Mady Christians

Austrian-born stage actress Mady Christians (1892-1951) was a star of the German silent cinema and appeared in Austrian, French, British, and Hollywood films too.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1715. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser. Berlin-Wilm., no. 436. Photo: Zander & Labisch.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 460/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 754/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1548/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3603/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4990/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Balazs, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5216/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Wien.

The Man Without a Name

Mady Christians was born as Marguerita Maria Christians in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1892. She was the daughter of opera singer Bertha Klein and actor Rudolph Christians. When her father took over a German-speaking theater in New York in 1912, the whole family went to the USA, where Mady made her film debut in Audrey (Robert G. Vignola, 1916) as Margarete Christians.

Because of World War I, Mady and her mother returned mother to Europe and she studied in Berlin with Max Reinhardt. She worked as a stage actress, but soon she was monopolised by the new cinema world.

She played leads in silent films like Die fremde Frau/The Strange Woman (Hubert Moest, 1917) with Hedda Vernon, Nachtschatten/Night Shadows (Friedrich Zelnik aka Frederic Zelnik, 1918), and Die Gesunkenen/The Down-and-outs (Fred Sauer, 1919). Her breakthrough was her part in the serial Der Mann ohne Namen/The Man Without A Name (Georg Jacoby, 1921) with Harry Liedtke as the thief Peter Voss.

In the following years, she appeared in several classics of the Weimar cinema such as Das Weib des Pharao/Pharoah's Wife (Ernst Lubitsch, 1922), Ein Glas Wasser/One Glass of Water (Ludwig Berger, 1923), Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/Finances of the Grand Duke (F.W. Murnau, 1924), Michael (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1924), Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925) and in the two-part costume drama Königin Luise/Queen Louise (Karl Grune, 1927-1928).

In 1928 she founded with director Ludwig Berger the Länder-Film Company in Berlin, but the company was already finished by 1931. She acted in the British production The Runaway Princess (Anthony Asquith, Fritz Wendhausen, 1929) and in the French Mon coeur incognito/My Heart is Incognito (André-Paul Antoine, Manfred Noa, 1930) opposite Jean Angelo, an alternative language version of Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren (Manfred Noa, 1930) with Gustav Diessl. The German sound film offered her only little work, but she did appear in Das Schicksal der Renate Langen/The Fate of Renate Langen (Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1931) and Friederike/Frederica (Fritz Friedmann-Frederich, 1932).


German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 2267. Photo: Berliner Film-Manufaktur. Mady Christians (here: Margarethe Christians) and Hugo Flink in Die Verteidigerin/The Defender (Friedrich Zelnik, 1918).


German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 2285. Photo: Berliner Film-Manufaktur. Mady Christians (here: Margarethe Christians) in Die Dreizehn/The Thirteen (Alfred Halm, 1918).


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 65/1. Photo: Aafa-Film. Mady Christians and Bruno Kastner in Die geschiedene Frau/The Divorcée (Victor Janson, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 65/3. Photo: Aafa-Film. Mady Christians and Viktor Janson in Die geschiedene Frau/The Divorcée (Victor Janson, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 88/4. Photo: Terra Film. Publicity still for Königin Luise, 1. Teil - Die Jugend der Königin Luise/Queen Louise (Karl Grune, 1927) with Hans Adalbert Schlettow.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5384/2, 1930-1931. Photo: AAFA Film. Publicity still for Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren/Lieutenant were you once with your Hussar (Manfred Noa, 1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5384/1, 1930-1931. Photo: AAFA Film. Publicity still for Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren/Lieutenant were you once with your Hussar (Manfred Noa, 1930).

I Remember Mama

After the assumption of power by the Nazis in 1933, Mady Christians emigrated to the United States. In the following decades, she shuttled between Hollywood and Broadway.

In Hollywood, she starred in The Only Girl (Frederick Hollander/Friedrich Holländer, 1934) with Charles Boyer. She appeared in several popular pictures like A Wicked Woman (Charles Brabin, 1934), Escapade (Robert Z. Leonard, 1935) with William Powell, Come and Get It (Howard Hawks a.o., 1936), Seventh Heaven (Henry King, 1937) with James Stewart, and Tender Comrade (Edward Dmytryk, 1943) with Ginger Rogers.

In films, she tended to play supporting character parts, while on stage she continued to find leading roles. On Broadway, she originated the title role in the play I Remember Mama (1944). In 1945 she became a drama teacher at Columbia University.

Her last movie roles were in Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls, 1948) and All My Sons (Irving Reis, 1948) based on the play by Arthur Miller, in which she co-starred with Burt Lancaster and Edward G. Robinson.

In 1950 she was blacklisted after being labelled a communist sympathizer during the McCarthy-era ‘witch trials’. Mady Christians died in 1951 in Norwalk, Connecticut, from a cerebral haemorrhage.


French postcard by Europe, no. 52. Photo: Aafa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5385/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Aafa-Film. Gustav Diessl and Mady Christians in Leutnant warst Du einst bei deinen Husaren/Lieutenant were you once with your Hussar (Manfred Noa, 1930).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6067/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 166/2. Photo: Indra-Film. Mady Christians and Hans Heinz Bollmann in Friederike/Frederica (Fritz Friedmann-Frederich, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 181/2. Photo: Ufa. Lilian Harvey and Mady Christians in Ich und die Kaiserin (1933).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 609 (Ross Luxus Series). Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 7201/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 152/3 Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der Schwarze Husar/The Black Hussar (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1932) with Otto Wallburg.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 7205/1. Photo: Ufa. Conrad Veidt and Mady Christians in Der schwarze Husar/The Black Hussar (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7532/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Hisa-Film. Publicity still for Manolescu, der Fürst der Diebe/Manolescu, the King of Thieves (Georg C. Klaren, Willi Wolff, 1933).

Source: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Denny Jackson (IMDb), AllMovie, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Die Finanzen des Großherzogs (1924)

One of my favourite silent films is Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's satire Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (1924). It's the only comedy Murnau made, but he proved to be a master in this genre too. Harry Liedtke stars as the likeable and carefree Grand Duke Don Ramon XX of Abacco, who has run out of money to pay the national debt and whose idyllic country is threatened by revolution. His main creditor wants to take possession of the Grand Duchy. A marriage with Olga, the Grand Duchess of Russia (Mady Christians), would solve everything, but a crucial letter of hers about the engagement has been stolen. The plot is based on the novel 'The Finances of the Grand Duke' (Storhertigens Finanser) by Swedish author Frank Heller.


Yugoslavian postcard by Jos. Caklovic, Zagreb, no. 37. Photo: Balkan Film, Zagreb. Alfred Abel in Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (F. W. Murnau, 1924). Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 809/1. Photo: Ufa. Harry Liedtke and Mady Christians in Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (F. W. Murnau, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 809/2. Photo: Ufa. Harry Liedtke and Mady Christians in Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (F. W. Murnau, 1924).

A series of frantic chases, plots, and counter-plots

Ufa producer Erich Pommer asked Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang's wife and creative partner at the time, to adapt Frank Heller's novel for the screen. Von Harbau focused on the character of thief-detective Phillip Collin (Alfred Abel). Collin, who passes as Professor Pelotard, meets an unknown woman in a café, who asks him to help her hide from her pursuers. He willingly obliges and soon finds out that she is Grand Duchess Olga and that her pursuer is her brother.

The newspapers report on the speculation on Abacco's bonds, on the outbreak of a revolution in Abacco, and on the disappearance of the Grand Duke. All regular voyages to Abacco are interrupted but Olga, who now passes as Collins' wife, manages to charter a ship to take her to Abacco island. She accepts to take along the Grand Duke, whom she has not recognised, and who introduced himself as a supporter of the Grand Duke. In Abacco the Grand Duke and Collin overcome the self-proclaimed president and his accomplices after a short fight. However further revolutionaries overpower the Grand Duke and start preparing for his hanging. Olga now understands who he is and wants to buy him off the revolutionaries, without success. A series of frantic chases, plots, and counter-plots begins...

Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (1924) was shot from May to August 1923. Rochus Gliese and Erich Czerwonski were responsible for the sets, and Karl Freund and Franz Planer for the camera work. The shooting locations were the Messter studios in Berlin-Tempelhof and the Ufa studios in Neubabelsberg, today's Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam. The outdoor shots took place on the Adriatic in Spalato, Cattaro, Zara, on the island of Arbe, and on the outdoor areas of the Ufa studios in Neubabelsberg, where a.o. the castle was built as a large external backdrop.

The cast is interesting with some of the best character actors that Weimar cinema had to offer. Dutch actor Adolphe Engers played Don Esteban Paqueno, Ilka Grüning played the cook Augustine, Julius Falkenstein was Ernst Isaacs, Walter Rilla appeared as Luis Hernandez and Hermann Vallentin as Herr Binzer. And fans of Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) will be intrigued to see the mysterious Max Schreck here with a long straggly beard as one of a quartet of political agitators.

Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances premiered on 7 January 1924 in Berlin's Ufa-Palast am Zoo. It is the only comedy among the works of the director Murnau. gavin6942 at IMDb: "The film specifically referenced paintings, which is no surprise - Murnau was an art historian. It has been said some directors view films as artists and some as cameramen. Murnau was an artist. This works well, and it is added to by the fact the sets were painted with shadows rather than using lights. "


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 810/1. Ufa. Harry Liedtke in Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (F. W. Murnau, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 811/2. Photo: Ufa. Mady Christians in Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (F. W. Murnau, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 813/1. Photo: Ufa. Ilka Grüning and Harry Liedtke in Die Finanzen des Großherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (F. W. Murnau, 1924).

Sources: Nicole Gagne (AllMovie), Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 9 April 2023.

Zopf und Schwert (1926)

The 'Prussian films' on Frederick the Great were a huge success in Weimar. The Aafa Film company decided to produce also a film set at the court of 18th century Prussia: Zopf und Schwert/Braid and Sword (Victor Janson, 1926). It starred Mady Christians as Princess Wilhelmine - Frederick's sister, William Dieterle as her lover, the Prince of Bayreuth, Hanni Weisse as the Princess's lady-in-waiting Von Sonnsfeld, and Albert Steinrück as King Frederick Willliam I of Prussia.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 57/1. Photo: Aafa Film. Mady Christians and Wilhelm (William) Dieterle in Zopf und Schwert - Die tolle Prinzessin (Victor Janson, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 57/2. Photo: Aafa Film. Mady Christians, Hanni Weisse and Theodor Loos in Zopf und Schwert - Die tolle Prinzessin (Victor Janson, 1926).

A Princess locked up in her rooms and threatened to death

Zopf und Schwert is a romantic comedy, based on the stage play (1843) by Karl Gutzkow. The exact plot of the (lost) film is unknown but the stage play creates a fictitious love story between Prince Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1711-1763) and Princess Wilhelmine (1709–1758), daughter of King Frederick Wilhelm I of Prussia and sister of the future Frederick the Great.

The story takes place after 1730, when, historically, the stern, army loving King had punished his son with exile to Küstrin (now the Polish Kostrzyn nad Odrą) after the latter had tried to flee to France, fed up with his father's brutal behaviour. Frederick's aid Katte was decapitated before his eyes. Wilhelmine, considered part of the Crown Prince's 'desertion', was locked up in her rooms. Both brother and sister had been threatened with death.

While the Queen wanted to marry Wilhelmine with a British royal, her father wanted an alliance with Habsburg, but nothing came of it. In 1731 Wilhelmine married Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, future Margrave, who initially was betrothed to Wilhelmine's younger sister, but their father at the last moment shifted daughters, even without asking the groom.

Wilhelmine was forced into the marriage by her father and thus hoped to relieve the conflict between the King and the Crown Prince. When the Margrave got into his inheritance, the couple turned Bayreuth in a little Versailles. Their building activities, rebuilding the residence and the opera house, and building a new opera, a theatre, a palace and an university, almost bankrupted the principality. The couple had only one daughter, who died young.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 57/3, Photo: Aafa Film. Mady Christians and Wilhelm Dieterle in Zopf und Schwert - Die tolle Prinzessin (Victor Janson, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 57/4. Photo: Aafa Film. Publicity still of Mady Christians and Hanni Weisse in Zopf und Schwert - Die tolle Prinzessin/Braid and sword (Victor Janson, 1926).

A less calculating and horrifying situation

In Karl Gutzkow's stage play, the situation is presented as less calculating and horrifying. The Prince of Bayreuth (Wilhelm Dieterle), who is a close friend of and go-between for the exiled Crown Prince Frederick (Walter Janssen), visits the Prussian court and falls in love with Wilhelmine (Mady Christians).

The Queen (Julia Serda), related to the British King, orders him to mediate with her husband (Albert Steinrück) in marrying off her daughter with the Prince of Wales. The King, who officially wants to marry her to Habsburg, confesses Bayreuth he agrees with the British marriage and orders him to throw a huge party.

Moreover, Bayreuth happens to know the British envoy Hotham (Robert Scholtz) from his time in England, and hears from him a Prussian-British trade contract is behind all this. Bayreuth betrays all this to Wilhelmine and declares her his own love.

With help of her lady-in-waiting Sonnsfeld (Hanni Weisse), Wilhelmine masks as an unknown white lady and tries to escape her rooms. Sonnsfeld seduces the guard Eckhoff (Theodor Loos), who happens to be an amateur violin player, to play for them so they can dance, despite the King's disgust of music and dance.

The King surprises them, degrades the officer to stage player (which he doesn't mind), orders Sonnsfeld to move to another court (which she doesn't mind), and announces his daughter her future marriage.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1467/1. Photo: Aafa Film. Mady Christians in Zopf und Schwert - Die tolle Prinzessin (Victor Janson, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1467/2. Photo: Aafa Film. Mady Christians in Zopf und Schwert - Die tolle Prinzessin (Victor Janson, 1926).

A secret rendez-vous

When the King hears the British want to restore the earlier free trade between the two nations, he explodes. He immediately orders Bayreuth to go to Vienna to arrange a marriage with Habsburg.

Hotham, in reality, is only helping Bayreuth by discrediting his own employer. Hotham and the King battle over the failed affair but peace is made over beer and tobacco, with Bayreuth present as well.

However, at the smoking table with all the King's men, and forced to talk, Bayreuth gently but critically creates the King's doubt whether he has thought of the hearts of his children in his deeds and arrangements.

When the King, masked in a white domino, surprises the Queen and her ladies-in-waiting in card plays with money and drinking forbidden teas and coffees, a mysterious lady in white appears, who happens to be Wilhelmine, helped to escape from her rooms by her mother. She confesses she has had a secret rendez-vous with the Prince of Wales.

Just when the King threatens to divorce because of this affront, Hotham appears telling that the Prince of Wales has fled after Bayreuth challenged him to a duel, because he loved the princess too (it is all a scam by Hotham, as the real Prince of Wales was never around, only his rumour). Finally, King and Queen agree with the marriage of their daughter to Bayreuth, even more so as their future son-in-law has announced he will join the Prussian army.

Zopf und Schwert (Victor Janson, 1926) was scripted by Jane Bess and Adolf Lantz, the cinematography was by Carl Drews, sets and costumes were designed by Ernst Stern. Rudolf Dworsky was the producer. The film premiered in Berlin on 26 August 1926. 'Zopf' in the title refers to the braid of a wig Prussian officers wore then, 'Schwert' clearly refers to their swords.



German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1468/1. Photo: Aafa Film. Hanni Weisse in Zopf und Schwert - Die tolle Prinzessin (Victor Janson, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1469/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Aafa Film. Wilhelm Dieterle in Zopf und Schwert - Die tolle Prinzessin (Victor Janson, 1926).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Ein Walzertraum (1925)

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


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


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

An internationally successful operetta

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

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

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

The international success of the operetta exceeded Straus's expectations, and special praise was reserved for the famous waltz theme from Act Two. Straus later arranged various numbers from the operetta and included the graceful main waltz theme into a new concert waltz. The piece made Straus's international reputation, touring internationally after the Vienna, New York and London run and enjoying many revivals. The operetta did not remain as popular over the decades as Straus' 'The Chocolate Soldier', but several modern productions have been mounted. In 1991, Ohio Light Opera produced the work, and in 1992, Light Opera Works of Illinois mounted a production.

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


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


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

The amorous lieutenant and the princess

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

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

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

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

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


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 48/6. Photo: Ufa. Xenia Desni and Willy Fritsch in Ein Walzertraum/The Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925).


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

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

This post was last updated on 1 January 2024.