician, and had shared the stage with Pete Seeger. He learned of The Monkees from Stephen Stills, whom Rafelson and Schneider had rejected as a songwriter. Rafelson and Schneider hired novice director James Frawley to teach the four actors improvisational comedy. Each of the four was given a different personality to portray: Dolenz the funny one, Nesmith the smart and serious one, Tork the naive one, and Jones the cute one. Their characters were loosely based on their real selves, with the exception of Tork, who was actually a quiet intellectual.

A pilot episode was shot in San Diego and Los Angeles on a shoestring budget—in many scenes the Monkees wore their own clothes. Initial audience tests (which were just then being pioneered) produced very low responses. Rafelson then re-edited the pilot and included some of the screen tests, to better introduce the band members to viewers. The re-cut pilot tested so well that NBC placed an order for two seasons of episodes.

German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 108.

German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. AX 6814.

One of the biggest selling groups of all time

The Monkees first aired on American TV in two long series between 12 September 1966 and 25 March 1968. The situation comedy follows the adventures of four young men (the Monkees) trying to make a name for themselves as a rock 'n roll band, but they remain forever on the verge of stardom. They live together in a crazy apartment and are frequently drawn into the lives of California's many eccentrics.

The adventures are interrupted by songs, written by such songwriters as Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, Carole King, and Boyce & Hart and others. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series television and won two Emmy Awards in 1967, including Outstanding Comedy Series.

The Monkees became a huge pop culture sensation. However, the public didn't realise that the show and the band were mostly a generally manufactured television series and that the Monkees themselves did not write or perform much of their own studio music, except to provide the vocals. The only exception were their live performances. When the truth became well known, there was a large backlash by many fans and music critics.

NBC responded to the backlash by retooling the show in its second season with the Monkees now writing and performing much of their own music that was much less pop-oriented. In addition, the first season's clean cut looks were replaced by more hippy looking attire. All this alienated the young fans who then deserted the group. The result was a huge decline in ratings and record sales. By 1967, NBC felt the series had run its course. Coupled with friction within the band itself, the series was cancelled in 1968.

Nonetheless, Nesmith did compose and produce some songs from the beginning, and Tork contributed limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith. All four contributed lead vocals to various tracks. They eventually fought for the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band's name, acting as musicians, singers, songwriters and producers.

Dolenz described The Monkees as initially being "a TV show about an imaginary band... that wanted to be the Beatles that was never successful". Ironically, the success of the show led to the actor-musicians becoming one of the most successful bands of the 1960s. They had international hits with 'Last Train to Clarksville', 'Pleasant Valley Sunday', 'Daydream Believer', and 'I'm a Believer'.

In 1968, there was also a film, Head (Bob Rafelson, 1968), in which The Monkees are tossed about in a psychedelic, surrealist, plotless, circular bit of fun fluff. Actor Jack Nicholson wrote the script. Scott Mercer at IMDb: "I believe that Jack Nicholson and The Monkees (writers of the film, though only Jack was credited) took a carefully-applied scalpel to their situation in particular and society in general, dissecting and laying bare their frustrations in an artful manner. Ultimately Head is an allegorical tragedy that metaphorically, and with panache, tells the story of the Monkees' rise and their ultimate disillusionment with and revolt against, the star-making machinery that gave them fame and fortune."

The film was not a commercial success, but over the intervening years Head has developed a cult following for its innovative style and anarchic humour. The television show was cancelled in 1968, at the finish of its second season, but received a long afterlife with many repeats. The Monkees continued to record music and released three more albums after the series cancellation but they did not chart well. In 1971, the group broke up.

In the 1980s, The Monkees enjoyed a revival, after MTV aired a Monkees marathon in 1986.The group has reunited and toured several times since then with different line-ups and varying degrees of success. Jones died in February 2012 and Tork died in February 2019. Dolenz and Nesmith remain active members of the group.

The Monkees have sold more than 75 million records worldwide making them one of the biggest selling groups of all time. Newspapers and magazines reported that the Monkees outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined in 1967, but Nesmith claims in his autobiography 'Infinite Tuesday; that it was a lie that he told a reporter.

French postcard by PSG, no. 1404.

Source: Scott Mercer (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

On 21 February 2019, American Singer and actor Gus Backus (1937-2019) passed away. At 19, he was a member of the Del-Vikings, the first notable Doo-Wop group with both black and white members which had two Billboard Top Ten Hits. Later, he became virtually the flesh-and-blood embodiment of rock 'n roll in Germany. Between 1959 and 1965 he also appeared in 25 German light entertainment films. Gus Backus was 81.

German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf, no. 1560. Photo: Erwin Schneider.

Dutch postcard, no. 262.

Dutch postcard by Hercules, Haarlem, no. 262.

Doo-Wop

Gus Backus was born as Donald Edgar Backus in Southampton on Long Island, in New York, in 1937. His father, a foreman on a potatoe plantation, called him Gus.

Like millions of other young Americans of the period, Backus discovered rhythm-and-blues and rock and roll during his teens as it got onto the radio. He started writing and playing his own music, under the influence of Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry.

At 14, Gus ran away from home when his parents divorced. In Brooklyn, Gus wanted to become a doctor and he worked as a singing shoe cleaner to pay for his medicine studies.

In 1956, Backus was drafted into the US Air Force, and was stationed in Pittsburgh, PA. There he became the lead singer of the multiracial Doo Wop group The Del-Vikings, and at 19 he scored a #12-hit with Cool shake. The following year Backus was stationed in the German city of Wiesbaden and had to leave The Del-Vikings.

In 1958, while home on leave, he cut a single, My Chick Is Fine b/w You Can't Go It Alone, both songs that he wrote or co-wrote, for the Carlton Records label. At AllMusic, Bruce Eder loves this song: "My Chick Is Fine is one of the great lost classics of rockabilly, a driving, raunchy, hard-rocking tribute to an idealized object of teenage lust that should have been a signature of the era."

After his compulsory military service was finished he decided to stay and settle in Germany. He married and would have four children. His brother-in-law suggested him to record German language versions of English hits for the German market. His first single, Ab und zu/Now and Then, was a cover of Elvis Presley’s A fool such as I.

That same year he also made his film debut, singing a song in Paradies der Matrosen/Paradise for sailors (Harald Reinl, 1959) starring Margit Saad. He also appeared in Mein Schatz, komm mit ans blaue Meer/Come to the Blue Sea, My Dear (Rudolf Schündler, 1959) with Joachim Fuchsberger.

German postcard by ISV, no. K 15, sent by mail in 1964. Photo: E. Schneider.

German postcard by ISV, no. K 18. Photo: E. Schneider.

German postcard by ISV, no. K 24. Photo: E. Schneider.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/158. Photo: Ufa.

Schlagerfilms

In 1960 Gus Backus had his breakthrough with the single Brauner Bär und weiße Taube/Brown bear and White Doves, a cover of Johnny Preston’s hit Running Bear.

Immediately, he went on with a series of successful follow-ups like Muß i denn and Da sprach der alte Haüptling/And So Spoke the Old Chief. His repertory consisted of German language covers of great hits but also of new songs, mainly Schlagers.

He continued to make Schlagerfilms like ...und du, mein Schatz, bleibst hier/And You, My Dear, Stay Here (Franz Antel, 1961) with Vivi Bach, and Unsere tollen Tanten/Our Awesome Aunts (Rolf Olsen, 1961) with Gunther Philipp.

He had his first #1-hit in Germany in 1961 with Der Mann im Mond/The Man in the Moon. Till 1963 followed such Top 10 hits like Sauerkraut-Polka, No Bier, no Wein, no Schnaps, Linda, Das Lied vom Angeln, and Er macht mich krank, der Mondschein an der Donau.

Between 1959 and 1965 Gus Backus appeared in a total of nearly 25 German entertainment films, including Ohne Krimi geht die Mimi nie ins Bett/Mimi Never Goes to Bed Without a Detective (Franz Antel, 1962) starring comedian Heinz Erhardt, Holiday in St. Tropez (Ernst Hofbauer, 1964), and the boring thriller Hotel der toten Gästen/Hotel of the Dead Guests (Eberhard Itzenplitz, 1965) with Karin Dor.

In 1964 the Beat music conquered the German charts and it became harder for Gus to score hits. In 1973 he decided to return to the USA and went to work as a foreman in the Texan oil fields.

In the 1980s he returned to Germany to surf the Oldies wave of that period. He settled with his family in Gemering near München (Munich). He performed his old hits with the group Teddy und die Lollipops. He retired from singing in 2014. Gus Backus was married and was the father of four children.

German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. ?70. Photo: Erwin Schneider.

Dutch postcard by Uitgeverij Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 5187.

Austrian postcard by K, no. 1882. Photo: Joe Möller.

Sources: Bruce Eder (AllMusic), Wikipedia (Dutch), and IMDb. See also: www.gusbackus.de/ (German).

On 23 February 2019, the red parrot who played Rosalinda in the classic Pippi Longstocking film Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven/Pippi in the South Seas (Olle Hellbom, 1970) has died. Remember how Rosalind croaked “You’re a pumpkin, a pumpkin” at the father of Pippi Longstocking when she was locked together with him in a tower dungeon? Rosalinda's real name was Douglas, yes she was a male. Douglas died of old age at the Karlsruhe Zoo, aged 51. His story was a tragic tale: the former film star was the victim of brutal Swedish bureaucracy!

Douglas and friend in 2016, Malmö reptilcenter, Folkets Park, Malmö, Sweden. Photo: Paul van Yperen.

German postcard by Edition Tushita, no. B 921. Photo: Tushita / Cinemathek.

German postcard by Art concept. Photo: dpo-Bildarchiv.

You're a pumpkin, a pumpkin!

The scarlet macaw at the right of our photo above was one of Sweden's most famous animal film stars. He was called Douglas and played the female parrot Rosalinda in the classic children's film Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven/Pippi in the South Seas (Olle Hellbom, 1970). Remember how Rosalinda croaked “You’re a pumpkin, a pumpkin!” at the father of Pippi Longstocking when she was locked together with him in a tower dungeon?

Douglas was one the few film stars we actually met. In 2016, we visited the Reptilcenter, a small tropical house at the Folkets Park in Malmö, Sweden, where Douglas then he spent his well-earned retirement. But sadly he could not be there for long anymore.

Swedish bureaucracy threatened the then 49-year-old bird with death. Because his cage in the Malmö Reptilcenter was too small according to new regulations, the authorities wanted him to sleep. The Swedish Agricultural Office considered that the three-square-foot cage where Douglas lived with the green parrot lady Gojan, was too small. The birds could not fly in it and would need an aviary of at least 30 square meters. And if that was not possible, the birds would have to be put down.

Zookeeper Frank Madsen was desperate. “Such a big cage is only possible in the outdoor area,” he told the press. “And outside the two would freeze.” Normally an Ara of this kind does not get older than 28 years. The reason that Douglas could no longer fly, is not the lack of space but his age. “It’s nonsense to resettle the two birds now, while they live only three to four years more anyway.” However, the two parrots had to move. Swedish bureaucracy is the worst in the world.

It was not the first time the bird made headlines. In 2002, Douglas garnered much attention in the Swedish press when authorities were considering putting him to death because his owner did not have the proper paperwork. A petition pleading for Douglas's life received over 50,000 signatures, including that of actress Inger Nilsson, who played Pippi in the 1970 film. Ultimately Douglas was spared after his first owner in Sweden produced the correct paperwork, showing that Douglas had been legally imported from Brazil in 1967.

In 2005, Douglas was moved to the small Malmö Reptilcenter in Folkets Parkö, where he lived happily with a female blue-and-yellow macaw called Gojan. Till the problems with the bureaucrats started again in 2016. After zoo director Frank Madsen had turned to the press, he received more than 100 offers for a new home for Douglas and Gojan.

Ultimately the Karlsruhe Zoo in Germany was selected and in April 2016, Madsen himself delivered Douglas and Gojan to Karlsruhe, where they were welcomed by the city mayor and a children's choir. Douglas went on to become one of the zoo's chief attractions. After Gojan died at the age of 45 in September 2016, the zoo paired Douglas with Rubin, a 22-year-old scarlet macaw that arrived in October that year.to be

Dutch postcard by Semic International, 1971. Caption: With permission of Astrid Lindgren. Pictured are Inger Nilsson as Pippi, and Beppe Wolgers as her father, Captain Efraim Longstocking.

Dutch postcard by Semic International, 1971. Caption: With permission of Astrid Lindgren.

A confident oddball performance

Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven/Pippi in the South Seas (Olle Hellbom, 1970) was a sequel to the classic Swedish Pippi Langstrump (Pippi Longstocking) television series about a super-strong redheaded little girl, based on the books by Astrid Lindgren. Opposite Douglas in his memorable starring role as the parrot Rosalinda, the young Inger Nilsson gave a confident oddball performance as Pippi.

Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven/Pippi in the South Seas (Olle Hellbom, 1970) was Swedish-German coproduction and there are alternative versions of the production. The 4-part German TV version called Pippi und die Seeräuber/Pippi and the Pirates has lots of rare footage never seen in Sweden. These are deleted scenes from the film, according to IMDb. They may have been included in each episode to patch up the running time.

The first episode of the original Pippi Langstrump series was broadcast on Sveriges Radio TV in February 1969. The production was a Swedish-West German co-production and several German actors had roles in the series. As Astrid Lindgren was unhappy with the 1949 adaptation, she wrote the script herself for this version. The series was directed by Olle Hellbom who also directed several other Astrid Lindgren adaptations.

Originally, Astrid Lindgren had spinned the tales of Pippi Langstrump for the entertainment of her children. She never thought of printing Pippi's remarkable creative tales until incapacitated with a twisted ankle. Initially rejected by publishers, the tales of Pippi Longstocking were put to print in the year after Lindgren's literary debut. The first three Pippi chapter books were published from 1945 to 1948, followed by three short stories and a number of picture book adaptations. Eventually spawning an estimated 40 film and television adaptations and selling nearly 130 million copies translated into dozens of languages.

In Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven/Pippi in the South Seas (Olle Hellbom, 1970) receives a message in a bottle that her father, Captain Efraim Longstocking, has been captured by South Seas pirates. Along with her best friends Tommy and Annika and her pet monkey Mr. Nilsson, Pippi steals a hot air balloon and sets off to Taka Tuka Island to save him. There she faces the gang of pirates who captured her father and the secret spy of the gang... Rosalinda!

The Pippi Langstrump series has been repeated numerous times on European TV stations. The series was re-edited as three feature films for the cinemas: Pippi Långstrump/Pippi Longstocking (1969), Pippi går ombord/Pippi Goes on Board (1969) and Här kommer Pippi Långstrump/Here Comes Pippi Longstocking (1973).

Another two feature film spin-offs were also shown in the cinemas: Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven/Pippi in the South Seas (1970) and På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump/Pippi on the Run (1970). They became weekend television staples throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Back to Douglas. Last Saturday, 23 February 2019, he died of old age at the Karlsruhe Zoo, aged 51. His old keeper in Malmö, Frank Madsen, said Douglas had a vocabulary of 50 words, and his handler in Karlsruhe, Maria Rüssel, remembered him as a "great character" with whom she developed a "true friendship". We wish Douglas to rest in peace. And to the fundamentalists at the Swedish Agricultural Office we can only say: “You’re a pumpkin, a pumpkin”!

Dutch postcard by Semic International, 1971.

Dutch postcard, 1971. Photo: Semic International. Publicity still for Pippi Långstrump/Pippi Longstocking (Olle Hellbom, 1969) with Inger Nillson as Pipi, right Maria Persson as Annika, and left Pär Sundberg as Tommy.

Inger Nilsson in Pippi Langstrump (Pippi Langkous, )

Dutch postcard by Semic International, 1971. Photo: publicity still for Pippi Långstrump/Pippi Longstocking (Olle Hellbom, 1969), with Inger Nilsson as Pippi.

Sources: Jason Buchanan (AllMovie), BBC News, NOS.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Again, we have to announce that one of our film stars has passed away. Today, we learned that former Cuban actress, dancer and sex-symbol Chelo Alonso has died on 20 February 2019. Alonso was a star of the Italian cinema of the late 1950s and early 1960s. In several Peplum epics she played femme fatales with fiery tempers and she did sensual dance scenes, mixing Afro-Cuban rhythms with ‘bump and grind’. Ultimately in the DVD era, the ‘Cuban H-bomb’ became a cult heroine for many international B-film buffs. Chelo Alonso was 85.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/118.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/196. Photo: Gérard Decaux.

Sensual, Exotic Style

Darkly stunning Chelo Alonso was born Isabella Garcia in 1933 in Central Lugareño, Cuba, to a Cuban father and a Mexican mother. At a very young age, it became evident that Isabella possessed a great talent for dancing. At 17, she began performing seriously in Havana and soon earned notoriety at Cuba's National Theatre for her sensual, exotic style.

As Chelo Alonso, she toured many cities all over the world, including Havana, Puerto Rico, St. Domingo, Haiti, Miami, New Orleans, New York (Broadway), and finally, she arrived in Paris in 1957.

At the Folies Bergère, she was the main star and billed as the ‘new Josephine Baker’, who had become famous at the Folies more than 30 years before her. Alonso was billed as the ‘Cuban H-Bomb’, and mixed her native Latin Rhythms such as Mambo and Son, and fused them with the classic ‘bump and grind’.

Soon her sensual beauty and allure were discovered for the cinema. She went to the Mecca of the European film industry at the time, Rome. Many of Alonso's later films were Peplums, Italian sword and sandal films in the style of Le Fatiche di Ercole/Hercules (Pietro Francisci, 1958). This box office sensation had starred bodybuilder Steve Reeves and had created a wildly popular new film genre. Hercules paved the way for several Italian B-films attempting to emulate its success. These films required exotic talent, and Alonso's dark beauty fit the bill.

Chelo Alonso was first noticed internationally as Erica the slave dancer and conspirator in Nel segno di Roma/Sign of the Gladiator (Guido Brignone, 1959), which starred Anita Ekberg and Georges Marchal. Alonso’s billing was upped due to a particularly erotic dance number, and she became the second female lead. Her picture and name on the posters became even more prominent than either of the two stars, reportedly much to Anita Ekberg’s displeasure.

That year Alonso also played a princess opposite Lex Barker and Massimo Serratoin La Scimitarra del Saraceno/The Pirate and the Slave Girl (Piero Pierotti, 1959), and she starred with Steve Reeves himself in Il Terrore dei barbari/Goliath and the Barbarians (Carlo Campogalliani, 1959). Her part in the latter film earned Alonso the award of ‘Italian Cinema's Female Discovery’.

Italian postcard, no. 496.

Spanish postcard by Ediciones Europacolor, no. 272.

Dutch postcard. Sent by mail in 1963.

Che Guevara's Invitation

With her volcanic temperament, highly distinctive cheekbones and wild mane of dark hair, Chelo Alonso went on to star in a dozen Peplums and other adventure films. She charmed muscleman co-stars like Steve Reeves, Mark Forest, Jacques Sernas, Rik Battaglia and Gordon Mitchell in such films as Maciste nella valle dei re/Maciste the Mighty (Carlo Campogalliani, 1960), Terrore della maschera rossa/Terror of the Red Mask (Luigi Capuano, 1960), La regina dei tartari/The Queen of the Tartars (Sergio Grieco, 1960), and Morgan il pirata/Morgan the Pirate (André De Toth, Primo Zeglio, 1960).

That same year she also filmed a comedy, Gastone (Mario Bonnard, 1960), alongside two giants of the Italian cinema, Alberto Sordi and Vittoria De Sica. A year later, she married Aldo Pomilia, a production manager and producer whom she had met while working on Morgan the Pirate. She later bore him a son, Aldino.

Chelo reportedly refused Che Guevara's invitation to come back to Havana during the revolution, preferring to remain in Rome. Following Quattro notti don Alba/Desert War (Luigi Filippo D'Amico, 1962), Alonso left film for a time to turn her attention to television. She even took part in a cooking show, where the public could witness her preparing a typical Cuban meal of rice and chicken.

She did not return to the screen until the classic Spaghetti Western Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo/The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966). Ironically, in her most widely distributed film she only played a small, mute role. She played the unfortunate Mexican wife of Stevens (Antonio Casas) murdered by Lee Van Cleef in one of the film’s most striking sequences.

Then followed supporting parts in two other interesting Spaghetti Westerns. The first was the underrated Corri uomo corri/Big Gundown 2 (Sergio Sollima, 1968) starring Tomas Milian. Her final film was the obscure La Notte dei serpenti/Night of the Serpent (Giulio Petroni, 1970).

After the death of her producer-husband in 1986, Alonso moved to the city of Siena in Tuscany, Italy. She opened a small cat-breeding farm, which became a luxurious four-star hotel.

Chelo Alonso’s film career was brief, but we do agree with Ben Chenier at Cult Sirens: “She was in no more than 20 films but had she played in only one, we still couldn't forget her. (...) One of the most astounding beauty of her time (or any time, in my view), Chelo Alonso lit up the screen every time she appeared before a camera. That gorgeous figure, those amazing cheekbones, that heavy mane of hair... all elements to nominate her at the Pantheon of Immortal Movie Goddesses”.

Chelo Alonso died in Mentana, Lazio, Italy.

Trailer Il Terrore dei barbari/Goliath and the Barbarians (1959). Source: Sword and Sandal FLIX (YouTube).

Chelo Alonso's dance in Il Terrore dei barbari/Goliath and the Barbarians (1959). Source: ko ati (YouTube).

Sources: Ben Chenier (Cult Sirens), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Matt Blake (The Wild Eye), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

American actor William Farnum (1876-1953) was one of the first major movie stars. Nationally acknowledged as a great tragedian on stage in his youth and middle age, Farnum drew ovations for his recitation of Shakespeare. From 1914 to 1925, he was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, earning $10,000 a week. Farnum's silent pictures include the Westerns The Spoilers (1914) - which culminates in a spectacular saloon fistfight, The Sign of the Cross (1914) and the drama-adventure If I Were King (1921).

American postcard by Sup. Co., Chicago. Photo: William Fox Productions. Publicity still of William Farnum in The Orphan (J. Gordon Edwards, 1920).

Danish postcard by J. Chr. Olsens Kunstforlag. Eneret, no. 432.

British postcard in the Cinema Stars series by Lilywhite Ltd., no. C.M. 101. Photo: Fox.

A classic fistfight which lasted for a full reel

William Farnum was born in 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in a family of actors. His parents, the actors G.D. Farnum and Adela Le Gros, trained William and his two brothers, Dustin and Marshall, in their profession. Dustin Farnum later became a known film actor, while Marshall Farnum became a silent film director who died in 1917.

William made his acting debut at the age of ten in Richmond, Virginia in a production of Julius Caesar, with Edwin Booth playing the title character. His first Broadway appearance was in 1896. He had a major success as the title character of Ben-Hur in 1900. He replaced the original actor, Edward Morgan, who premiered the character in 1899. Farnum toured in Ben-Hur for five years.

Later plays in which Farnum appeared were the costume epic The Prince of India (1906), The White Sister (1909) starring Viola Allen, The Littlest Rebel (1911), co-starring his brother Dustin Farnum and the then nine years old child actress Mary Miles Minter, and Arizona (1913) with Dustin and stage beauty Elsie Ferguson.

So, William Farnum was a ranking stage star when he first came to Hollywood. He made his film debut in the short film The Redemption of David Corson (Frederick A. Thomson, 1914). He played a a Quaker who is admired by members of his community for his spiritual ways. He has a crisis of faith when a snake-oil salesman named Dr. Paracelsus (Robert Broderick) arrives in town with a young gypsy named Pepeeta (Constance Mollineaux).

His next film was the Western The Spoilers (Colin Campbell, 1914), the first of many filmed adaptations of Rex Beach's adventure novel of the Alaskan gold-rush. Farnum and co-star Tom Santschi staged a classic movie fight which lasted for a full reel. In 1930, Farnum and Santschi coached Gary Cooper and William Boyd in the fight scene for the sound version of The Spoilers (Edwin Carewe, 1930). Other actors influenced by the fistfight scene were Milton Sills and Noah Beery in The Spoilers (Lambert Hillyer, 1923) and Randolph Scott and John Wayne in The Spoilers (Ray Enright, 1942).

Farnum's third film is probably his best known, The Sign of the Cross (Frederick A. Thomson, 1914), based on the novel by Wilson Barrett. In this Famous Player production he played the lead as Marcus Superbus.

French postcard in the Les Vedettes du Cinéma series by Filma, no. 18. Photo: Fox-Film.

British postcard by 'Pictures' Portrait Gallery, London.

Vintage postcard. Photo: Fox Film.

Becoming one of the biggest sensations in Hollywood

From 1915 to 1952, William Farnum devoted his life to motion pictures. While becoming one of the biggest sensations in Hollywood, he also became one of the highest-paid actors, earning $10,000 a week at the Fox studio. Farnum's silent pictures included the Western Drag Harlan (J. Gordon Edwards, 1920) and the drama-adventure If I Were King (J. Gordon Edwards, 1921) as the famed French poet and vagabond rogue François Villon. Both films, which he made contracted to Fox Films, have survived.

His way of life in the years of his Hollywood fame helped establish the lavish pattern which the world came to associate inevitably with movie stardom. His yacht was one of the largest, his home and its furnishings and his stables and his automobiles and his entertaining — not to mention his marital trouble — all were in the gaudy tradition. Farnum was married three times. His first wife was actress Mabel Eaton. Farnum had a daughter, Sara Adele, with his second wife, Olive White. He had three children with his third wife, Isabelle Lunds Major, named Isabelle, Elizabeth and William Farnum Jr.

In 1924, while making the drama The Man Who Fights Alone (Wallace Worsley, 1924) at the height of his powers, he was hurt so seriously that his career came almost to a full stop. But he returned to make a number of silent films and many sound pictures, although he never regained the stature of major stardom. He returned to the stage in 1925 playing Sir Ralph Morgan in The Buccaneer. The following year he appeared in the title role of Julius Caesar and two years later was on Broadway as Banquo in Macbeth.

His film parts in the 1940s and 1950s were mostly small. He played Tubal in Samson and Delilah (Cecil B. DeMille, 1949) with Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr. He appeared opposite Roy Rogers in Trail of Robin Hood (William Whitney, 1950). His final films were the romantic Western Lone Star (Vincent Sherman, 1952) starring Clark Gable and Ava Gardner, and Jack and the Beanstalk (Jean Yarbrough, 1952), Abbott & Costello's version of the famous fairy tale, about a young boy who trades the family cow for magic beans.

William Farnum died from uraemia and cancer in 1953 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Pallbearers were Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse Lasky, Frank Lloyd, Clarence Brown, Charles Coburn and Leo Carillo. The eulogy was read by Pat O'Brien. In 1960, Farnum received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion pictures industry at 6322 Hollywood Boulevard.

British postcard in the Cinema Stars series by Lilywhite Ltd, no. C.M. 32. Photo: Fox.

British postcard in the Cinema Stars series by Lilywhite Ltd, no. C.M. 54. Photo: Fox.

British postcard in the Famous Cinema Star Series by Beagles Postcards, no. 111A.

The sign of the cross (1914). Source: Bucketstein (YouTube). For English subtitles, click on the little square beside the little clock, below right.

Sources: W.K. Waters (IMDb), Los Angeles Times, Wikipedia and IMDb.

In 1915-1916, the Italian company Gloria Film made a series of nine short silent films based on the stories in the book 'Cuore' (Heart) by Edmondo De Amicis. Earlier we did posts on six of the films: Il piccolo scrivano fiorentino (1915), La piccola vedetta lombarda (1915), Il tamburino sardo (1915), Dagli Appennini alle Ande (1916), Naufragio (1916) and Sangue Romagnolo (1916). In the seventh, Il piccolo patriota padovano/The little patriot from Padua (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915), child actor Ermanno Roveri plays the lead role once more. Stabilimenti Alterocca in Terni published again a series of postcards to promote the film.

Ermanno Roveri in Il piccolo patriota padovano

Italian postcard by Stabilimenti Alterocca, Terni, no. 3371. Photo: Film Artistica Gloria, Torino. Publicity still for Il piccolo patriota padovano (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915). Caption: His bad parents continuously beated and abused him.

Italian postcard by Stabilimenti Alterocca, Terni, no. 3371. Photo: Film Artistica Gloria, Torino. Publicity still for Il piccolo patriota padovano (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915). Caption: Until, one day, they sold him to a group of acrobats.

Italian postcard by Stabilimenti Alterocca, Terni, no. 3371. Photo: Film Artistica Gloria, Torino. Ermanno Roveri in Il piccolo patriota padovano (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915). Caption: No longer able to stand the beatings and the hunger, he escapes his tormentor.

Young Italians sacrificing themselves for their country

In 1886, Edmondo De Amicis' published his popular children's book 'Cuore' (Heart), a volume with nine stories. In Cuore, De Amicis tells about the life of nine boys in a school class in the city of Turin. Cuore is written in a diary form as told by Enrico Bottini, an 11-year-old primary school boy in Turin with an upper class background who is surrounded by working class school mates. The stories are set during the Italian unification, and include several patriotic themes. The other boys are from various parts of Italy, giving a strong hint to the unity between the various regions of the Kingdom, both culturally as well as politically. The book was issued on 18 October 1886, the first day of school in Italy, and rose to an immediate success.

Through the years there were many film adaptations of the book. In 1915-1916, the company Film Artistica Gloria in Turin turned the stories of Cuore into a series of nine short silent films to support the war effort during World War I. In these shorts, the heroes are again nine young Italian boys who sacrifice themselves for their country and fight against the enemies at all time, even in distant wars.

Earlier we did posts on six other films of the series: Il piccolo scrivano fiorentino//The little scribe from Florence(Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915), La piccola vedetta lombarda/The little lookout from Lombardy (Vittorio Rossi-Pianelli, 1915), Il tamburino sardo/The Little Drummer Boy (Vittorio Rossi Pianelli, 1915), Dagli Appennini alle Ande/From the Apennines to the Andes (Umberto Paradisi, 1916), Naufragio/Shipwreck (Umberto Paradisi, 1916) and Sangue Romagnolo/Blood from the Romagna (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1916). Today follows the seventh of the nine films, Il piccolo patriota padovano/The little patriot from Padua (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915), starring the cute Ermanno Roveri.

Ermanno Roveri(1903-1968) started his career as a child star. In 1913-1914, he had become famous as Frugolino, one of the comic child actors of the Cines company in Rome. In the 1930s and 1940s Ermanno played in a dozen Italian films. He would continue to work in the theatre and incidentally in cinema or on television till his death in 1968. For Gloria Film, he appeared also in the Cuore films Il piccolo scrivano fiorentino//The little scribe from Florence(Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915), Dagli Appennini alle Ande/From the Apennines to the Andes (Umberto Paradisi, 1916), and Naufragio/Shipwreck (Umberto Paradisi, 1916).

In Il piccolo patriota padovano/The little patriot from Padua (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915), Roveri plays a young boy from Padua, dressed in rags, who is discovered on a boat to Genua. His poor parents have sold him to acrobats, who maltreat him. During a stop in Barcelona, he flees to the Italian consul who helps him return. Aboard the ship to Italy he is nurtured, dressed and foreign visitors give him money, but when he overhears them talking badly about Italy and the Italians, he throws hem back the money, not supporting alimony from those who insult his country.

Posts on the other two films in the Cuore series will follow in the next weeks at EFSP.

Italian postcard by Stabilimenti Alterocca, Terni, no. 3371. Photo: Film Artistica Gloria, Torino. Publicity still for Il piccolo patriota padovano (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915). Caption: Those travelers were not Italians, but they understood him and gave him money, jesting with him and urging him on to tell them other things.

Italian postcard by Stabilimenti Alterocca, Terni, no. 3371. Photo: Film Artistica Gloria, Torino. Publicity still for Il piccolo patriota padovano (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915). Caption: They drank and discoursed their travels, and from one story to another they started to say evils things about Italy.

Italian postcard by Stabilimenti Alterocca, Terni, no. 3371. Photo: Film Artistica Gloria, Torino. Ermanno Roveri in Il piccolo patriota padovano (Leopoldo Carlucci, 1915). Caption: Take back your money, the boy disdainfully said, for I won't take any alms from those who insult my Country.

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

Svensk Filmindustri of simply SF, based in Stockholm, is the largest film studio in Sweden and is one of the oldest studios in the world. SF was established on 27 December 1919, and produced classic silent films as Körkarlen/The Phantom Carriage, (Victor Sjöström, 1920), Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920) and Gösta Berlings saga/The Saga of Gösta Berling (Mauritz Stiller, 1924). Later, SF produced the films of Ingmar Bergman and the comedies with Nils Poppe. Svensk Filmindustri was a production company, but also a distributor of both Swedish and international films and a cinema chain. SF adopted the current name, SF Studios, in 2016, and is now owned by the Bonnier Group.

Silent Films

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/1. Photo: Svensk Filmindustri. Karin Molander in Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/3. Photo: Svensk Filmindustri. Anders de Wahl and Karin Molander in Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).

Swedish postcard by Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1097/6. Photo: Svensk Filmindustri. Tora Teje and Lars Hanson in Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920).

Erotikon/Bounds That Chafe (Mauritz Stiller, 1920) surely pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on the screen in 1920: Irene (Tora Teje), the bored wife of a distracted entomologist (Anders de Wahl), pursues a womanising aviator, but she may actually be in love with Preben (Lars Hanson), her husband's best friend. Meanwhile, her husband seems to be getting unusually close with his own niece (Karin Molander). Stiller obviously delights in teasing his audience with each scandalous plot twist and every salacious leer, and the result is a deliciously subversive comedy that was very much ahead of its time.

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1117/3. Victor Sjöström and Astrid Holm in Körkarlen/The Phantom Carriage, (Victor Sjöström, 1920).

Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1117/7. Photo: Svensk Filmindustri. Victor Sjöström in Körkarlen/The Phantom Carriage, (Victor Sjöström, 1920).

Körkarlen/The Phantom Carriage, (Victor Sjöström, 1920) is a classic from Swedish silent cinema. Director Victor Sjöström himself played the leading role of the drunkard David Holm. As he is the last one to die on New Year's Eve, Holm is forced to take over the phantom carriage for a full year, collecting the souls of the dead.

Pauline Brunius and Paul Seelig in En vildfagel (1921)

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 291. Photo: Skandia-Film (was now only the distributor) / Svensk Filmindustri. Publicity still for En vildfågel/Give Me My Son (John W. Brunius, 1921) with Pauline Brunius and Paul Seelig.

Renée Björling and Paul Seelig in En vildfågel (1921)

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 292. Photo: Skandia-Film (was now only the distributor) / Svensk Filmindustri. Publicity still for En vildfågel/Give Me My Son (John W. Brunius, 1921) with Renée Björling and Paul Seelig.

The drama En vildfågel/Her adopted Son (John W. Brunius, 1921) was adapted from the play Skeppsbrott (Shipwreck) by Samuel A. Duse. The title means literally 'The Wild Bird'. On 3 October 1921, En vildfågel premiered simultaneously in five cinemas in five different Swedish cities. While the Swedish press was not wild about the plot, it praised Pauline Brunius and newcomer Paul Seelig: "With her strong, mastered and expressive game, Mrs. Brunius wears it all up; she becomes the central figure around which people and events naturally group themselves. Mrs. Brunius with her rich, mature art and her never-failing pace and skill in artistic work is one real treasure for the Swedish film, it's just a shame that she devotes so little of her time to the work in front of the camera." (Marfa inDN).

Victor Sjöström and Jenny Hasselquist in Eld ombord

Swedish postcard by Ed. Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 336. Photo: Svensk Filminspelning. Publicity still for Eld ombord/Fire on board (Victor Sjöström, 1923), starring Victor Sjöström and Jenny Hasselqvist.

In Eld ombord/Fire on board (Victor Sjöström, 1923), British actor Matheson Lang stars as Jan Steen, the owner of a ship that returns home. Back home, he finds Dick, his wife's ex-lover in the house. He forces Ann-Britt Steen (Jenny Hasselqvist), the wife, to go on board with him. Dick (Victor Sjöström) gets a new job on a ship, which turns out to be Jan Steen's ship.

Lars Hanson as Gösta Berling in Gösta Berlings saga (Mauritz Stiller, 1924). Swedish postcard by Förlag Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, no. 1286. Photo: Goodwin, 1924.

Mona Mårtenson. German postcard by Trianon-Film, 1924. Photo: Svenska-Film. Publicity still for Gösta Berlings saga/The Atonement of Gosta Berling (Mauritz Stiller, 1924).

Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 381. Again Lars Hanson as the title character in Gösta Berlings saga/The Saga of Gösta Berling (Mauritz Stiller, 1924).

Gösta Berlings saga/The Saga of Gösta Berling (Mauritz Stiller, 1924) was an adaptation of the famous novel by Selma Lagerlöf. Gösta Berling (Lars Hanson) is a young and attractive minister. Because he is an alcoholic and his preaches are far too daring, he is finally defrocked. He leaves the town in disgrace and arrives at countess Marta's manor. His new job there is to be a tutor to countess' beautiful stepdaughter Ebba (Mona Mårtenson). They eventually fall in love with each other. But they don't know that countess hired him only because she has some secret plans of her own... Greta Garbo played under her birth name Greta Gustafsson a supporting part in this film. Cinematography was by Julius Jaenzon, art direction by Vilhelm Bryde (with Edgar Ulmer collaborating on the set design).

Two beautifully shaped capital letters

AB Svensk Filmindustri (SF) was founded on 27 December 1919 with the merger of AB Svenska Biografteatern and Filmindustri AB Skandia. The new company had to register and it became urgent to have a new company logo.

The first film poster that used the SF logo was director Mauritz Stiller’s Johan, in 1921. In those early days the logo was very simple with a white S and F against a black background. It was not until the late 1930s that the company changed it to the two thin circle lines with the two beautifully shaped capital letters.

Svensk Filmindustri produced most of the films made by Ingmar Bergman, as well as by other Swedish filmmakers such as Bo Widerberg, Lasse Hallström and Bille August. The majority of film and TV adaptations of the works by children's author Astrid Lindgren have also been produced by SF.

SF also distributes foreign films in the Nordic countries and has deals with Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and STX Entertainment in the United States and StudioCanal in France.

SF was owned by Hufvudstaden AB from 1970 until 1973, when it was sold to the newspaper firm Dagens Nyheter. Since 1983 SF has been owned by the Bonnier Group. In 2013, 60% of the cinema division of SF, SF Bio, was sold to the private equity firm Ratos, and since 2017 SF Bio has been owned by AMC Theatres.

Sound films

Dutch postcard by Scala Theater, Utrecht, 1950. Photo: publicity still for Tappa inte sugen/Don't give up (Lars-Eric Kjellgren, 1947) with Nils Poppe.

Dutch postcard by Scala Theater, Utrecht, 1949. Photo: Meteor-Film. Publicity still for Ballongen/The Balloon (Göran Gentele, Nils Poppe, 1947) starring Nils Poppe.

Actor, director and screenwriter Nils Poppe (1908–2000) was often referred to as the Swedish Charlie Chaplin. He is internationally best known for his dramatic part as the jester in Ingmar Bergman's Det sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal (1957), but in Sweden he was much loved as a comedian and participated in over 50 films and TV series.

Dutch postcard by Semic International, 1971. Photo: publicity still for Pippi Långstrump/Pippi Longstocking (Olle Hellbom, 1969), with Inger Nilsson as Pipi.

Dutch postcard, 1971. Photo: Semic International. Publicity still for Pippi Långstrump/Pippi Longstocking (Olle Hellbom, 1969) with Inger Nilsson, Maria Persson and Pär Sundberg.

The famous Pippi Langstrump/Pippi Longstocking television series was based on the books by Astrid Lindgren. The first episode was broadcast on Sveriges Radio TV in February 1969. The production was a Swedish-West German co-production and several German actors had roles in the series. As Astrid Lindgren was unhappy with the 1949 adaptation, she wrote the script herself for this version. The series was directed by Olle Hellbom who also directed several other Astrid Lindgren adaptations. Inger Nilsson gave a confident oddball performance as Pippi. The Pippi Langstrump series and two spin-offs became weekend television staples all over Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The series were re-edited as feature films for the cinemas: Pippi Långstrump/Pippi Longstocking (1969), Pippi går ombord/Pippi Goes on Board (1969), Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven/Pippi in the South Seas (1970), På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump/Pippi on the Run (1970), and Här kommer Pippi Långstrump/Here Comes Pippi Longstocking (1973), all directed by Olle Hellbom.

SF Cinemas

Skandia Cinema by Night, Drottninggatan 82, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Paul van Yperen, 2008.

SF cinema Skandia opened on 20 September 1923 with 832 seats. Architect Eric Gunnar Asplund designed a neoclassic movie palace with a semi-atmospheric ceiling. The ceiling had 60 silk covered star shaped lamps, which were extinguished one-by-one before the start of the film. In 1926 a Wurlitzer organ was installed. The theatre currently has 572 seats.

Filmstaden, Malmö, Sweden. Photo: Paul van Yperen, 2016.

The 8-screen multiplex Filmstaden opened in the centre of Malmö on 13 November 1998. Designed by architect Svante Lundquist, the interior was designed by Lisa Mannheimer. The foyer has cherry-wood walls and there is a large neon sign located above the stairs. The upstairs foyer contains an internet coffee-shop and a licenced bar. All eight auditorium are THX-approved and are named after former Malmö cinemas. The largest auditorium, which is named Scania and seats 330, is of particular interest.

Sources: SF Studios, Cinema Treasures, Svensk Film Database, Wikipedia and IMDb.