Albanian-Austrian Alexander Moissi (1879-1935) was one of the great European stage actors of the early-20th century. The attractive and charismatic women's idol also appeared in several silent and early sound films, in particular in Germany. Here are three silent examples, Pique-Dame (1918), based on the classic novella by Alexander Pushkin, Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (1918) and Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (1919) with Käthe Dorsch. All three films were directed by Arthur Wellin.
![Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (1918)]()
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 522/2. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918). The actress may be Hertha Ruß.
![Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (1918)]()
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 522/3. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918). The actress may be Hertha Ruß.
Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918) was based on the eponymous novella by Alexander Pushkin and is situated in Russia, during the time of the Tsars in the 19th century. The young engineer lieutenant Stanislaus Kovolski (Alexander Moissi) is in constant need of money. One day he meets a fortune-teller who prophesies that a great windfall awaits him after he meets an old lady. His friend Prince Domsky (Eduard von Winterstein) tells him en passant in the club about his old aunt, Countess Balinski (Johanna Terwin). Stanislaus learns from his friend Paul that she acquired her great fortune through a mysterious card game. Now Kovolski is determined to meet the old lady. One of his first attempts to approach the countess leads to an acquaintance with Lisaveta (Hertha Ruß), an impoverished relative of the stony-rich noblewoman, with whom he quickly falls in love. The next time Stanislaus tries to secretly look over the old lady's shoulder in order to elicit the card game secret from her. Countess Balinski is so frightened that she suddenly drops dead.
From then on Count Stanislaus is haunted by nocturnal demons. Plagued by a guilty conscience, he constantly sees the dead old woman in his mind's eye as an eternal reminder. But Madame does not reproach him in any way. Rather, she tells Kovolski her secret: to achieve his goal, he must win the first three games on his next visit to the club. To do this, he must first bet on the three, then on the seven and finally on the ace. He succeeds on the first night. He bets on the three. The second night also brings him luck, this time with the announced seven. Confident of victory, he bets on his ace on the third night, which indeed also wins. Stanislaus now believes he has a future with Lisaveta, but when he wants to show his Ace, to his greatest surprise it is the Queen of Spades.
Count Kovolski is totally shocked, he cannot believe it. After all, he had seen the ace with his own eyes, and now this? He is deeply convinced that the dead countess wants to take revenge on him, who is to blame for the death of her heart, with this sign of fate from the beyond. He has bet everything in his confidence of victory, and now everything is gone. Count Kovolski's entire fortune is lost with a playing card. The shock is so deep that Stanislaus Kovolski gradually falls into mental derangement and finally ends his life in an insane asylum.
Pique Dame was produced at the beginning of 1918, passed the censors in March of the same year with a ban on young people and premiered on 17 May 1918 in Berlin's Tauentzienpalast. The length of the four-act play was 1521 metres. Producer Rudolf Dworsky also designed the film buildings. The scriptwriters were Rudolf Strauss and Carl Singer. His co-star Johanna Terwin also became Moissi's wife in 1919. Supporting parts were for Johannes Riemann, Ernst Pittschau and Ernst Deutsch.
The Kinematographische Rundschau, 31 August 1918 "It was a lucky move to get the best actor of Ibsen's and Tolstoy's characters, Alexander Moissi, for the film. (...) His impressive and punchy performance, with which he portrays the engineer lieutenant who has become a criminal out of his addiction to wealth, makes us forget that we only see Moissi on the screen. At the climax of the plot, when the lieutenant goes mad as a result of losing his game, the great artist's performance is almost overwhelming. Moissi's task is made easier by the other artists, especially Johanna Tenvin [sic] and Herta Russ, who do their best in combination with good direction. This film work gains a lot from the good photography, through which we can follow even the finest nuance in Moissi's play."
![Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (1918)]()
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 522/4. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918). The actress may be Johanna Terwin.
![Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (1918)]()
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 522/6. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
![Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche]()
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 537/1. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
![Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche]()
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 537/2. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi (left) in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
![Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche]()
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 537/3. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi and Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918) was also produced by Rudolf Dworsky and scripted by Hans Land, a pseudonym of Hugo Landsberger, and Emil Rameau.
Alexander Moissi plays in this film a hunchback named Henrik who obtains a wishing ring. He wishes for youth, beauty and health. Moissi's co-actors were Belgian-German actress Ria Jende, Eduard von Winterstein and Paul Passarge.
The sculptor Henrik has had a hard time in life. Although blessed with great talent, he finds no affection from the opposite sex because of his conspicuous hump, but mostly only scorn and ridicule. His heart belongs to the enchanting circus performer Eva, but even she only has pity for the poor devil. One day, a dying Indian bequeaths a magic ring to the starving starving artist, which is supposed to grant him three wishes, and the recently world-weary sculptor believes he can finally turn his life around.
Henrik does not think twice and wishes for youth, beauty and wealth. But he has forgotten the most important thing in view of his passion for this woman: to wish himself happiness. And so the ring only brings him to curse and ruin, for although now rich, young and beautiful, he is only lied to and betrayed by everyone, even his friends and his beloved. Desperate and beside himself with anger, Henrik throws the ring far away from him and loses the last bit of happiness in his life.
![Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche (1918)]()
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 537/4. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi and Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
![Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche (1918)]()
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 537/5. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi and Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
![Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche]()
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne Series, no. 537/8. Photo: Amboss-Film, Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi, Ria Jende and Eduard von Winterstein in Der Ring der drei Wünsche (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
![Alexander Moissi in Erborgtes Glück (1919)]()
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 538/1. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi and Käthe Dorsch in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).
![Alexander Moissi in Erborgtes Glück (1919)]()
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 538/2. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi as the baron, Eduard von Winterstein as the banker and Käthe Dorsch as the mistress in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).
Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919) was already shot in 1918, but the film was first screened in January 1919 at the Berlin cinema Tauentzienpalast. It was one of a series of five films with Alexander Moissi directed by Arthur Wellin and produced by Rudolf Dworsky. This series also included Der Ring der drei Wünsche (1918) and Pique Dame (1918).
In Erborgtes Glück, a banker (Eduard von Winterstein) arranges an insurance policy for a baron (Alexander Moissi), but he is the man who has committed adultery with the banker's own wife (Käthe Dorsch). After three years, the banker demands the man to kill himself, but instead the other shoots him.
Arthur Wellin (1880-prob. 1941) was a Jewish film director, originally Arthur Lewin. He had been a prolific stage director before shifting to film, the reason why Alexander Moissi engaged him as a film director for 5 films between 1918 and 1920.
Wellin was also co-owner of Amboss-Film, with Rudolf Dworsky. All in all, he directed some 27 silent films, and at times Wellin also acted. In 1933 he was expelled from acting by the Nazis when Adolf Hitler took over power in Germany.
In 1941 Arthur Dwellin was deported from Prague to the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and from there, he was probably sent to one of the extermination camps.
![Alexander Moissi in Erborgtes Glück (1919)]()
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 538/3. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi as the baron, Eduard von Winterstein as the banker and Käthe Dorsch as the mistress in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).
![Alexander Moissi in Erborgtes Glück (1919)]()
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 538/4. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).
Sources: Filmportal, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.
Pique-Dame (1918)
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 522/2. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918). The actress may be Hertha Ruß.
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 522/3. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918). The actress may be Hertha Ruß.
His impressive and punchy performance
Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918) was based on the eponymous novella by Alexander Pushkin and is situated in Russia, during the time of the Tsars in the 19th century. The young engineer lieutenant Stanislaus Kovolski (Alexander Moissi) is in constant need of money. One day he meets a fortune-teller who prophesies that a great windfall awaits him after he meets an old lady. His friend Prince Domsky (Eduard von Winterstein) tells him en passant in the club about his old aunt, Countess Balinski (Johanna Terwin). Stanislaus learns from his friend Paul that she acquired her great fortune through a mysterious card game. Now Kovolski is determined to meet the old lady. One of his first attempts to approach the countess leads to an acquaintance with Lisaveta (Hertha Ruß), an impoverished relative of the stony-rich noblewoman, with whom he quickly falls in love. The next time Stanislaus tries to secretly look over the old lady's shoulder in order to elicit the card game secret from her. Countess Balinski is so frightened that she suddenly drops dead.
From then on Count Stanislaus is haunted by nocturnal demons. Plagued by a guilty conscience, he constantly sees the dead old woman in his mind's eye as an eternal reminder. But Madame does not reproach him in any way. Rather, she tells Kovolski her secret: to achieve his goal, he must win the first three games on his next visit to the club. To do this, he must first bet on the three, then on the seven and finally on the ace. He succeeds on the first night. He bets on the three. The second night also brings him luck, this time with the announced seven. Confident of victory, he bets on his ace on the third night, which indeed also wins. Stanislaus now believes he has a future with Lisaveta, but when he wants to show his Ace, to his greatest surprise it is the Queen of Spades.
Count Kovolski is totally shocked, he cannot believe it. After all, he had seen the ace with his own eyes, and now this? He is deeply convinced that the dead countess wants to take revenge on him, who is to blame for the death of her heart, with this sign of fate from the beyond. He has bet everything in his confidence of victory, and now everything is gone. Count Kovolski's entire fortune is lost with a playing card. The shock is so deep that Stanislaus Kovolski gradually falls into mental derangement and finally ends his life in an insane asylum.
Pique Dame was produced at the beginning of 1918, passed the censors in March of the same year with a ban on young people and premiered on 17 May 1918 in Berlin's Tauentzienpalast. The length of the four-act play was 1521 metres. Producer Rudolf Dworsky also designed the film buildings. The scriptwriters were Rudolf Strauss and Carl Singer. His co-star Johanna Terwin also became Moissi's wife in 1919. Supporting parts were for Johannes Riemann, Ernst Pittschau and Ernst Deutsch.
The Kinematographische Rundschau, 31 August 1918 "It was a lucky move to get the best actor of Ibsen's and Tolstoy's characters, Alexander Moissi, for the film. (...) His impressive and punchy performance, with which he portrays the engineer lieutenant who has become a criminal out of his addiction to wealth, makes us forget that we only see Moissi on the screen. At the climax of the plot, when the lieutenant goes mad as a result of losing his game, the great artist's performance is almost overwhelming. Moissi's task is made easier by the other artists, especially Johanna Tenvin [sic] and Herta Russ, who do their best in combination with good direction. This film work gains a lot from the good photography, through which we can follow even the finest nuance in Moissi's play."
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 522/4. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918). The actress may be Johanna Terwin.
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 522/6. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Pique-Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
Der Ring der drei Wünsche (1918)
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 537/1. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 537/2. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi (left) in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 537/3. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi and Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
He wishes for youth, beauty and health
Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918) was also produced by Rudolf Dworsky and scripted by Hans Land, a pseudonym of Hugo Landsberger, and Emil Rameau.
Alexander Moissi plays in this film a hunchback named Henrik who obtains a wishing ring. He wishes for youth, beauty and health. Moissi's co-actors were Belgian-German actress Ria Jende, Eduard von Winterstein and Paul Passarge.
The sculptor Henrik has had a hard time in life. Although blessed with great talent, he finds no affection from the opposite sex because of his conspicuous hump, but mostly only scorn and ridicule. His heart belongs to the enchanting circus performer Eva, but even she only has pity for the poor devil. One day, a dying Indian bequeaths a magic ring to the starving starving artist, which is supposed to grant him three wishes, and the recently world-weary sculptor believes he can finally turn his life around.
Henrik does not think twice and wishes for youth, beauty and wealth. But he has forgotten the most important thing in view of his passion for this woman: to wish himself happiness. And so the ring only brings him to curse and ruin, for although now rich, young and beautiful, he is only lied to and betrayed by everyone, even his friends and his beloved. Desperate and beside himself with anger, Henrik throws the ring far away from him and loses the last bit of happiness in his life.
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 537/4. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi and Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 537/5. Photo: Amboss-Film / Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi and Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne Series, no. 537/8. Photo: Amboss-Film, Dworsky Co. Alexander Moissi, Ria Jende and Eduard von Winterstein in Der Ring der drei Wünsche (Arthur Wellin, 1918).
Erborgtes Glück (1919)
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 538/1. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi and Käthe Dorsch in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 538/2. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi as the baron, Eduard von Winterstein as the banker and Käthe Dorsch as the mistress in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).
The tragic fate of a director
Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919) was already shot in 1918, but the film was first screened in January 1919 at the Berlin cinema Tauentzienpalast. It was one of a series of five films with Alexander Moissi directed by Arthur Wellin and produced by Rudolf Dworsky. This series also included Der Ring der drei Wünsche (1918) and Pique Dame (1918).
In Erborgtes Glück, a banker (Eduard von Winterstein) arranges an insurance policy for a baron (Alexander Moissi), but he is the man who has committed adultery with the banker's own wife (Käthe Dorsch). After three years, the banker demands the man to kill himself, but instead the other shoots him.
Arthur Wellin (1880-prob. 1941) was a Jewish film director, originally Arthur Lewin. He had been a prolific stage director before shifting to film, the reason why Alexander Moissi engaged him as a film director for 5 films between 1918 and 1920.
Wellin was also co-owner of Amboss-Film, with Rudolf Dworsky. All in all, he directed some 27 silent films, and at times Wellin also acted. In 1933 he was expelled from acting by the Nazis when Adolf Hitler took over power in Germany.
In 1941 Arthur Dwellin was deported from Prague to the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and from there, he was probably sent to one of the extermination camps.
German postcard in the Film Sterne series, no. 538/3. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi as the baron, Eduard von Winterstein as the banker and Käthe Dorsch as the mistress in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 538/4. Photo: Amboss Film. Alexander Moissi in Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919).
Sources: Filmportal, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.