Doris Kirchner

December 22, 2017, 10:00 pm

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Austrian stage, film and television actress Doris Kirchner (1930) was a popular comedienne of the German cinema of the 1950s. She both appeared in leading and supporting roles.


West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1957. Photo: Panorama / Wolf. Publicity still for Der Jäger von Roteck/The Huntsman of Roteck (Hermann Kugelstadt, 1956) with Michael Cramer.


West-German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3715. Photo: Rhombus / Herzog-Film / Dittner. Publicity still for Das Glück liegt auf der Strasse/Happiness is on the street (Franz Antel, 1957).

Cross-dressing comedy

Doris Kirchner was born in 1930 in Graz, Austria.

At the end of the 1940s, she attended the Max Reinhardt Schule in Wien (Vienna). Later she performed at the renowned Burgtheater in Vienna.

In 1949 she made her film debut in the Austrian Heimatfilm Das Siegel Gottes/The Seal of the Lord (Alfred Stöger, 1949). It was one of the first films in the postwar era to use the seal of confession as a substantive issue.  

During the 1950s she appeared in such films as comedy Seitensprünge im Schnee/Escapades in the Snow (Siegfried Breuer, 1950) with Heinz Engelmann, Abenteuer im Schloss/Adventures in the Castle (Rudolf Steinboeck, 1952) and Wo die Lerche singt/Where the Lark Sings (Hans Wolff, 1956) with Renate Holm, based on the operetta by the Hungarian composer Franz Lehár.

She also played supporting parts in such films as the cross-dressing comedy Fanfaren der Ehe/Fanfare of Marriage (Hans Grimm, 1953) starring Dieter Borsche and Georg Thomalla, and Ich und Du/I and You (Alfred Weidenmann, 1953) starring Hardy Krüger and Liselotte Pulver.


West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1369. Photo: Neusser / Constantin / Appelt. Publicity still for Verliebte Leute/Loving Couples (Franz Antel, 1954) with Peter Pasetti.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1042. Photo: Algefa / Herzog-Film / Grimm. Publicity still for Der treue Husar/The Faithfull Hussar (Rudolf Schündler, 1954).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1500, 1961. Photo: publicity still for Lügen haben hübsche Beine/Lies have pretty legs (Erik Ode, 1956) with Adrian Hoven.

The Creepiest, Crawliest and Deadliest Film Ever Produced!

Doris Kirchner was married to the directors Helmuth Ashley and Franz Josef Gottlieb. With her second husband, she made several light entertainment films during the 1960s and 1970s.

Their first film together was the German-Spanish crime film Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Witwe/The Secret of the Black Widow (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1963) starring O. W. Fischer and Klaus Kinski. It was based on one of the crime novels by Louis Weinert-Wilton.

After the success of their Edgar Wallace series, Constantin film tried to copy this success with a series of four Louis Weinert-Wilton adaptations. Although the film was advertised as 'The Creepiest, Crawliest and Deadliest Film Ever Produced!'most critics found the film quite dull.

Gottlieb and Kirchner followed this with the saccharine musical comedy Wenn du bei mir bist/When You're With Me (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1970) starring Roy Black and Lex Barker. Filming took place in international settings including several airports. Location filming was done in Germany as well as Bangkok and Colombo.

Kirchner also appeared in three farces with Rudi Carrell, Wenn die tollen Tanten kommen/When the Mad Aunts Arrive (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1970) also with Ilja Richter and Schlager singer Chris Roberts, Tante Trude aus Buxtehude/Aunt Trude from Buxtehude (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1971), and Rudi, benimm dich!/Rudi, Behave! (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1971).

These Rudi Carrell comedies were among the several German films in the wake of Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) that used cross-dressing as a comic theme and were inspired by the cross-dressing plot of Charley's Aunt. In turn, Some Like it Hot was again based on the German comedy Fanfaren der Liebe/Fanfares of Love (Kurt Hoffmann, 1951). While Kirchner had 20 years earlier appeared in the sequel of this film, Fanfaren der Ehe/Fanfare of Marriage (Hans Grimm, 1953).

In 1988, Doris Kirchner became the manager of Schauspielschule Bühnenstudio Hamburg. Her last screen role was in the TV series Wolken über Kaprun/Clouds over Kaprun (Franz Josef Gottlieb, 1993).

At the age of 73, Doris Kirchner suffered a stroke that caused dementia. Today she lives in an old people's home near Hamburg. In 2011, film makers Kirsten Poggendorff and Michael Wolfram made  a film about her there, Müllerstochter, Königin ... - Porträt der Schauspielerin Doris Kirchner/Miller's daughter, Queen ... - Portrait of the actress Doris Kirchner (2011).


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden-Westf. Photo: Melodie / Sandrew / Herzog-Film / A. Grimm. Publicity still for Sommarflickan/Swedish Girl (Håkan Bergström, Thomas Engel, 1955).


West-German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3687. Photo: Bavaria Film / Schorcht Film. Publicity still for Vater, unser bestes Stück/Father, our best piece (Günther Lüders, 1957).

Sources: Christina Bylow (Berliner Zeitung - German), Wikipedia and IMDb.

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Oscar Sabo

December 23, 2017, 10:00 pm

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Oscar Sabo (1881-1969) was a celebrated Austrian operetta singer and later also a popular film actor.


German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 1472. Photo: Willinger, Berlin.


German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 1759.

Discovered by Max Reinhardt

Oscar or Oskar Sabo was born in 1881 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.

He was trained at the Stern'schen Konservatorium (now the Julius Stern Institute of the Berlin University of the Arts) in Berlin on the violin. From 1900 onwards, he appeared as an extra in theatre plays.

When Max Reinhardt discovered him, Sabo received an engagement at the Berliner Theater. He was particularly active in farces and operettas, in which he also performed as a singer.

In 1912, he had great successes in two operettas by Walter Kollo, Große Rosinen (Great Raisins) and Filmzauber (Film Magic). Together with Lisa Weise, he was the first interpreter of Kollo’s popular marching song Untern Linden.

Oscar Sabo made his film debut in one of Austria’s first films, the short silent comedy Die böse Schwiegermutter/The Evil Mother-in-law (Anton Kolm, 1910). His first German film was Kehre zurück! Alles vergeben!/Come back! All forgiven! (Max Mack, 1914). He then played the title role in the comedy Der Barbier von Filmersdorf/The Barber of Filmersdorf (Carl Wilhelm, 1915) with Anna Müller-Lincke.

During the silent film era, the film industry only used Sabo incidentally. In 1922, he played a part in the historical film Der falsche Dimitri/The False Dimitri (Hans Steinhoff, 1922), starring Alfred Abel. Set in early seventeenth century Russia it portrays the rise of False Dmitriy I during the Time of Troubles.


Austrian postcard by Postkartenverlag Brüder Kohn, Wien. Photo: L. Gutmann, Wien, 1910. Caption: "Vindobona, du herrliche Stadt." Ich bitte ich stelle mich vor, ich bin der Wiener Humor. Oscar Sabo.

Much employed as a supporting player

Only when the sound film arrived, the already over fifty-years-old Oscar Sabo suddenly saw himself much employed as a supporting player. He embodied chauffeurs, policemen, drivers, mailmen, and other subordinate figures, whom he usually depicted with humour.

His films include Der kleine Seitensprung/The Little Escapade (Reinhold Schünzel, 1931) with Renate Müller, Der Läufer von Marathon (Ewald André Dupont, 1933) starring Brigitte Helm, G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald/Tales from Vienna Woods (Georg Jacoby, 1934), and Endstation (E.W. Emo, 1935) starring Paul Hörbiger and Hans Moser.

Sabo continued his career undiminished during wartime and entertained audiences with films like Der Gasmann/The Gas Man (Carl Froelich, 1941) with Heinz Rühmann, Reise in die Vergangenheit/Trip to the past (Hans H. Zerlett, 1943), Familie Buchholz/The Buchholz Family (Carl Froelich, 1944) and its direct sequel Neigungsehe/Marriage of Affection (Carl Froelich, 1944), both starring Henny Porten.

After the war, Sabo only appeared rarely in the cinema. His films from this period include Wenn Männer schwindeln/When Men Swindle (Carl Boese, 1950) and Madeleine und der Legionär/ (Wolfgang Staudte, 1958).

His son Oscar Sabo jun. (1922-1978) was also an actor. Oscar Sabo died in 1969 in Berlin. Sabo is buried in the Heerstraße cemetery in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district, as well as his son.


German postcard by NPG, no. 406. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.

Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2017, 10:00 pm

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As every year: Gelukkig kerstfeest! Frohe Weihnachten! ¡Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël! Buon Natale! Sretan Božić! Καλά Χριστούγεννα! Boldog karácsonyt! Gleðileg jól! Nollaig Shona! Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus! Linksmų Kalėdų! Среќен Божиќ God jul! Wesołych Świąt! Feliz Natal! Crăciun fericit! С Рождеством Срећан Божић veselé Vianoce! Vesel božič! God Jul! Nadolig Llawen! Gëzuar Krishtlindjet! Eguberri! Merry Christmas!


Sophia Loren. Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


Rocío Dúrcal. Spanish postcard by Ediciones Tarjet-Fher / Ediciones Mandolina, no. 216. Photo: Epoca Films.


Mireille Darc. Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 436.


Patricia Roc. Dutch postcard. Photo: British Lion.


Käthe von Nagy. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7282/1. Photo: Ufa. Released in Italy by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze.


Elizabeth Taylor. French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1051. Photo: John Everton / Ufa.


Dutch postcard by the Rialto Theatre, Amsterdam, 1934. Photo: Remaco Radio Picture. Publicity still for Little Women (George Cukor, 1933). In the picture are Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Frances Dee, Jean Parker and Spring Byington. The Dutch title of the film and the book by Louise M. Alcott is Onder moeders vleugels.


Lien Deyers. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7058/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Balász, Berlin.


Marta Eggerth. Dutch postcard by JosPe, no. 593.


Marta Toren. Dutch postcard, no. 3374. Photo: Universal International / Fotoarchief Film en Toneel.


Robertino. French postcard by Editions Publistar, Marseille, no. 811. Photo: President.


Kermit. Dutch postcard by Interstat, Amsterdam. Photo: The Jim Henson Company.


Dany Robin. French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1004. Photo: Sam Lévin.


Romy Schneider& Horst Buchholz. Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 3572.


Jayne Mansfield. French postcard by Edition a la carte. Photo: Filmhistorisches Bildarchiv Peter W. Engelmeier.


Heintje Simons. German postcard by Modern Times. Photo: Interfoto. Caption: Alles schlampen, ausser mama (All bitches, except mama).


Nadja Tiller. German promotion card for Luxor.

Harry Piel

December 25, 2017, 10:00 pm

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German ‘dynamite’ director, actor, producer and screenwriter Harry Piel (1892-1963) made over 150 sensational films full of explosions and stunts. With his iron nerves, he was Tom Mix, Douglas Fairbanks and Eddy Polo, all in one person.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 414/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Atelier Metrofilm.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1172/1, 1927-1928. Photo: publicity still for the German-French co-production Zigano (Harry Piel, Gerard Bourgeois, 1925), for which the exteriors were shot in Rome.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3343/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Panik/Panic (Harry Piel, 1928), in which Piel plays Mister X, alias Harry Peel, alias The Rajah of Lahore.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 4587/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ariel-Film. Piel worked for Ariel-Film GmbH from 1928 till 1938. Publicity still for Sein bester Freund/His Best Friend (Harry Piel, 1929).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5046/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Ariel-Film. In 1930, Harry Piel produced and directed Achtung! Auto-Diebe!/Attention! Car Thieves! (Harry Piel, 1930). It was his last silent film.

The dynamite director

Hubert August Piel was born in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1892, as the son of an innkeeper and a farmer's daughter.

His career started already adventurous. After attending elementary school in Benrath and secondary school in Düsseldorf, Piel became a cadet in 1909 on a sail training ship, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, but seven months later, he was sent back home because of a heart failure.

He started a commercial apprenticeship, did some odd jobs including working in a circus, and studied several foreign languages. In 1911 he went to Paris to become a stunt pilot.

In France, he met director Léonce Perret, who introduced him to Gaumont. There he wrote his first script and the cinema became his passion.

In 1912 he moved to Berlin where he founded his first film company, the Kunst-Film-Verlags-GmbH. His debut as a director-writer-producer was the adventure film Schwarzes Blut/Black Blood (Harry Piel, 1912) starring Curt Goetz. Even though his company went bankrupt, Piel had become established.

In the following years he shot dozens of short films full of action and adventure such as Der Triumph des Todes/The triumph of the death (Harry Piel, 1912), Ein Millionenraub/A million robbery (Harry Piel, 1914), and Die grosse Wette/The Large Bet (Harry Piel, 1916), all starring Ludwig Trautmann.

As a director he had the nickname ‘the dynamite director’ because of all the exploding bridges and houses in his films. These explosions were often authentic. A demolition engineer notified him about forthcoming blow ups. He filmed the explosions and inserted the footage into his films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 455/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt.


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 525/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Franz Meinecke, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 525/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Franz Meinecke, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 525/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Franz Meinecke, Berlin.

Joe Deebs, Private Investigator

In 1915, Harry Piel became too bored with just standing behind the lens and he started to act before the camera. His first film as a leading actor, Die große Wette/The Large Bet (Harry Piel, 1916), was a science fiction film on the subject of man-machines.

In Unter heißer Zone/Under the Hot Sun (Harry Piel, 1916) he used scenes with wild animals for the first time. He pretended that he did all his stunts himself, but the most dangerous stunts were carried out by Hermann Stetza.

During 1918 and 1919, Piel directed and starred in eight films of the Joe Deebs, private investigator series. Internationally he became a popular film star under the name of Harry Peel.

In 1927 he starred in a double role alongside Marlene Dietrich in Sein größter Bluff/His Greatest Bluff (Henrik Galeen, Harry Piel, 1927).

That same year he married actress Dary Holm, who appeared in several of his films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1901/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Nero Film. Piel played twin brothers in Sein grösster Bluff/His Greatest Bluff (Harry Piel, 1927).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, K 1481. Photo: Willinger, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1173/2, 1927-28. Photo: still for Zigano (Harry Piel, Gérard Bourgeois, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1295/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Bernhardt, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1377/1, 1927-1928.

Doppelganger

Effortlessly Harry Piel changed to sound film in the doppelganger comedy Er oder ich/Him or Me (Harry Piel, 1930) with Valerie Boothby.

Many adventure films followed, such as the box-office hits Schatten der Unterwelt/Shade of the Underworld (Harry Piel, 1931) with Elisabeth Pinajeff, Jonny stiehlt Europa/Johnny Steals Europe (Andrew Marton, Harry Piel, 1932) with Alfred Abel, and Der Dschungel ruft/The Call of the Jungle (Harry Piel, 1935) with Gerda Maurus.

Difficulties began with Panik/Panic (Harry Piel, 1940-1943), about an animal catcher who works for German zoos. At the film's climax, an air-raid on a German city frees the wild animals in the zoo and only the heroic trapper can recapture them. The authorities found the air strikes too realistic and did not want the public to believe that Germany was in danger, so the film was forbidden.

Furthermore his production company, Ariel Film Co., was liquidated through the nationalisation and 72 negatives of his films, nearly all silent films, were destroyed with an air strike.

He was a sustaining member of the NSDAP (the Nazi party), and after the war he first concealed this to his enquirers. He was sentenced to six months detention and five years professional disqualification.

After his denazification in 1950, he refounded Ariel Film. His last directorial effort was Gesprengte Gitter/Elephant Fury (Harry Piel, 1953) with Dorothea Wieck, which was based on Panik. However it had only moderate success.

Piel gave up Ariel-film in 1960 and retired. Harry Piel died in Munich, Germany in 1963.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3343/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Panik/Panic (Harry Piel, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3567/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 4837/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ariel-Film. Publicity still for Menschen im Feuer (Harry Piel, 1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6302/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Ariel-Film.


German postcard. Photo: Ariel-Film / Siegel-Monopol.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-Line) (German), Wikipedia, Filmportal.de and IMDb.

Atelier Manassé

December 26, 2017, 10:00 pm

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Atelier Manassé was a legendary Austrian photo studio that captured the golden age of cinema and cabaret in Vienna of the 1920s and 1930s. The studio was founded by Olga Spolarics and her husband Adorján von Wlássics.


Lily Damita. Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 375/1. Photo: Manassé, Wien / Sascha. Publicity still for Das Spielzeug von Paris/Red Heels (Michael Kertesz a.k.a. Michael Curtis, 1925).


Lily Damita. Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 496. Photo: Manassé, Wien / Sascha. Publicity still for Das Spielzeug von Paris/Red Heels (Michael Kertesz a.k.a. Michael Curtis, 1925).


Olga Tschechova. Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 756. Photo: Manassé, Wien.


Anita Dorris. Austrian postcard by Iris-Verlag, no. 5488. Photo: Atelier Manassé.


Lien Deyers. Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5693. Photo: Manassé, Wien. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Instituut.

Glimpses Into the World of Glamour

Atelier Manassé, active from circa 1924 in Vienna and later also in Berlin, was founded by Adorján von Wlássics (1893-1946) and Olga Spolarics (1896-1969), both born in Hungary. Married in 1920, the Wlassics became part of Vienna’s high society, yet very little is known about their lives, education and training.

In the early 1920s, when the studio started, the film industry skyrocketed. From 1919 to 1922, the Austrian film studios like Sascha produced more than 140 films that found a global market. Popular variety shows flourished as well, bringing international stars such as Josephine Baker and the Tiller Girls, a popular British dance troupe, to Vienna.

Manassé's clients ran the gamut from magazine editors and advertising agencies to private buyers. Magazines aimed to satisfy a public obsessed with glimpses into the world of glamour. The Wlassics published their first film photos in publications like Wiener Magazin. The circa 30 magazines in Vienna needed images to accompany the increasing number of articles on film and theatre, in addition to gossip columns, sports news, fashion pieces and melodramatic stories of murder and mayhem.

Atelier Manassé started at the right time and the Wlassicas created masterpieces. They employed all the techniques of makeup, retouching, and over-painting to keep their subjects and buyers happy while upholding an uncompromised artistic vision. For us today, the studio’s rich visual legacy in part chronicles the golden era of cinema and theatre in Europe.

Kristine Somerville in her article Darkroom Alchemy: The Photographic Art of Studio Manassé at ResearchGate: "Styling, staging and photographic work was handled by Olga. She created the glamorous Manassé vision in their small but dazzling apartment, which also served as their studio in Vienna’s city center. The rooms and reception area were filled with lavish furnishings—bearskin rugs, Baroque furniture, tapestries, gilded mirrors, paintings and Greek pillars used as flower stands—which often appeared as backgrounds or props."

Somerville: "Adorján handled the artistic corrections and montages. He devoted a remarkable amount of time and ingenuity to perfecting techniques— primarily retouching, painting and overlaying images—to enhance Olga’s photographs."

Till 1938 many European but also Hollywood film stars and starlets were photographed in the Manassé studio. Rudolph Valentino, Anna May Wong, French Lily Damita, and the legendary La Jana were among the stars who were photographed by the Wlassics.


Mary Kid. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3348/3, 1928-1929. Photo: Manassé, Wien.


Maria Paudler. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3583/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Manassé, Wien. Caption: Doppelbildnis (double portrait).


Maly Delschaft. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3653/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.


Vera Voronina. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3654/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.

Nude Photography

Atelier Manassé also gained a high degree of popularity in the 1920s through erotic photographs, mainly of women.

Olga Spolarics (1896-1969) seems to have been the one interested in the nude photography. Atelier Manassé exhibited at the 1st International Salon of Nude Photography in Paris in 1933.

The artists liked to combine erotic with surreal motifs in their photographs. They used retouching techniques to create surreal and noir images that seethe with an erotic symbolism barely concealed beneath a mask of glorious styling, elegant poses, and extravagant costumes.

In 1934, an entire edition of Muskete, a humorous magazine known for its caricature and pictorial jokes, was confiscated by Austrian censors. The Wlassics had failed to remove in the darkroom all traces of pubic hair on their nude cover photo.

The cover picture was one of their 'photographic jokes'. This genre was popularised by postcards  that employed trick photography to depict such images as pretty girls growing on trees, the cherubic face of a loved one appearing in a wreath of pipe smoke or a lithe young woman hanging seductively from a businessman’s necktie.

The Wlassics went back to their studio and amended the photo, and the next month the magazine was republished without issue.


Ossi Oswalda. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4244/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.


Anita Dorris. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5030/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Manassé, Wien.


Ruth Weyher. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5037/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.


Liane Haid. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5034/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Manassé, Wien (Vienna).

Divas and lovers

When Adorján von Wlássics and Olga Spolarics opened a new, smaller studio in Berlin, their business in Vienna was managed more and more by an associate.

They operated under various names, including Wlasics (the first name of the studio), WOG (in their Berlin studio) and Manassé-Ricoll (after the studio in Vienna was operated by an associate).

After the death of Adorján von Wlassics in 1947, the fame of the studio faded. Olga remarried and died in 1969.

In 1998 their photos were rediscovered through the publication Divas and lovers: the erotic art of Studio Manassé, by photographic historian Monika Faber, curator in the department of drawing and photography in the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna.

Billyjane & Drake Caperton regularly post pictures of Atelier Manassé on Facebook and Tumblr.


Gretl Berndt. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5326/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.


Anna May Wong. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5477/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien (Vienna).


La Jana. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5485/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Lien Deyers. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8842/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.


Traudl Stark. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1276/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Manassé-Ricoll, Wien / Mondial-Film.

Sources: Monika Faber (Divas and Lovers), Kristine Somerville (Darkroom Alchemy - ResearchGate), Billyjane & Drake Caperton (Facebook and Tumblr - Studio Manasse), Historical Ziegfield Group and Wikipedia (German).

La bataille du rail (1946)

December 27, 2017, 10:00 pm

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The French film La bataille du rail/The Battle of the Rails (René Clément, 1946) dealt with the courageous efforts of French railroad workers who were part of organized resistance during the Second World War. In 1944, the train workers derailed a train destined for German military transports. The Nazis killed hostages at a station as revenge. At the 1946 Cannes Film Festival the film won the International Jury Award, while René Clément won the Best Director Award. 


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).

Disrupting the German war machine

La bataille du rail/The Battle of the Rails (René Clément, 1946) was in part commissioned by the Associations of the Resistance soon after the end of the Second World War. 'La résistance' wanted to show international audiences what the French population had been facing under Nazi oppression.

The Resistance was also keen to let the world know that they had been actively involved in disrupting the German war machine in France as the international perception at the time was that the French had capitulated and collaborated a little too easily with their Nazi captors.

Based on real life events that occurred between the Normandy Landings and the liberation, when the French resistance frustrated the effort of the Nazis to use the rails to reinforce their army in many ways - ranging from sabotaging the tracks and equipment to even attacks on the trains themselves by partisans.

Johnek Bloomfield at IMDb: "Clément carefully avoids making the film too didactic or sentimental. We can see how the ruthlessness of the occupying forces in rooting out the saboteurs and their anti-Semitism is not overplayed as their portrayal seems appropriate to a modern audience not directly scarred by the events shown. Another way in which he achieves this is through the way the camera stays relatively detached from the action, showing the events almost like a documentary rather than forcing us to identify with any of the characters. It has been said that the cast was made up of unprofessional actors and in some cases real railwaymen. This adds to the realism and creates an effect where no one film star stands out as an obvious 'hero', enforcing a message of 'ordinary men doing what they had to'."

La bataille du rail was director René Clément's first feature. The film was shot on the actual locations with a cast of non-professional actors, who are all only referred to by their surnames in the opening credits. Cinematographer Henri Alekan actually had been a member of the Resistance, having escaped from a Nazi POW camp.

The film was a huge success in France when it premiered in 1946, one year after liberation. At the Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Prix international du jury and Clément won the Best Director Award. La bataille du rail also won the inaugural Prix Méliès.

However, La bataille du rail was quickly withdrawn from circulation, as it showed how to sabotage the railroads. At the time France was at war in Indochina and didn't want to feed the Việt Minh with ideas.

In 2010, La Bataille Du Rail/The Battle of the Rails was hailed as one of the classics of world cinema when it was shown in  the Cannes Classics section during 63rd Cannes International Film Festival. It has been fully restored by INA in France.


French postcard. Photo A. Delage. Publicity still for the French film La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946). The film dealt with the courageous efforts during the Second World War of French train workers to derail a train destined for German military transports. The Germans kill hostages at a station as revenge.


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


French postcard. Photo: A. Delage. Publicity still for La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946).


Trailer La bataille du rail (René Clément, 1946). Source: Yves Lemerce (YouTube).

Sources: Johnek Bloomfield (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Colourgraph

December 28, 2017, 10:00 pm

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We continue our series with British film star postcard series with Colourgraph. This series was issued by Picturegoer in the 1930s. All postcards were hand-coloured.


Nils Asther. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 47.


Maurice Chevalier. British postcard in the Colourgraph series, London, no. C 64.


Greta Garbo. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 81.


Mabel Poulton. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 82.


Winifred Shotter. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 146.


Henri Garat. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 153. Photo: Paramount.

Picturegoer

In the 1920s and 1940s, each Picturegoer postcard measured 3-1/2" X 5-1/2", the regular postcard size. These were real photos with glossy finish on front.

On the back of each card is a number. The lettering after some of the numbers denotes the series that the card was from.

The postcards were issued in series, the first one, which ran to over 1400 cards, did not have any kind of prefix letter. The first series was followed by Series A, Series B, and Series C- the Colourgraph series.

Groups of several poses of the same star were sometimes published in this series and were identified with an alphabetical suffix. Subsequent series were given a prefix letter with the majority of images being in sepia tone.

Fo instance W stands for those postcards issued in the 1940s, D for the 1950s and S for the last series issued up to 1960.


Greta Nissen. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 184. Photo: Fox.


Herbert Marshall. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 233. Photo: M.G.M.


John Stuart. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C. 237. Photo: Mannell.


Lilli Palmer. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, no. C 288. Photo: Gaumont British.


Nova Pilbeam. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, no. C 332. Photo: Cannons.


Sabu. British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C. 338. Photo: Alexander Korda Productions. Publicity still for The Thief of Baghdad (Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, 1940).

It is Postcard Friendship Friday, hosted by Beth at the The Best Hearts are Crunchy. You can visit her by clicking on the button below.

Claretta Sabatelli

December 29, 2017, 10:00 pm

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Little is known about Italian actress Claretta Sabatelli. In 1916 she made her debut in the Italian silent cinema and appeared in several films around 1920. After one part in a sound film, she disappeared in oblivion.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 367. Photo: Fotominio / Aprutium Film. Publicity for Il voto (Eugenio Fontana, 1921).

A young scoundrel climbing over fences 

Italian actress Claretta or Clarette Sabatelli made her film debut in L'uomo dall'orecchio mozzato (The Man With the Cut-off Ear, Ubaldo Maria Del Colle, 1916), an adaptation of the novel by Edmond. The plot tells about a man who awakens after 100 years.

It was followed by the comedy Battaglia di reginette (Battle of the Starlets, Domenico Gaido, 1917), Lo scandalo della principessa Giorgio (The Scandal of Princess George, Pier Antonio Gariazzo, 1917) starring Neyse Cheyne (whom critics thought a ravishing beauty but incapable of acting), and La calamita (The Magnet, Giuseppe Pinto, 1919) set and shot in Naples - which Neapolitan critic Tito Alacci thought modest but warm and humane.

The first film in which Sabatelli really had the female lead was the Vay Film production  Il frantoio (The Crusher, Giuseppe Zaccaria, 1919), about a poor washing girl who starts working in an office and falls in love with an engineer. Stock exchange speculations by a trust force him to fire his staff and flee to the US, where he works in a mine. His adversary, head of the enemy trust, has lost his daughter and of course it is the girl, returned washing girl. All ends well, the girl finds her father and her future husband. The title refers to a breaker of rocks, used in mines, similar to the splitting of souls in the plot.

Next at Vay Film, Sabatelli starred in L'ombra della morte (The Shadow of Death, Attilio d'Anversa, 1919), scripted by Per Antonio Gariazzo. The press praised Sabbatelli as a young scoundrel climbing over fences and walking over roofs, but thought the plot old-fashioned.

Sabatelli had the lead as Guendalina in Tutto il mondo è teatro/All the World is a Stage (Pier Antonio Gariazzo, 1919), scripted by Lucio d'Ambra and loosely based on William Shakespeare. The plot is about two marionets who after adventures in the real world decide their wooden existence is better.

After a supporting part in La Sacra Bibbia (The Holy Bible, Pier Antonio Gariazzo, 1920), a costly flop according to the press, and a last film at Vay, the negligible I millepiedi (The Milipedes, Attilio d'Anversa, 1920), Sabatelli then shifted to the Roman company Rinascimento Film.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 367. Photo: Fotominio / Aprutium Film. Publicity still of Claretta Sabatelli in Il voto (Eugenio Fontana, 1921).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 367. Photo: Fotominio / Aprutium Film. Publicity still for Il voto (Eugenio Fontana, 1921).

Exquisite expressions of deep felt grief and despair

For Rinascimento Film, Claretta Sabatelli first had a supporting part in La naufraga della vita (Life's Shipwrecked, Eugenio Perego, 1920) with Olga and Desdemona Mazza.

Then she played the female lead in Il dramma dell'amore (The Drama of Love, Amleto Palermi, 1920), opposite the monstre sacré of the Italian stage, Giovanni Grasso. While the plot was considered old hat, the press praised the performances of Grasso and Sabatella, who played a poor, seduced young girl.

Aurelio Spada wrote in the Neapolitan magazine Film: "She presents the character with spontaneity and efficacy, assuming exquisite expressions of deep felt grief and despair."

In 1921 Sabatelli acted with the famous vaudeville performer Anna Fougez and Gustavo Serena in Fiore selvaggio (Gustavo Serena, 1921), on a goatkeeper (Fougez) who becomes a grande cocotte in town and eventually returns to her roots.

She then appeared in Il voto (The Vow, Eugenio Fontana, 1921). In the Abruzzi mountains, a fatal woman is not loved by her brutal husband, so she starts an affair with another man, but this is discovered and the lover is killed. Years after, the victim's son returns from Rome to his hometown and he looks so much like his father, that the woman falls in love with him too.

Then one day it is revealed that she is his mother. To recompense, he seeks penitence by going as pilgrim to a sanctuary, where the pilgrims on their knees hit the sins from them. But also the woman comes to redeem her sins. Together they choose death.

The press criticised the script by Ettore Moschino as too artificial. They praised the direction by Eugenio Fontana because of the pictorial qualities of his images. They were also favourable about the performances of Amleto Novelli and Claretta Sabatelli. "She is really becoming an excellent actress", a critic wrote. The film was shot at the Majella in the Abruzzi, and at the Abruzzean coastline. Il voto had its first night in April 1921 at the Corso Cinema Teatro in Rome.

After an interval of some years, Sabatelli tried her luck in comedy in 1924 in Donne, parrucchieri, cani, amori (Women, Hairdressers, Dogs, Loves, Renato Testard, Corradi, 1924) in which the lead Renato Malvasi played an imitation of Larry Semon, known in Italy as Ridolini. The film itself was a spoof of the American film The Hottentot (1922).

Also in 1924 Sabatelli had a supporting part in I volti dell'amore (The Faces of Love, Carmine Gallone, 1924), a star vehicle for Soava Gallone and based on Adrienne Lecouvreur. In 1926 Sabatelli played countess Lilla in Garibaldi e i suoi tempi (Garibaldi and His Times, Silvio Laurenti Rosa, 1926), starring Enrico Benvenuto, and scripted by Umberto Paradisi. In the meantime Sabatelli also performed on stage. In 1925 she mime-danced e.g. at the Teatro degli Independenti.

After a last part in the sound film L'amore si fa così (This Is the Way How to Love, Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1939), Claretta Sabatelli quitted film acting and nothing was heard from her since.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Fotominio / Aprutium Film. Publicity still of Claretta Sabatelli and Amleto Novelli in Il voto (Eugenio Fontana, 1921).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Fotominio / Aprutium Film. Publicity still of Claretta Sabatelli and Amleto Novelli in Il voto (Eugenio Fontana, 1921).

Source: Sempre in penombra (Italian), Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano - Italian), and IMDb.

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Stars Who Passed Away in 2017

December 30, 2017, 10:00 pm

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On the last day of the year, EFSP remembers twelve stars of the European cinema we had to say goodbye to in 2017. Thank you for your films which will live forever.

27 January: Emmanuelle Riva (1927–2017)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filvertrieb, Berlin, no. 1269, 1969. Retail price: 0,20 M. Photo: Unifrance Film. Publicity still for Berufsrisiko/Les risques du métier (André Cayatte, 1967).

On Friday 27 January, French actress Emmanuelle Riva passed away at the age of 89. She became well-known for her roles in the classic Nouveau Vague films Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959) and Léon Morin, prêtre (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1961). In her 80s, Emmanuelle Riva became an icon for world cinema all over again with Michael Haneke's Amour (2012). Riva received both the Bafta and the César award for her role as the retired music teacher Anne in Amour. She was also nominated for an Oscar for her touching performance.

22 March: Tomas Milian (1933-2017)

Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, in the series Artisti di sempre, no. 118.

In March, Cuban-American actor Tomas Milian passed away at the age of 84. He worked extensively in Italian films from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. Milian played neurotic and sadistic killers in several Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and lone-wolf anti-heroes in violent action and police thrillers of the 1970s. Very popular in Italy were his crime-comedies of the late 1970s and 1980s. Besides these genre films, he worked with such prolific directors as Mauro Bolognini, Luchino Visconti, Bernardo Bertolucci and Michelangelo Antonioni.

18 April: Yvonne Monlaur (1939-2017)

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/395. Photo: Gérard Decaux.

French film actress Yvonne Monlaur passed away in April at the age of 77. She starred in several European film productions of the late 1950s and 1960s. The glamorous French starlet is best known for her roles in a few Hammer horror films.

23 May: Roger Moore (1927-2017)

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Dutch postcard by Loeb Uitgevers BV, Amsterdam, 1985. Photo: Eon Productions / Gilrose Publications / Danjaq S.A. Publicity still for A View To A Kill (John Glen, 1985).

British actor Roger Moore died in May. He will always be remembered as the guy who replaced Sean Connery in the James Bond series, but he was also our favourite Ivanhoe, Saint and Persuader on TV. Roger Moore was 89.

17 June: Anneliese Uhlig (1918-2017)

German Postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3784/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Civirani.

German actress Anneliese Uhlig passed away at the age of 98. She was an elegant and enchanting femme fatale of Ufa crime films of the 1940s. The classic beauty unwillingly bewitched Joseph Goebbels. After the war she also worked internationally as a journalist, theatre producer and university teacher. She became an American citizen and died in Santa Cruz in California.

8 July: Elsa Martinelli (1935-2017)

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/255.

Glamorous Italian actress and former fashion model Elsa Martinelli died in July. She showed her beautiful curves in many European and Hollywood productions of the 1950s and 1960s, but somehow she never became the star she was destined to become in the mid-1950s. Martinelli was 82.

31 July: Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017)

French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 81. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French actress Jeanne Moreau died this summer at the age of 89. Moreau was the personification of French womanhood and sensuality. She had a diverse career: she was a magnificent stage and film actress, a producer, screenwriter and film director, a successful singer with a substantial recording career, and a theatre and opera director. Throughout her long career in the cinema with more than 130 films, Jeanne Moreau worked with some of the most notable film directors ever. She combined off-kilter beauty with strong character in Nouvelle Vague classics as Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Louis Malle, 1958) and Les amants (Louis Malle, 1959). Her role as the flamboyant, free-spirited Catherine with her devil-may-care sensuality in Jules et Jim (François Truffaut, 1962) is one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema.

20 August: Margot Hielscher (1919-2017)

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 230. 1941-1944. Photo: Hammerer / Wien-Film.

German singer, film actress and costume designer Margot Hielscher (1919-2017) passed away in August. During her long career, she appeared in 60 films and 200 TV productions. Hielscher also represented Germany twice at the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1957 and 1958. Hielscher

26 September 2017: Kveta Fialová (1929-2017)

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 2.125, 1964. Photo: Limonádový Joe aneb Konská opera/Lemonade Joe (Oldrich Lipský, 1964).

In September Czech actress Květa Fialová passed away at the age of 88. In her country, she was a popular theatre, film and television diva. Internationally she is best known for her role as bar singer Tornado Lou in the Western parody Limonádový Joe aneb Konská opera/Lemonade Joe (Oldrich Lipský, 1964).

17 October: Danielle Darrieux (1917-2017)

French postcard by Viny, no. 70. Photo: Universal Film.

In October, French actress and singer Danielle Darrieux (1917-2017) passed away. She was a beautiful, international leading lady whose eight-decade career was among the longest in film history. From her film debut in 1931 on she played in more than 110 films in which she progressed from playing pouting teens to worldly sophisticates. In the early 1950s she starred in three classic films by Max Ophüls, and she played the mother of Catherine Deneuve in five films! Danielle Darrieux was 100.

10 November 2017: Erika Remberg (1932-2017)

German postcard by WS-Drück, Wanne-Eickel, no. F 100. Photo: Huster.

In November Erika Remberg passed away at the age of 85. Long ago we saw the beautiful Austrian film actress in the tearjerker Laila/Make Way for Lila (Rolf Husberg, 1958), as a foundling who is adopted and raised by a Lapland chieftain. Remberg appeared in 31 films between 1950 and 1970, but we want to remember her as lovely Laila.

6 December: Johnny Hallyday (1943-2017)

German postcard by ISV, no. H 85.

The father of French Rock and Roll is dead. Flamboyant singer and actor Johnny Hallyday passed away on 6 December. He was a European teen idol in the 1960s with record-breaking crowds and mass hysteria, but he never became popular in the English-speaking market. In later years he concentrated on being an actor and appeared in more than 35 films. Hallyday was 74.

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2017, 3:01 pm

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All the best for 2018! Gelukkig Nieuwjaar, as we say in Dutch.


Our Gang. Dutch postcard. Photo: a publicity shot of the Little Rascals a.k.a. Our Gang with Dickie Moore in the middle. Caption: "Gelukkig Nieuwjaar" (Happy New Year).


Ingrid Bergman. Dutch postcard. Sent by mail in 1950. Caption: Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! means Happy New Year!


Renate Müller. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8243/2, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.


Margareta Pislaru. Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.


Dutch postcard by L. & B. -B. Sent by mail in 1925.

Thanks for your friendship in 2017. Special thanks to Ivo, Carla, Marlene, Didier, Tatiana and Egbert, for sharing their postcards with EFSP. We hope to see you here again in 2018!

Jana Brejchová

January 1, 2018, 10:00 pm

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Alluring Czech film actress Jana Brejchová (1940) appeared in more than 70 films since her debut in 1953 at the age of 13. The beautiful blonde actress was married to director Miloš Forman. She worked with such noted directors as Vojtěch Jasný, Oldrich Lipsky and Jiri Weiss, and her films often entered the major European festivals.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1565, 1961. Photo: DEFA/Pathenheimer. Publicity still for Der Traum des Hauptmann Loy/The dream of Captain Loy (Kurt Maetzig, 1961).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 27/71.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 43078.

Jana and Hana

Jana Brejchová was born in 1940 in Prague, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia (now Czech Republic). Her younger sister Hana Brejchová (1946) is also an actress who appeared in the Miloš Forman films Lásky jedné plavovlásky/Loves of a Blonde (1965) and Amadeus (1984).

Jana made her film debut at the age of 13 in Olověný chléb/Lead bread (Jirí Sequens, 1953). One of Jana’s next films was Žižkovská romance/A Local Romance (Zbyněk Brynych, 1958) with Hanus Bor. It was entered into the 1958 Cannes Film Festival. Her next film, Touha/Desire (Vojtěch Jasný, 1958), was entered into the 1959 Cannes Film Festival.

Another success was Vlcí jáma/Wolf Trap (Jiri Weiss, 1958). The film established director Jiri Weiss as one of the major figures of Czechoslovakia's emerging film industry in the post-war era. It won Weiss the FIPRESCI award at the Venice Film Festival, and the film itself was nominee for the Golden Bear.

She played a student in the Czech drama Vyšší princip/Higher Principle (Jirí Krejcík, 1960) based on a short story from the book Silent Barricade by Jan Drda. The story, taking place during the Nazi occupation, is about relationship between students and their elderly teacher of Latin (František Smolík) nicknamed Higher Principle for his frequent quotation of Seneca's moral precepts.

After three of their classmates are killed by Nazis during the murderous hysteria following the assassination of general Heydrich (just because they made fun of Heydrich), the teacher risks his own life but gains the respect of all students declaring that from the standpoint of higher principles the killing of a tyrant is not a crime! The film was temporally banned in West Germany as being an ‘anti-German film’.

Also interesting was Jirí Krejcík’s earlier film Morálka paní Dulské/The Morals of Mrs. Dulski (1958).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1011, 1959. Photo: publicity still for Touha/Desire (Vojtech Jasný, 1958).


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1409, 1961. Photo: Kurt Wunsch.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1573/1961. Photo: DEFA / Pathenheimer. Publicity still for Der Traum des Hauptmann Loy/The dream of Captain Loy (Kurt Maetzig, 1961).

An atomic bomb blast that causes women to grow beards

Jana Brejchová played Princess Bianca in the Czechoslovak romantic adventure film Baron Prášil/The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Karel Zeman, 1961), based on the tales about the outrageous Baron Munchausen (Miloš Kopecký). The film combines live-action with various forms of animation and is highly stylised, often evoking the engravings of Gustave Doré.

In East-Germany, she played in the thriller Der Traum des Hauptmann Loy/The dream of Captain Loy (Kurt Maetzig, 1961) with Horst Drinda and Ulrich Thein. The latter would become her second husband.

In West-Germany, she starred in the romantic comedy Schloß Gripsholm/The Gripsholm Castle (Kurt Hoffmann, 1963) with Walter Giller, ans also appeared in Hoffmann’s drama Das Haus in der Karpfengasse/The House in Karp Lane (Kurt Hoffmann, 1965), which was filmed in Prague.

The following year, she played again opposite Walter Giller in Dýmky/The Pipes (Vojtěch Jasný, 1966). The film, also starring Gitte Haenning, was entered into the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.

Jana Brejchová starred in Noc nevesty/The Nun's Night (Karel Kachyna, 1967) as a former nun who starts to run her father’s farm. Then followed the comedy Farářův konec/End of a Priest (Evald Schorm, 1969) with her then husband Vlastimil Brodský. With Brodsky, she also co-starred in the Czechoslovak musical Noc na Karlštejně/A Night at Karlstein (Zdeněk Podskalský, 1974), based on an 1884 play by Jaroslav Vrchlický.

Oldrich Lipsky directed her in the Science-Fiction comedy Zabil jsem Einsteina, panove/ I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen (1970) about an atomic bomb blast that causes women to grow beards and lose the ability to have children. The decision is made to travel back in time and to murder Albert Einstein so that the atomic bomb never gets invented.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1740, 1962. Photo: Kurt Wunsch.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 2294, 1965. Photo: DEFA / Pathenheimer.

The Czech Oscar

Since the 1970s, Jana Brejchová also works as a theatre actress.

Her later films include the Gothic fairytale Panna a netvor/Beauty and the Beast (Juraj Herz, 1978), Mladý muž a bílá velryba/The Young Man and Moby Dick (Jaromil Jireš, 1979), Zánik samoty Berhof/End of the Lonely Farm Berghof (Jiří Svoboda, 1984), the drama Skalpel, prosím/Scalpel, Please (Jiří Svoboda, 1985), and the drama Početí mého mladšího bratra/The Conception of My Younger Brother (Vladimír Drha, 2000) with Dana Vávrová.

More recently, she played a supporting part in the tragicomedy Kráska v nesnázích/Beauty in Trouble (Jan Hřebejk, 2006). For her part in this film, she won the Czech Oscar, the Český lev (the Czech Lion).

In 2009, she won another Český lev for her ‘longstanding artistic contribution to Czech film’.

Jana Brejchová has been married four times. Her husbands were director Milos Forman (1958-1962), East-German actor Ulrich Thein (1964-1965), actor Vlastimil Brodský (1966-1983), and actor Jirí Zahajský (1997-2007 – his death). With Vlastimil Brodsky, she has a daughter, Tereza Brodska, who is now also a successful actress.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1.962, 1964. Photo: Ceskolovensky Filmexport, Praha.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 57/71. Photo: publicity still for Luk královny Dorotky/Queen Dorothy's Bow (Jan Schmidt, 1971).

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

Marianne Simson

January 2, 2018, 10:00 pm

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German dancer and film actress Marianne Simson (1920-1992) appeared in 18 films between 1935 and 1945. Her film career took off during WW II. The sporty, beautiful blonde was cast in both musicals, historical adventures and dramas. Because of informing the Gestapo during the war, she was arrested after the war and sentenced to prison. After her release, she became a choreographer.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3444/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Star-Foto-Atelier / Tobis.

Nazi propaganda

Marianne Lena Elisabeth Clara Simson was born in Berlin in 1920. She was the daughter of an insurance clerk, John Edward Simson and his wife Frida née Kühl. Her brother was Helmut Simson, who after the war served as mayor of Wolfsburg.

She received an education in classical dance from Victor Gsovsky and in 1935, the young Simson became a dancer at the Nollendorftheater in Berlin. In 1936 she became a dancer at the Deutsche Opernhaus in Berlin and in 1939 at the Staatstheater under Gustaf Gründgens.

At the time, Marianne Simson was quite renowned as a ballerina, for example in 1941 a porcelain figurine was produced, depicting her on her toes. The figurine was reproduced in around 1957 by the company Rosenthal, and bears her name underneath.

As a teenager, Simson already made her screen debut in a supporting part in Friesennot/Frisians in Distress (Peter Hagen, 1935), made for Nazi propaganda purposes. The film drama concerns a Russian village of ethnic Frisians for whom the Soviet authorities make life as difficult as possible. After the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, in 1939, the film was banned. In 1941, after the invasion of Russia, it was again reissued under a new title.

After her first film appearance, Simson went on to play in another fifteen films over the next decade, generally in supporting roles. Three years after her debut, she appeared in the comedy Das Verlegenheitskind/The embarrassment child (Peter Paul Brauer, 1938) with Ida Wüst.

In 1939, she played in three films, the adventure Mann für Mann/Man for Man (Robert A. Stemmle, 1939) with Gisela Uhlen, Zentrale Rio/Central Río (Erich Engels, 1939) and the Fairy-tale Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge/Snowwhite and the Seven Dwarfs (Carl Heinz Wolff, 1939) in which she starred as Snowwhite. The following year, she had another leading role in the comedy Zwei Welten/Two Worlds (Gustaf Gründgens, 1940) with Antje Weisgerber and Joachim Brennecke.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3214/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Konrad Weidenbaum.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3945/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann.

Joseph Goebbels's lover

Marianne Simson’s film career took off during WW II. In 1941, she appeared in a supporting part in the musical Die schwedische Nachtigall/The Swedish Nightingale (Peter Paul Brauer, 1941), starring Ilse Werner and Joachim Gottschalk. It portrays a romance between the writer Hans Christian Andersen and the opera singer Jenny Lind, the ‘Swedish Nightingale’ of the title.

Simson played the second female lead romantic comedy Zwei in einer großen Stadt/Two in a Big City (Volker von Collande, 1942), starring Claude Farell and Karl John. John played a German soldier on leave in Berlin, who goes looking for his pen pal who he has never met called Gisela.

Simson then appeared in the historical drama Andreas Schlüter (Herbert Maisch, 1942), about the life of the eighteenth century German architect Andreas Schlüter portrayed by Heinrich George. Her next film, the comedy Das Bad auf der Tenne/The Bath in the Barn (Volker von Collande, 1943) was shot in Agfacolor, one of only a few German films made in colour during the war years.

Another example was the fantasy Münchhausen (Josef von Báky, 1943), featuring Hans Albers, in which Simson played the woman in the moon, maybe her best known part.

She then played one of the daughters of Henny Porten and Paul Westermeier in the family chronicle Familie Buchholz/The Buchholz Family (Carl Froelich, 1944) and the direct sequel Neigungsehe/Marriage of Affection (Carl Froelich, 1944), both set Berlin.

In 1943, Marianne Simson filed an application for membership in the NSDAP, which was rejected. In July 1944 she informed on Fritz Goes, an army major, to the Gestapo for allegedly making comments that were supportive of the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Goes was subsequently imprisoned and tortured by the Gestapo for three months.

In the interrogation by the SS Obersturmbannführer Karl Radl (adjutant of Otto Skorzeny) and in the court hearing before a special court of the army, Simson maintained her testimony, which however was judged as unbelievable: statements by Viktor de Kowa, Anneliese Uhlig, the film producer Herbert Engelsing and General Jesco von Puttkamer provided for the acquittal of the defendant.

By that time she was rumoured to be Dr. Joseph Goebbels's lover and she complained to him about her denunciation. Following the defeat of Germany, Simson and her parents were arrested by the NKVD, the leading Soviet secret police organisation, and she was placed in a series of detention camps. There she was active in organising performances and giving song recitals.

In 1950 she was sentenced to eight years in prison, but was given an early release in 1952 and moved to West Germany. She played in a few TV films, and later worked as a choreographer in some stage productions. She married the theatre director Wilhelm List Diehl.

Marianne Simson passed away in 1992 in Füssen, Germany. She was 71.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 166, 1941-1944. Photo: Star-Foto-Atelier / Tobis.

Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-Line), Mart Sander (IMDb), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.

Monika Vogelsang (1920)

January 3, 2018, 10:00 pm

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Henny Porten and the young and handsome Paul Hartmann were the stars of the Messter film drama Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920).


German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, picture, picture no. 81, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920) with Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 633/1. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still still of Henny Porten and Gustav Botz [?] in Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 633/3. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still still of Henny Porten in Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920).

A masterpiece of character representation

One day, Monica Vogelsang (Henny Porten), daughter of the reputed counsellor Jacobus Vogelsang (Gustav Botz), meets the visiting painter Amadeo Vaselli (Paul Hartmann) and immediately falls in love with him.

But Amadeo is rivalled by the idle Johannes (Ernst Deutsch), working for Vogelsang, and eyeing young Monica for some time. When he is rejected by Monika he avenges himself by gossipping about her, making evil remarks and hints. He tries to eliminate his opponent, but in a fight Amadeo stabs John.

Amadeo is arrested and admits his deed. To save his neck, Monica claims that Amadeo had been with her the questionable night, but Amadeo sticks to his confession and is condemned to death by the rope. His last wish to just see Monica once more is granted. So shortly before his execution, Monica faces him one last time, while covered in a veil.

Monica breaks down. When the veil is lifted, one notices her hair has become white. After Amadeo's execution, Monica erects a chapel in his honour. She descends to his grave and slides down to the ground, mentally crushed. Later, Amadeo is rehabilitated by the Archbishop (Wilhelm Diegelmann).

Monika Vogelsang, based on the novel by Felix Philippi and scripted by Hans Kräly, was shot in 1919 but premiered on 2 January 1920 in Berlin. Exteriors were shot in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bavaria, Germany. Sets were designed by Kurt Dürnhöfer.

Oskar Kalbus in Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst. 1. Der stumme Film (Berlin, 1935): "With this film, we are transferred to the heroic period of the Renaissance with its passions that extend into the bourgeoisie. A masterpiece of character representation was how Henny Porten's meek-naive childishness develops into active heroism."


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 633/4. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still still of Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann in Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 633/5. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still still of Henny Porten in Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 633/6. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still still of Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann in Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920).

Sources: Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

J. Beagles & Co

January 4, 2018, 10:00 pm

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The London-based publisher J. Beagles & Co. specialised in real photo postcards. The term recognises a distinction between the real photo process and the lithographic or offset printing processes employed in the manufacture of most postcard images. Beagles's wide variety of postcards included series with stage stars and later also such series as the Famous Cinema Star series. In this post we start with the film stars and finish with the stage stars.


Owen Nares. British postcard in the Famous Cinema Star series by Beagles Postcards, no. 129 A. Photo: Elliott & Fry.


Alma Taylor. British postcard in the Famous Cinema Star series by Beagles Postcards, no. 150 A.


Alma Taylor. British postcard in the Famous Cinema Star series by Beagles Postcards, no. 150 C. Photo: Elliott & Fry.


Violet Hopson. British postcard in the 'Famous Cinema Star' series' by J. Beagles & Co. Ltd., London, no. 143 E. Photo: Broadwest.


Vilma Banky. British postcard in the 'Famous Cinema Star' series by J. Beagles & Co. Ltd., London, no. 235 G. Photo: Allied Artists Pictures.


Carl Brisson. British postcard in the Film Star series by J. Beagles & Co., Ltd. London, no. 262 L.


Marlene Dietrich. British postcard in the Famous Cinema Star series by Beagles Postcards, no. 79 N. Collection: Marlène Pilaete.

Beagles

John Beagles (1844-1907) was an English printer and publisher, especially of real photo postcards, through his company, J. Beagles & Co.

Beagles was born in Whaplode Drove, Lincolnshire, in 1844. His father was a 'butcher master. In 1861, John Beagles junior was recorded as a 'pupil teacher'.

In the 1891 census, Beagles was recorded as a 'photographic publisher' in Nottingham in the household of Thomas William Stevenson, printer, who would later be his executor. Later, he traded as J. Beagles & Co. from Little Britain, London, E.C.

Beagles and his successors produced a wide variety of postcards that included celebrities, stars of stage and screen, topographical and view cards in their Phototint series.

The business continued as J. Beagles & Co. Ltd. after Beagles' death.


Gina Palermeand Roy Royston. British postcard by J. Beagles & Co, London, no. 240 C. Photo: Rita Martin. Publicity still for the stage production Bric-a-brac (1915).


Gina Palerme and Roy Royston. British postcard by J. Beagles & Co, London, no. 240 E. Photo: Rita Martin. Publicity still for the stage production Bric-a-brac (1915).


John Martin Harvey. British postcard by Beagles Postcards, no. 707 C. Photo: Ellis & Walery. Publicity still for the stage play The Only Way.


Matheson Lang. British postcard by J. Beagles & Co., London, no. 293 H.


Jack Buchanan. British postcard by J. Beagles & Co., London, no. 245 M. Photo: Foulsham & Banfield.


Lewis Waller. British postcard by H. Beagles & Co, E.C., no. G 703 O. Photo: Langfler Ltd.


George Alexander. British postcard by J. Beagles & Co, London, no. 515 S. Photo: Ellis & Walery.


Dan Leno. British postcard by J. Beagles & Co., London, no. 347. Photo: R. Haines.

Source: Wikipedia.

It is Postcard Friendship Friday, hosted by Beth at the The Best Hearts are Crunchy. You can visit her by clicking on the button below.

Michael Redgrave

January 5, 2018, 10:00 pm

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Sir Michael Redgrave (1908-1985) started his film career starring in the Hitchcock classic The lady Vanishes (1938). The English stage and film actor went on to star in many British and some Hollywood productions. He was the father of film actors Vanessa, Lynn and Corin Redgrave, and the grandfather of the late Natasha Richardson, Joely Richardson, Jemma Redgrave and Carlo Nero.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1217. Photo: Gainsborough.


British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. W 212. Photo: Michael Balcon Prod. Publicity still for The Captive Heart (Basil Dearden, 1946).


British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 1217a. Photo: Warner Bros.

The Lady Vanishes

Michael Scudamore Redgrave was born Bristol, England in 1908. He was the son of silent film actor Roy Redgrave and actress Margaret Scudamore. He never knew his father, who left when Michael was only six months old to pursue a career in Australia. His mother subsequently married Captain James Anderson, a tea planter, but Redgrave greatly disliked his stepfather.

He studied in Cambridge and tried journalism and teaching before giving acting a go. Redgrave made his first professional appearance at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1934, and spent two years with its Liverpool Repertory Company.

Here he met his future wife, actress Rachel Kempson. They married in 1935, and would have three children who would all become film actors: Vanessa Redgrave (1937), Corin Redgrave (1939-2010) and Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010).

In 1936, Tyrone Guthrie offered him a job at John Gielgud’s famous Old Vic theatre company in London. During the 1936-1937 season he appeared in Love's Labours Lost, The Country Wife, As You Like It, The Witch of Edmonton and Hamlet as Laertes to Laurence Olivier's Hamlet.

Michael Redgrave's first major film role was in The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938) opposite Margaret Lockwood. His leading role as the eccentric musicologist in this huge success made him immensely popular.

Next he starred in Climbing High (Carol Reed, 1938) with Jessie Matthews, The Stars Look Down (Carol Reed, 1940) as an idealistic son of a mining family, and as an intelligent misanthrope in Thunder Rock (Roy Boulting, 1942) with James Mason.

War service put a temporary halt to his career, but even before that his involvement in the short-lived People's Convention (a Communist Party-backed anti-war movement) threatened to harm his standing. He served in the navy for a couple of years before he was invalided out with an injured arm.

The rest of the war, he spent in the theatre, though as the war drew to a close he made a film come-back as a poetic Flight-Lieutenant who is killed in The Way to the Stars (Anthony Asquith, 1945) with John Mills, and the Ealing compendium film Dead of Night (Alberto Cavalcanti a.o., 1945), in the chilling episode about a ventriloquist who thinks his dummy is out to get him.


British postcard by Real Photogravure.


British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. W 783. Photo: Universal International.


Dutch postcard. Photo: Eagle Lion.


British autograph card.

The Importance of Being Earnest

For his first American film role in Mourning Becomes Electra (Dudley Nichols, 1947), Michael Redgrave was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. On his return from Hollywood, he gave what is probably his finest film performance as a failed, embittered schoolmaster in The Browning Version (Anthony Asquith, 1951) opposite Jean Kent.

Redgrave also starred in The Importance of Being Earnest (Anthony Asquith, 1952), Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles, 1955), The Dam Busters (Michael Anderson, 1955) and 1984 (Michael Anderson, 1956). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1952 and was knighted in 1959.

Throughout his career, Redgrave acted on the stage in Britain. One of his most notable roles was as the title character in Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in 1962. He also excelled in Shakespearean roles.

During the 1960s he appeared in such classic films as the horror film The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961) starring Deborah Kerr, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962) with Tom Courtenay, and the war drama The Hill (Sidney Lumet, 1965) with Sean Connery.

Though his film work became less distinguished in the following decade, his theatre work continued its high standard. He toured extensively in the 1970s, until the effects of Parkinson's diseasegrew too great. His last film appearance was in Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Raul daSylva, 1975), based on the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Michael Redgrave passed away in 1985 in Denham, England only one day after his 77th birthday. Until his death he was married with Rachel Kempson. Their grandchildren - Natasha and Joely Richardson, Jemma Redgrave and Carlo Nero are also film actors.

During the filming of Secret Beyond the Door... (Fritz Lang, 1947), Redgrave met Bob Michell. They became lovers. In his last autobiography he wanted to acknowledge his bisexuality, but in the end he chose to remain silent about it. Later his son Corin wrote about in Michael Redgrave: My Father (1995).


British postcard in the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre series, no. 15. Photo: Angus McBean. Michael Redgrave as King Richard II in Richard II, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1951.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Berlin, no. 1445. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Publicity still for Behind the Mask (Brian Desmond Hurst, 1958).


British card. Publicity still for a stage production of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov in Chichester in 1963.

Sources: Brian McFarlane (Encyclopaedia of British Cinema), David Absalom (British Pictures), Britmovie, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

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Hans Söhnker

January 6, 2018, 10:00 pm

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Hans Söhnker (1903-1981) was a German film actor. He appeared in 105 films between 1933 and 1980. The understatement and elegance of his acting was reminiscent of American film stars and made him an extraordinary presence in the German cinema.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. G 188, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz, Berlin.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3796/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz, Berlin.


Latvian postcard., no. 2284. Photo: J. Rolin (?), Riga. With Martha Eggerth in Der Zarewitsch/The Czarevitch (Victor Janson, 1933).

Young, Careless Lover

Hans Albert Edmund Söhnker was born in Kiel in 1903. His father was a carpenter and a book-seller, and an active member of the Social Democratic Party.

After finishing school, Hans took up an apprenticeship in a warehouse and at the same time he started taking acting lessons from Clemens Schubert and Gustaf Gründgens. In 1922, he made his stage debut at the Stadttheater Kiel, and subsequently played in theatres in Frankfurt/Oder, Danzig, Chemnitz and Bremen.

He made screen tests for the Ufa, and was finally cast by Victor Janson as Martha Eggerth's partner in Der Zarewitsch/The Czarevitch (Victor Janson, 1933). He reprised the role of the young and careless lover for Schwarzwaldmädel/The Black Forest Girl (Georg Zoch, 1933) and Die Csardasfürstin/The Czardas Princess (Georg Jacoby, 1934).

He avoided being typecast again and instead proved his ability to play more serious characters with Arzt aus Leidenschaft/Medicine Man (Hans H. Zerlett, 1936).

His other films include Jede Frau hat ein Geheimnis/Every Woman Has A Secret (Max Obal, 1934), Eva (Johannes Riemann, 1935), Diener lassen bitten/Dinner Is Served (Hans H. Zerlett, 1936), and Truxa (Hans H. Zerlett, 1936) starring La Jana.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3651/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tita Binz / Ufa.


German presentation card by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. 874, series 1943/2.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3489/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Terra.

Natural Charm

Hans Söhnker excelled as the romantic rival of both Heinz Rühmann in Der Mustergatte/Model Husband (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1937) and Hans Albers in Große Freiheit Nr. 7/Great Freedom No. 7 (1944).

The latter was directed by Helmut Käutner, who frequently cast Söhnker. Käutner put Söhnker's natural charm to its best use, for instance in Frau nach Maß/Customized Woman (Helmut Käutner, 1940) based on a play by Erich Kästner.

These films made him an Ufa-star in Nazi Germany. During the Third Reich he was also on the Gestapo's black list because he often helped and hid Jews.

After the war, Söhnker, who had always continued to work as a stage actor, returned to the theatre. He re-emerged as a film actor with Film ohne Titel/Film Without Title (1947), which was produced by Käutner and directed by Rudolf Jugert.

Jugert also cast Söhnker in the comedies Hallo Fräulein/Hello Fraulein (Rudolf Jugert, 1949) and Einmaleins der Ehe/Marriage – The Basics (Rudolf Jugert, 1949).


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3952/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Foto Binz, Berlin. From Tatiana.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. K 1434. Photo: Tita Binz, Berlin.


German postcard by Verlag und Druckerei Erwin Preuss, Dresden-Freital, series 1, no. 20. Photo: Charlott Serda.

Elegant Presence

His dramatic performances in Nur eine Nacht/Just One Night (Fritz Kirchhoff, 1950) with Marianne Hoppe, and Weiße Schatten/White Shadows (Helmut Käutner, 1951) again proved his ability to shift effortlessly between genres.

The well aged Söhnker remained an elegant presence in the German Post-War cinema of the 1950s. Films include Die Stärkere/The Stronger Ones (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1953), Hoheit lassen bitten/Majesty Allow To Plea (Paul Verhoeven, 1954), and Worüber man spricht/False Shame (Wolfgang Glück, 1958).

From the 1960s on, he starred in several successful TV series like Der Forellenhof/The Trout Farm (1965), Salto Mortale (1968), and Meine Schwiegersöhne und ich/My Sons-in-law and I (1969), which sustained Söhnker's popularity up to his old age.

He also made films like Unser Haus in Kamerun/Our House in Cameroun (Alfred Vohrer, 1961), Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes/Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (Terence Fisher, Frank Winterstein, 1962) starring Christopher Lee, Sechs Stunden Angst/Six Hours of Terror (Eugen York, 1964), and the Edgar Wallace thriller Der Hund von Blackwood Castle/The Monster of Blackwood Castle (Alfred Vohrer, 1967).

In 1973 he was awarded Germany's Bundesverdienstktreuz, and in 1977 the Filmband in Gold for his lifetime achievements. He published his memoires ...und kein Tag zuviel/And Not A Day Too Many in 1974.

Hans Söhnker passed away in Berlin in 1981. He was twice married. Actress Anneke Kim Sarnau is his great-granddaughter.


Austrian postcard by Verlag Hubmann (HDH Verlag), Wien, no. 90. Photo: Constantin-Film. Publicity still for Die Stärkere/The stronger (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1953).


German postcard by Ufa, no. FK 573. Photo: Grimm / Capitol / Prisma Film. Publicity still for Ein Leben für Do/A Life for Do (Gustav Ucicky, 1954).


German card, mailed in 1955. Photo: Studio K. Lindner, Berlin-Neukölln.


Scene from Und du mein Schatz fährst mit! (1936). Source: Hargo 1962 (YouTube).

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

France Gall

January 7, 2018, 4:00 pm

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French singer France Gall has died at the age of 70 after suffering from cancer for two years. She rocketed to fame in the 1960s as a naive young singer performing songs written by Serge Gainsbourg. In 1965 she won the Eurovision Song Contest with his Poupée de cire, poupée de son. But, after meeting and marrying, French singer-songwriter Michel Berger, her career was completely turned around and she soon went on to make a name for herself as one of the top female artists on the French music scene.


French postcard by Universal Collections for L'Encyclopédie de la Chanson Française, 2003.


German postcard by ISV, no. H 120. Photo: Philips France.


French postcard by PSG, no. 947. Photo: Aubert-Philips.

Yé-yé Craze

Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall was born in Paris in 1947. She grew up in a highly creative musical environment. Her father was lyricist Robert Gall, who wrote hits for Edith Piafand Charles Aznavour, and her mother was singer Cécile Berthier, the daughter of Paul Berthier, the organist of Auxerre Cathedral and co-founder of the famous French children's choir Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois.

Isabelle learned to play the piano and the guitar at an early age. In her early teens Isabelle went on to form her own group with her brothers. In 1963, Robert Gall encouraged his daughter to record songs and send the demos to musical publisher Denis Bourgeois. She auditioned for Bourgeois at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and was subsequently signed to Philips.

Bourgeois let her record four tracks with French jazz musician, arranger and composer Alain Goraguer. The first airplay of her first single Ne sois pas si bête (Don't Be So Silly), occurred on her 16th birthday. It soon rocketed to the top of the French charts, selling a cool 200,000 copies. She went on to make a major name for herself in the midst of the yé-yé craze (the fashionable 1960s sound which fused Anglo-Saxon rock'n'roll with French variété).

Bourgeois asked legendary singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourgto write songs for Gall. Gainsbourg's N'écoute pas les idoles (Don't listen to the idols) became Gall's second single; it reached the top of the French charts in March 1964. At the same time, Gall made her live debut, opening for Sacha Distel in Belgium.

She teamed up with Distel's business manager, Maurice Tézé, who was also a lyricist. This allowed her to create an original repertoire, unlike the majority of her yé-yé contemporaries who sang adaptations of Anglophone hits. Gall's songs often featured lyrics based on a stereotypical view of the teenage mind. Elaborate orchestrations by Alain Goraguer blended styles, permitting her to navigate between jazz, children's songs, and anything in between. Examples of this mixed-genre style are Jazz à gogo and Mes premières vraies vacances.

In the summer of 1964, Gall and Gainsbourg's association produced the hit song Laisse tomber les filles (Forget the girls) followed by Christiansen. Having previously resisted, Gall gave in to her managers at the end of 1964 and recorded a single intended for children. The song Sacré Charlemagne was a hit in 1965, selling 2 million copies.

Gall was then selected to represent Luxembourg for the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest. Out of the 10 songs proposed to her, she chose Gainsbourg's Poupée de cire, poupée de son. On 20 March 1965, Gainsbourg, Gall, and Goraguer attended the finals of the song contest in Naples, where the song was booed during rehearsals. Her performance was broadcast live to an audience of 150 million viewers and although Gall's delivery during the live show was not of the highest standard, she went on to triumph in style.

Success at Eurovision ensured that Gall became even more known outside Europe and she recorded Poupée de cire, poupée de son in French, German, Italian and Japanese. There appears to be no English version released by France Gall herself, although there was an English cover by the English 60s star Twinkle. Some French critics reproached Gall and Gainsbourg for having won for Luxembourg and not for their own country, but Poupée de cire, poupée de son went on to become a huge hit in France.


French postcard by PSG offered by Corvisart, no. 441. Photo: G. Neuvecelle / Philips.


French postcard by Publistar offered by Corvisart, no. 943. Photo: Philips.


French postcard by Ed. Borde, no. 100. Photo: Wiezniak / Philips.


Italian postcard. Photo: Phonogram.


French postcard by Editions Publistar, Marseille, no. 1086. Photo: P. Bertrand.

Alice in Wonderland

In 1965 a TV film was distributed in the United States directed by Jean-Christophe Averty and dedicated to the songs of France Gall. She was then sought by Walt Disney to appear as Alice in a musical film version of Alice in Wonderland. Although Gall had insisted she did not want to become involved in film work, this was the only project which appealed to her, but the project was cancelled after Disney's death in 1966.

That year, France Gall was voted France's no. 1 female pop star. She went on to score another huge hit with Bébé Requin (Baby Pop), a song co-written by Gainsbourg and Joe Dassin. Later Gall described the lyrics as ‘brutal’, but the dark undertones are not easily perceived when one hears the song as sung by the then 18 year-old girl.

However, the undertones in her next hit song were not so easily missed, and caused a scandal when it was released. Gainsbourg deliberately filled the song Les Sucettes (Lollipops) with double-meanings and strong sexual innuendo. Gall performed the song in the television film Viva Morandi (1966), made in the same psychoanalytical mould as the Fellini film Giulietta degli Spiriti/Juliette of the Spirits (Federico Fellini, 1965). Gall played La Grâce alongside Christine Lebail who played La Pureté, and both sang Les Sucettes in a clear reference to the song's sexual undertones.

On the surface, the lyrics tell the innocent tale of a girl named Annie who enjoys lollipops. However, it is clear that Gainsbourg intentionally created the theme as a metaphor for oral sex. Although a big hit, the song sat in stark contrast to genuinely innocent songs on the same album such as Je me marie en blanc (White Wedding) and Ça me fait rire (It makes me laugh). The public furore over Les Sucettes would throw Gall’s career off-track for years, and Gall was not left unscathed by the experience. She belatedly understood that she had been used: the song was deliberately conceived with the aim of attracting publicity.

All her records which followed, even expunged of the Gainsbourg signature, would be suspiciously viewed as having crass commercial motivations. Her song dedicated to John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., Bonsoir John John would be tarred with accusations of necrophilia. Sullied by her association with Gainsbourg, her songs failed to chart for a long time afterwards. When she was later approached by director Bernardo Bertolucci for the leading female role in the sexually explicit Last Tango in Paris (1972), she firmly rejected this offer.


Dutch Postcard by Rembrandt N.V., Amsterdam. Photo: Phonogram.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden, no. 3052. Photo: Teldec / Michael Foth / Decca.


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 5050. Photo: Teldec / Foth / Decca.


Dutch postcard, no. 1392. Photo: Phonogram.


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 414.

A Barren Period

Although struggling in her home country, France Gall regularly recorded in Germany from 1966 to 1972, in particular with the composer and orchestrator Werner Müller. She had a successful German career with songs by Horst Buchholz and Giorgio Moroder: Love, l'amour und liebe (1967), Hippie, hippie (1968), Ich liebe dich, so wie du bist (I love you the way you are) (1969) and Mein Herz kann man nicht kaufen (My heart is not for sale) (1970). Gall had several other releases in France in 1968, none of which aroused any great interest.

At the end of 1968, on reaching the age of 21, Gall separated from Denis Bourgeois and stretched her wings upon the expiration of her contract with Philips. The early seventies continued to be a barren period for Gall. Although she was the first artist to be recorded in France for Atlantic Records in 1971, her singles C'est cela l'amour (1971) and Chasse neige (1971), faltered in the charts. In 1972, Gall, for the last time, recorded songs by Gainsbourg, Frankenstein and Les Petits ballons, but these also failed to chart.

She remained firmly in the media spotlight though, dating 1960s idol Claude François, then going on to enjoy a four-year relationship with another popular French singing star, Julien Clerc (1970-1974). 1974 proved to be a major turning point in France Gall's personal life as well as in her professional career. She then first met the French singer/songwriter Michel Berger. Shortly after this initial meeting Berger and Gall began a passionate relationship, and the couple would rarely be seen apart.

Berger created a whole new repertoire for her and France Gall soon made a major comeback on the French music scene, rocketing to the top of the charts with her new single La Déclaration in 1974. This proved to be the first of many hits which Berger wrote especially for Gall. Each of the singer's successive albums would contain several best-selling hits. Meanwhile, their relationship became serious and in 1976 they married.

In 1988 her hit Ella, elle l'a (Ella She Has It), a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, topped the charts in many countries. After Berger’s sudden death in 1992, France Gall continued to perform her late husband's repertoire. In 1993, Gall once again considered appearing on screen for a cinematographic collaboration with her best friend, the screenplay writer Telsche Boorman. Like the Disney film, this planned project was never completed due to the death of Boorman in 1996.

Gall and Berger had two children, Pauline and Raphaël. In 1997, tragedy blighted her life once again, when her daughter Pauline died at the age of 19. Gall retired, but in 2004 a new compilation was released, Evidemment and proved to be a another huge hit. Gall's songs were often featured on film soundtracks, like Poupée de cire, poupée de son in Ba'al Ba'al Lev/Gotta Have Heart (Eytan Fox, 1997), Teenie Weenie Boppie in A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (James Ivory, 1998) and Besoin d'amour in 40 mg d'amour par jour/40 mg of love each day (Charles Meurisse, 2005).

In the mid-1990s, France Gall had been diagnosed with breast cancer. For the last two years, she was again suffering from the disease. Last month, she was taken to he American Hospital of Paris, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, last month for a severe infection. The singer passed away there on Sunday morning 7 January.


French postcard by Editions Champs Libres ST 115, 1989.


French postcard by Éditions Damilla, Paris, no. 94931. Photo: Tony Frank (SIGMA).


France Gall sings Poupée de cire, poupée de son at the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest. Source: Bradchalk (YouTube).


France Gall sings Les Sucettes. Source: Ophelide (YouTube).


Clip for Plus haut, directed in 1996 by Jean-Luc Godard. Source: bergergallbalavoine love (YouTube).

Sources: Radio France Internationale Musique (French), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Peggy Cummins (1925-2017)

January 8, 2018, 10:00 pm

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On 29 December, blonde and beautiful Irish actress Peggy Cummins passed away. She was unforgettable in the Film Noir classic Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) as the trigger-happy femme fatale who robs banks with her lover. Cummins was 92.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 579. Photo: London Films.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 563. Photo: publicity still for Gun Crazy (1950).


British Collector's Card.

Good Reviews

Peggy Cummins was born Augusta Margaret Diane Fuller in Prestatyn, Wales in 1925. Her Irish parents happened to be in Wales at the time of her birth and a storm kept them from returning to their home in Dublin.

Peggy lived most of her early life in Dublin where she was educated and later in London. Her mother was the actress Margaret Cummins who played the small but effective role of Anna the maid in Smart Woman (1948) and played Emily in the Margaret Ferguson film The Sign of the Ram.

In 1938 actor Peter Brock noticed Peggy Cummins at a Dublin tram stop and introduced her to Dublin's Gate Theatre Company.

She then appeared on the London stage in the title role of Alice in Wonderland and in the title role of Junior Miss at age 12 at the Saville Theatre.

Cummins made her film debut at 13 in the British drama Dr. O'Dowd (Herbert Mason, 1940). The film was received positively by critics, and especially Peggy got good reviews.

Her first major film was English Without Tears/Her Man Gilbey (Harold French, 1944) with Michael Wilding and Lilli Palmer. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “a gentle satire of the temporary relaxation of class barriers in wartime England.’

According to Erickson, playing a precocious teenager, Peggy ‘stole’ Welcome, Mr. Washington (Leslie Hiscott, 1944), a sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant dramatisation of what happened when American troops ‘invaded’ England during WW II.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 673. Photo: Rank Film.


Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Torino.

A Psychopathic Bonnie Parker-Type

Amidst a shower of publicity, Peggy Cummins was brought to Hollywood in 1945. Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century-Fox, wanted her to play Amber in Kathleen Winsor's Forever Amber (Otto Preminger, 1947).

However, she was soon replaced by Linda Darnell because she was "too young." As a compensation she went on to make six films in Hollywood.

In Hollywood, Cummins had several suitors. She briefly dated both Howard Hughes, and the future American president John F. Kennedy.

Meanwhile, she starred with Victor Mature in the Film Noir Moss Rose (Gregory Ratoff, 1947), and with Rex Harrisonin the thriller Escape (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1948).

The highlight was her part as a psychopathic Bonnie Parker-type criminal in Gun Crazy/Deadly Is the Female (1950) directed by B-movie specialist Joseph H. Lewis. The script about a couple of star-crossed lovers (Cummins and John Dall) shooting their way across the modern west was co-written by MacKinlay Kantor and the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, who was ‘fronted’ by his friend Millard Kaufman. The stylish and gritty Gun Crazy was made for a measly $400,000 in 30 days.

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “The definitive Joseph H. Lewis-directed melodrama, Gun Crazy is the "Bonnie and Clyde" story retooled for the disillusioned post-war generation. John Dall plays a timorous, emotionally disturbed World War II veteran who has had a lifelong fixation with guns. He meets a kindred spirit in carnival sharpshooter Peggy Cummins, who is equally disturbed - but a lot smarter, and hence a lot more dangerous.

Beyond their physical attraction to one another, both Dall and Cummins are obsessed with firearms. They embark on a crime spree, with Cummins as the brains and Dall as the trigger man. As sociopathic a duo as are likely to be found in a 1940s film, Dall and Cummins are also perversely fascinating. As they dance their last dance before dying in a hail of police bullets, the audience is half hoping that somehow they'll escape the Inevitable.”


Dutch postcard. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for That Dangerous Age (Gregory Ratoff, 1949) with Richard Greene.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Charlottenburg, no. V 167. Photo: Rank Film. Publicity still for Hell Drivers (Cy Endfield, 1957).

A Frightening, Fast-paced, And Unrelenting Chiller

During a brief stay in Italy in 1948, Peggy Cummins filmed That Dangerous Age/If This Be Sin (Gregory Ratoff, 1949) with Myrna Loy and Roger Livesey.

She returned to London in 1950 to marry and work in British films. In 1952 she starred in the comedy Who Goes There! (Anthony Kimmins, 1952) with Nigel Patrick, and a year later she appeared in the Ealing comedy Meet Mr. Lucifer (Anthony Pelissier, 1953) with Stanley Holloway.

She later starred in the horror film Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957) with Dana Andrews as an American psychologist investigating a satanic cult.

Patrick Legare at AllMovie: “a frightening, fast-paced, and unrelenting chiller that only gets better with passing years and repeated viewings. Directed by Jacques Tourneur from the M.R. James story Casting the Runes, Curse stars Dana Andrews as a psychologist out to disprove the black magic of co-star Niall MacGinnis. Peggy Cummings also stars as the daughter of a scientist killed by the title creature during the shocking opening. Tourneur was a master at scaring an audience by the power of suggestion, and Curse accomplished this with one exception: the director didn't care for the studio's decision to show the demon in the beginning.”

In the thriller Hell Drivers (Cy Endfield, 1957), her co-stars were Stanley Baker, Patrick McGoohan and Herbert Lom.

Cummins's last film was In the Doghouse (Darcy Conyers, 1961) alongside Leslie Phillips. After her film career had ended, she lived in retirement in Hampshire, England.

During the 1970s, Cummins was very active in a national charity, Stars Organisation for Spastics, raising money and chairing the management committee of a holiday centre for children with disabilities in Sussex.

Peggy Cummins was married to London businessman Derek Dunnett from 1950 until his death in 2000. Peggy died on 29 December 2017, aged 92, in London, England.


British card. Photo: E.N.A.


Scene from Gun Crazy/Deadly Is the Female (1949). Source: GnGInfiniteVideoList (YouTube).

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Patrick Legare (AllMovie), Michael Adams (Movieline), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Roland Varno

January 9, 2018, 10:00 pm

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Dutch-born actor Roland Varno (1908-1996) is best known for his role as one of the schoolboys in the German classic Der blaue Engel/The Blue Angel (1930). Varno appeared in several German and Dutch films of the early 1930s and he also worked in Hollywood as a character actor, mainly in B-pictures.


Dutch postcard, no. 1.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5802/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


Dutch postcard by M.B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Publicity still for Het meisje met de blauwe hoed/The Girl With the Blue Hat (Rudolf Meinert, 1934). Collectie: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard by M.B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 10. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) with Enny Meunier.

Sleazy Shows

Roland (sometimes Rolant) Varno was born as Jacob Frederik Vuerhard in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 1908. His sister, Anneke, was for many years the Dear Abby of Holland. Roland spent his younger years on the island of Java, but he moved back to Holland as a teenager.

At the end of the 1920s he went to Berlin to work in the film industry and soon he won leading parts in the films Zwischen vierzehn und siebzehn - Sexualnot der Jugend/Between 14 and 16 - Sexual Needs of Youth (E.W. Emo, 1929) and Jugendtragödie/Youth Tragedy (Alfred Trotz, 1929).

His next role was in the German classic Der Blaue Engel/The Blue Angel (Josef van Sternberg, 1930), which made Marlene Dietrich an international star. He played one of the pupils of Emil Jannings who secretly frequent Dietrich’s sleazy shows in The Blue Angel cabaret.

Varno had another supporting role in the popular Heinz Rühmann comedy Der Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht/Looking for His Murderer (Robert Siodmak, 1931).

In 1930, he moved to the U.S. to shoot All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Mileastone, 1930). His ship was stalled in the Atlantic so the role went instead to Lew Ayers, who became both a major star and Roland's best friend.


Dutch autograph card, 1930. Caption: In memory to my visit to the Trianon Theatre, The Hague, December 1930.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 186/4, 1931-1933. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for As You Desire me (George Fitzmaurice, 1932) with Greta Garbo.


Dutch postcard for the Dutch film De Sensatie der toekomst (Dimitri Buchowetzki, Jack Salvatori, 1931) with Lien Deyers and Dolly Bouwmeester.

The Sensation of the Future

In the Paramount studio in France, he played in De sensatie der toekomst (Victor Buchowetzki, Jack Salvatori, 1931), a Dutch version of the French production Magie Moderne/Modern Magic (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1931). He starred with Lien Deyers and Dolly Bouwmeester in this SF detective film about the new phenomenon television - the 'sensation of the future'.

After this early Dutch sound film, he returned to Hollywood but there he found only small roles in films like Arsène Lupin (Jack Conway, 1932) and the Greta Garbo vehicle As You Desire Me (George Fitzmaurice, 1932).

Varno returned to the Netherlands to star as a girl-shy soldier in the musical comedy Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The Girl with the Blue Hat (Rudolph Meinert, 1934), co-starring with Truus van Aalten andLou Bandy.

Then he starred in another Dutch comedy Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) with Enny Meunier, Louis Borel and Johan Kaart.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Still for Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The Girl with the Blue Hat (1934) with Truus van Aalten, Dries Krijn and Lou Bandy.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma.Still for Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The Girl with the Blue Hat (1934) with Tony van den Berg.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Filma. Still for Het meisje met den blauwen hoed/The Girl with the Blue Hat (1934) with Truus van Aalten.

Bit roles

Roland Varno returned to Hollywood but for years he only found bit roles, often uncredited.

In 1939 he played a spy in a short film by Fred Zinnemann, While America Sleeps (1939). More supporting roles followed in the Nelson Eddy musical Balalaika (Reinhold Schünzel, 1939), the war drama Mystery Sea Raider (Edward Dmytryk, 1940), another war drama Underground (Vincent Sherman, 1941) and the Western Valley of Hunted Men (John English, 1941).

Varno had his first major screen credit in Hollywood in The Return of the Vampire (Lew Landers, 1944), starring Bela Lugosiand Nina Foch.

Varno was fluent in several languages and during WW II, he was placed in the Office of Strategic Services and appeared in several propaganda movies, including The Unwritten Code (Herman Rotsten, 1944). In this offbeat, better-than-average war drama Ann Savage and Tom Neal were top-billed, but Varno was the central character. He played a Nazi spy who sneaks into the U.S., hoping to release hundreds of German prisoners.

Other career highlights were the wartime drama Hostages (Frank Tuttle, 1943) with Luise Rainer and William Bendix and the Film Noir My Name Is Julia Ross (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945) starring Nina Foch.

His linguistic versatility came in handy after the war and made him a popular performer in radio programs across the country. In the 1950s he was also often seen as a guest star in TV series.

He made his last movie appearance in Istanbul (Joseph Pevney, 1957) starring Errol Flynn and Cornell Borchers.

Several years into his retirement, Varno's language skills again came in handy on the set of the TV miniseries War and Remembrance (1988).

Roland Varno died in 1996 in Lancaster, California. His son is the Emmy nominated sound editor Martin Varno. His daughter is Jill Taggart.


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 2. Photo: still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934). Collectie: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z, no. 3. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z, no. 4. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 6. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 9. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934).


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 11. Photo: still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934). Collectie: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 14. Photo: still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934). Collectie: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari (1917)

January 10, 2018, 10:00 pm

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German film diva Erna Morena starred in the silent drama Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari/The Ring of Giuditta Foscari (Alfred Halm, 1917), produced by Paul Davidson for Projektions-AG 'Union' (PAGU) in Berlin. Morena's co-stars were Emil Jannings and Harry Liedtke.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1988. Photo: Union Film. Erna Morena in Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari/The Ring of Giuditta Foscari (Alfred Halm, 1917) with Harry Liedtke.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1989. Photo: Union Film. Erna Morena in Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari/The Ring of Giuditta Foscari (Alfred Halm, 1917) with Harry Liedtke and Emil Jannings.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1990. Photo: Union Film. Erna Morena in Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari/The Ring of Giuditta Foscari (Alfred Halm, 1917) with Harry Liedtke and Emil Jannings.

Two lives dramatically intertwined

In Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari (1917), Erna Morena plays Judith Arens, who is neglected and badly treated by her husband, an art painter. One day, at a fine art show, she even collapses from hunger. The rich patron Count Waldenau (Emil Jannings) takes care of the pretty, young woman and houses her in his home.

Judith lives well there, if not for the many adventures of the old count, while she is smitten with the count’s son (Harry Liedtke). In a moment of despair she opens a book, which fascinates her as it is similar to her own life: The Ring of Giuditta Foscari.

Judith owns a ring similar to the Giuditta (played by Morena as well) of Renaissance times. More and more Judith sees her life intertwined with that of Giuditta. Giuditta too is courted by an older man (Emil Jannings again), while she loves his son (Harry Liedtke again).

When her husband discovers his woman with her lover he stabs his rival, realising too late it is his own son. The father recognises on his son’s finger the ring he gave to Giuditta. Giuditta is condemned and executed.

Judith too prefers the son to the father and wants to marry him. The count is warned that Judith is seeing her old husband, the painter, again, and storms in, shooting his gun through a curtain. He discovers to have shot his own son. In the present story, though, matters turn out better: the young count survives, is cured and leaves the paternal house with Judith.

Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari was written and directed by Alfred Halm and shot in late 1917 in the Union studios in Berlin-Tempelhof. Sets were made by future director Paul Leni. On 26 Octobre 1917, Austrian reviewer Franz Paimann concluded in his review in his Film-Liste, no. 87: "Stoff, Spiel, Photos und Szenerie sehr gut." (Story, acting, photography and directing very good.)


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1991. Photo: Union Film. Erna Morena in Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari/The Ring of Giuditta Foscari (Alfred Halm, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1992. Photo: Union Film. Erna Morena in Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari/The Ring of Giuditta Foscari (Alfred Halm, 1917).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1993. Photo: Union Film. Erna Morena in Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari/The Ring of Giuditta Foscari (Alfred Halm, 1917) with Harry Liedtke.

Sources: Franz Paimann (Film-Liste no. 87 - German), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb