Ich will nicht wissen wer du bist (1932)

Liane Haid, Gustav Fröhlich and Szöke Szakáll were the stars of the delightful romantic comedy Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (1932), scripted by Ernst Marischka and Robert Weil and directed by Géza von Bolváry. A year later, Szakall but also Fröhlich's wife and daughter had to go into exile because of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The rise of the fascists also ended the careers of the Jewish publishers of the postcards in this post, Heinrich Ross of Ross Verlag and Joseph Peter Welker of JosPe.


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 385. Photo: City Film. Liane Haid, Gustav Fröhlich and Szöke Szakáll in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 158/1. Photo: Boston-Film. Gustav Fröhlich, Liane Haid and Betty Bird in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag. no. 7086/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Boston-Film. Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want to Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).

A comedy of mistaken identities

Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932) is a comedy of mistaken identities, written by Ernst Marischka and Robert Weil.

The penniless Count Lerchenau (Gustav Fröhlich) has to work as a chauffeur under the name Robert Lindt. However, he lost his last job, because women love him so much.

His former servant Ottokar (Szöke Szakáll) remains loyal to him and tries to get him to marry a rich woman. However, at the restaurant where he is supposed to meet a suitable lady, he ends up flirting with the attractive Alice (Liane Haid) instead.

Robert gives Count Lerchenau as a reference to get a job on President Fuhring's (Max Güllstorff) staff. But then Führing wants to speak to Lerchenau, and Franz has to play the role of the count...

Alice, it turns out, is Führing's niece. When she learns that Robert is only a chauffeur, she wants nothing more to do with him. But after all sorts of turbulence, they find each other after all.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 6498. Photo: Boston Film / Lux Film. Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want to Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).


Dutch postcard, no. 360. Photo: City Film. Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist (Géza von Bolváry, 1932). The mark on the right side of the card refers to the Dutch censorship approval.

Because of the regime, because everything was bombed, and because all the good directors had left

The male star of Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932) was Gustav Fröhlich, who had his breakthrough as Freder Fredersen in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Fröhlich often played smart gentlemen in lighthearted musicals and romances. Because of his carefree attendance, Fröhlich was seldom allowed to play other characters. He frequently worked with Hungarian film director Géza von Bolváry, who specialised in Viennese Operettas and romantic comedies. Between 1931 and 1933 they made six films together. These include Liebeskommando/Love's Command (Géza von Bolváry, 1931), Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Do Not Want to Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932), and Was Frauen träumen/What Women Dream (Géza von Bolváry, 1933), which was co-written by Billy Wilder.

In 1931, Fröhlich married Hungarian opera star and actress Gitta Alpár, with whom he had a child, Julika. Alpár was Jewish and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in 1933 destroyed her successful film career in Germany. Mother and child were forced to leave Germany and fled to the U.S. Fröhlich distanced from his wife because he didn't want to endanger his career. During the Third Reich, he remained one of the most prominent German film stars. Their marriage was dissolved in 1935 as 'illegal' in National Socialist Germany. After the war, Fröhlich tried to apologise for his behaviour but Alpár could not answer his pleas. A circumstance which, according to IMDb, gave Fröhlich a hard time in his last years and beclouded his lust for life.

Liane Haid was the first Austrian movie star in film history. She already appeared in operas and operettas before she made her first film appearance. Very popular were her silent film operettas Im weißen Rößl/The White Horse Inn (Richard Oswald, 1926) and Die Csardasfürstin/The Csardas Princess (Hanns Schwarz, 1927). The transition to sound film, which required a different way of acting, she mastered very well. In the hit film Das Lied ist aus/The Song Is Over (Géza von Bolváry, 1930), she sang the song that became famous: 'Adieu mein kleine Gardeoffizier' composed by Robert Stolz. Haid was at the height of her popularity. In 1933 alone, she appeared in nine feature films. From the mid-1930s, she refused film offers and instead focused on her stage career. In 1942, she escaped from Nazi Germany to Switzerland "because of the regime, because everything was bombed, and because all the good directors had left".

In the early 1930s, Hungarian actor Szöke Szakáll was, next to Hans Moser, the most significant representative of the Wiener Film, the Viennese light romantic comedy genre. Among his German films was Géza von Bolváry's Zwei Herzen im 3/4 Takt/Two Hearts in Waltz Time (1930). The Jewish Szakáll was forced to return to Hungary, because of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement. He was involved in over 40 films in his native land, including Skandal in Budapest/Romance in Budapest (Steve Sekely, Géza von Bolváry, 1933). When Hungary joined the Axis in 1940, he went into exile with his wife and became famous in Hollywood as S.Z Sakall. Many of Szakáll's close relatives later died in Nazi concentration camps, including all three of his sisters and his niece, as well as his wife's brother and sister.

The sets of Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are were designed by the art director Franz Schroedter. The music was by Robert Stolz. The title song 'Ich will nicht wissen wer du bist', composed by Stolz with lyrics by Ernst Marischka, was sung by Liane Haid. In the cast were also Adele Sandrock as Emerenzia, Betty Bird as Käthe, her niece, Julius E. Herrmann as Councillor of Commerce Blume, and Lotte Lorring as his wife Helga. At VPRO, the reviewer writes: 'An upbeat film operetta with very nice songs by Robert Stolz and fine roles by Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich. In 1942, scriptwriter Ernst Marischka directed a remake of the film, Abenteuer im Grandhotel/Adventures in the Grand Hotel (Ernst Marischka, 1942) with Wolf Albach-Retty and Carola Höhn. Hans Moser now played the role of Szöke Szakáll.


Dutch Postcard, no. 362. Photo: City Film. Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).


Dutch Postcard, no. 382. Photo: City Film. Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 384. Photo: City Film. Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).

Source: VPRO (Dutch), Filmportal (German), Wikipedia (English) and IMDb.

Gustav Fröhlich

Smart German actor Gustav Fröhlich (1902-1987) played Freder Fredersen, the young hero in Fritz Lang's silent classic Metropolis (1927). During the 1930s he became the fresh-faced gentleman in light comedies and musicals and was one of the four most popular male stars of the German cinema during the Third Reich (with Willy Fritsch, Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann). After the war, he tried to escape from his standard roles as the charming gentleman playing a doomed painter in Die Sünderin (1951), but his effort went down in a scandal.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1584/2, 1927-1938. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3018/1, 1928-1929. Photo: M. v. Bucovich (Atelier K. Schenker).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3600/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4145/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4293/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Ufa.

Metropolis

Gustav Friedrich Fröhlich was born an illegitimate child in Hannover, Germany in 1902. His father, Gustav König, was a well-known engineer, and his mother Hedwig Therese Sophie Fröhlich, was the daughter of a worker. Gustav was raised by foster parents. His foster family moved around western Germany a lot while he was growing up, living in cities like Wiesbaden and Wurzburg.

He studied at the Homuth Realgymnasium Friedenau in Berlin. During World War I the young Gustav volunteered for duty in occupied Brussels as supervisioner of the press. In 1919 he started his career as a trainee at a newspaper, but he spent his spare time as an emcee at local variety shows. He also wrote two issues of a dime novel, Heinz Brandt, der Fremdenlegionär/Heinz Brandt, the Foreign Legionnaire.

After some entrances at a Vaudeville theatre under the stage name Gustav Geef, he took acting lessons in Heilbronn. In the next few years, he appeared on different minor German stages. In Berlin, he played from 1923 to 1925 at the Volksbühne am Bülowplatz under the direction of Erwin Piscator. Later he appeared as The Prince of Homburg at the Deutsche Theater under the direction of Max Reinhardt.

His film debut was a small role in a Dutch-German film produced in Germany, De bruut/Ein neues Leben/The Brute (Theo Frenkel, 1922) with Erna Morena and Adolphe Engers. He then played a secondary role as composer Franz Liszt in Paganini (Heinz Goldberg, 1923) featuring Conrad Veidt. In the following years, he played in such films as Friesenblut (1925) opposite Jenny Jugo.

Then Fröhlich landed his breakthrough role as Freder Fredersen in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) by chance. He was only scheduled to play one of the workmen but four weeks after the beginning he was discovered on the set by Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang's wife. Lang immediately cast him in the lead because of his striking good looks. A new star was born.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/10. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 80/4. Photo: Phoebus-Film, Berlin. Gustav Fröhlich, Maria Solveg and Rudolf Rittner in Der Meister von Nürnberg/The Master of Nuremberg (Ludwig Berger, 1927).


Latvian postcard, mailed in Latvia in 1928. Photo: Koop-Film. Gustav Fröhlich and Vera Schmiterlöw in the German late silent film Jahrmarkt des Lebens (Béla Balogh, 1928).


German postcard by Ross B.V.G., unnumbered. Photo: Länder Film. Mady Christians and Gustav Fröhlich in Das brennende Herz/The Burning Heart (Ludwig Berger, 1929). Terra distributed the film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5196/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5522/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Deutsche Universal Film. Publicity Still for Zwei Menschen/Two People (Erich Waschneck, 1930) with Charlotte Susa.

Warner Brothers

After Metropolis, Gustav Fröhlich was typecast as the fresh-faced, naive 'boy next door' in such silent films as Die elf Teufel/The Eleven Devils (Zoltan Korda, Carl Boese, 1927) with Evelyn Holt, Heimkehr/Homecoming (Joe May, 1928) opposite Lars Hanson, and Asphalt (Joe May, 1929), in which he played an honest policeman who is seduced by a crook (Betty Amann).

In 1930, Fröhlich was called to Hollywood by Warner Brothers to do German versions of American sound films, such as Die heilige Flamme/The Holy Flames (William Dieterle (as Wilhelm Dieterle), Berthold Viertel, 1931) and Kismet (William Dieterle, 1931), both with Dita Parlo. Back in Germany, he soon was subscribed for Max Ophüls’ musical comedy Die verliebte Firma/The Company's in Love (1931) next to Lien Deyers, and for Robert Siodmak's crime drama Voruntersuchung/Inquest (1931) with Albert Bassermann.

He often worked with director Géza von Bolváry. Between 1931 and 1933 they made six films together. These include Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Do Not Want to Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932) with Liane Haid, and Was Frauen träumen/What Women Dream (Géza von Bolváry, 1933), which was co-written by Billy Wilder.

Fröhlich often played smart gentlemen in lighthearted musicals and romances. Because of his carefree attendance, Fröhlich was seldom allowed to play other characters. One of his greatest successes was his part as the helpful and likeable policeman in Oberwachtmeister Schwenke (Carl Froelich, 1935).

He also directed films like Rakoczy-Marsch/Rakoczy March (Gustav Fröhlich, Steve Sekely, 1933), Abenteuer eines jungen Herrn in Polen/Love and Alarm (1934), and after the war Wege im Zwielicht/Paths in Twilight (1948), Der Bagnosträfling/The Prisoner (1949) with Paul Dahlke, and the crime drama Die Lüge/The Lie (1950) with Otto Gebühr.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6261/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Super-Film. Publicity still for Liebeskommando/Love's Command (Géza von Bolváry, 1931).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7086/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Boston-Film. Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want to Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932)


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7877/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Cinema / Willinger, Wien. Gustav Fröhlich and Annabella in Sonnenstrahl/Two Souls in a Soulless City (Paul Fejos, 1933).


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 379. Photo: Remaco. Gitta Alpár and Gustav Fröhlich co-starred in Gitta entdeckt ihr Herz/Gitta Discovers Her Heart (Carl Froelich, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7926/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Niedecken, St. Moritz. With Gitta Alpár.


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 279. Photo: Filma. Publicity still for Unter falscher Flagge/Under False Flagg (Johannes Meyer, 1932) with Charlotte Susa.


Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 384. Photo: City Film. Publicity still for Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932) with Liane Haid.

Goebbels

Between 1931 and 1935 Gustav Fröhlich was married to Hungarian Opera star and actress Gitta Alpár. When she was pregnant with their daughter Julika, he left her. According to Alpár, because she was Jewish and he did not want to hurt his career in Nazi Germany.

After the war, Fröhlich tried a reconciliation with Gitta Alpár but she never forgave him. Reportedly this gave him a tough time in old age.

From 1936 to 1938 he lived together with actress Lída Baarová, his costar in Barcarole (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1935) and Leutnant Bobby, der Teufelskerl/A Devil of a Fellow (Georg Jacoby, 1935).

After losing Lída to Joseph Goebbels, Froelich had a quarrel with him. There is an urban legend that the quarrel culminated in a slap in the face of the powerful and feared Propaganda Minister. Froehlich was banned from playing his trade for two years (1941-1943). Lída Baarová later denied this in her memoirs.

In 1937, he rented his house in Berchtesgaden to Adolph Hitler's architect, Albert Speer. In 1941 Fröhlich remarried with Maria Hajek. Since 1941 he had to serve for the Wehrmacht, interrupted by film engagements like Der Grosse König/The Great King (Veit Harlan, 1942) starring Otto Gebühr as Prussian King Friedrich the Second.


Dutch Postcard by City-Film, no. 362.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6481/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Emelka. Publicity still for Gloria (Hans Behrendt, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7000/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Marion, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8772/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Willinger, Wien.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9021/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa / Lindner. Publicity still for Barcarole (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1936) with Lída Baarová.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 9728/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa. Hansi Knoteck and Gustav Fröhlich in Inkognito/Incognito (Richard Schneider-Edenkoben, 1936).

Scandal

Gustav Fröhlich was seldom involved in Nazi Propaganda films, a fact that helped him to establish a new film career after World War II.

He tried to escape from the standard roles of the charming gentleman by playing a doomed painter in Die Sünderin/The Sinner (Willi Forst, 1951). The effort went down in the chaos of a scandal because of the film's open treatment of several taboos such as suicide and euthanasia, plus a brief nude performance by Hildegard Knef.

He went on to play leads in light entertainment films including Haus des Lebens/House of Life (Karl Hartl, 1952) with Cornell Borchers, and Die kleine Stadt will schlafen gehen/The Little Town Will Go to Sleep (Hans H. König, 1954) with Jester Naefe.

He remained a busy actor after the war but his roles changed from leading men to supporting parts as he got older. From the 1960s on, he had only a few TV film entrances including a part in the comedy Laubenkolonie/Allotment area (Heribert Wenk, Bertold Sakmann, 1968) with Paul Dahlke.

He was more active in the theatre, a.o. for the Renaissance Theatre in Berlin and the Schauspielhaus in Zürich. In 1973 he was honoured with the Filmband in Gold, the German Film Award for Lifetime Achievements. Ten years later, he published his autobiography 'Waren das Zeiten - Mein Film-Heldenleben' (Those Were Times - My Life as a Film Hero, 1983). His last public appearance was in 1986 when Giorgio Moroder presented his revised version of Metropolis.

From 1956 on, Gustav Fröhlich lived in Lugano, Switzerland. There he died in 1987 of a complication after surgery, at age 85. His wife Maria Hajek had passed away earlier that same year.


Bosnian postcard, no. 3787. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8383/1, 1933-1934.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3537/1, 1941-1944. Photo: M P SS.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3608/1. Photo: Adler Film.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, no. A 3703/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Quick / Ufa.


German collectors card by Lux.

Sources: Lara Goeke (The Gustav Fröhlich Fan Page), Bruce Eder (AllMovie), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (English and German), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 19 April 2024.

Metropolis (1927)

Today's film special is on the German expressionist film Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). A few years ago, my son and I saw a screening in the Castro Theatre in San Francisco of a newly restored version of this Science-Fiction epic, based on Lang’s original cut of the film. We were both mesmerised by the sheer force and beauty of this silent classic. Everyone should see this film! At the time of the premiere in 1927, Ross Verlag made a series of sepia postcards for Metropolis.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/1. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) with Brigitte Helm as the good Maria. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/2. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Gustav Fröhlich and Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/3. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Gustav Fröhlich in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71-4. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Collection: Amsterdam EYE Filmmuseum.

The first Science Fiction feature

The screenplay for Metropolis was written by Fritz Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It would become the first feature-length film of the science fiction genre. Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia. Wealthy industrialists rule the vast city of Metropolis from high-rise tower complexes, while a lower class of underground-dwelling workers toil constantly to operate the machines that provide its power.

The Master of Metropolis is the ruthless Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), whose son Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) idles away his time in a pleasure garden with the other children of the rich.

Freder is interrupted by the arrival of a young woman named Maria (Brigitte Helm), who has brought a group of workers' children to see the privileged lifestyle led by the rich. Maria and the children are quickly ushered away, but Freder is fascinated by Maria and descends to the workers' city in an attempt to find her.

Metropolis follows the attempts of Freder and Maria to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes of their city. One of the highlights of the film is the spectacular explosion of a huge machine in the machine rooms, which causes several injuries and deaths.

Another highlight is the creation scene of the Maschinenmensch (Machine-Human), a false Maria, which must ruin Maria's reputation among the workers. The false Maria (also Brigitte Helm) unleashes chaos throughout Metropolis, driving men to murder out of lust for her and stirring dissent amongst the workers.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/5. Photo: Ufa Parufamet. Brigitte Helm, Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Alfred Abel in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 71/6. Photo: Parufamet / Ufa. Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1926). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/10. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) with Gustav Fröhlich and Margarete Lanner. Collection: Didier Hanson.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 71/12. Photo: Ufa / Parufamet. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) with Brigitte Helm as the false Maria. Collection: Didier Hanson.

The most expensive film

Metropolis was filmed in 1925, at a cost of approximately five million Reichsmarks. Thus, it was the most expensive film ever released up to that point. The two leading actors in the film were unknowns: nineteen-year-old Brigitte Helm had no previous film experience.

Gustav Fröhlich had only played secondary roles before landing his breakthrough role as Freder Fredersen. The part came about by chance. Fröhlich was only scheduled to play one of the workmen but four weeks after the beginning he was discovered on the set by Thea von Harbou. Fritz Lang immediately cast him in the lead because of his striking good looks.

Two new stars were born, but the film itself was met with a mixed response upon its initial release. Many critics praised its technical achievements and social metaphors while others derided its 'simplistic and naïve' presentation.

Because of its long running time and the inclusion of footage which censors found questionable, Metropolis was cut substantially after its German premiere: large portions of the film were lost over the subsequent decades.

Numerous attempts have been made to restore the film since the 1970s-80s. In 2001, the film was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, the first film thus distinguished. In 2008, a damaged print of Lang’s original cut of the film was found in a museum in Argentina. After a long restoration process, the film was 95% restored and shown in a limited theatrical re-release in 2010.


Swiss postcard by Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55468. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinemathèque française, Paris. Caption: Fritz Lang during the shooting of Metropolis, 1926.


Swiss postcard by Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55459. Photo: Horst von Harbou, 1926 / Collection de la Cinemathèque française, Paris. Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


Swiss postcard by Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne / News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55458. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinemathèque française, Paris. Caption: Fritz Lang during the shooting of Metropolis, 1926.


German press photo by the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek for the exhibition 'Kino * Movie * Cinema' (1995) in Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin. Design: Erich Kettelhut. Set design for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55461. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinémathèque française, Paris. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 55463. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinémathèque française, Paris. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / CVB Publishers, no. 56536. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinémathèque Suisse.Gustav Fröhlich as Freder in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Freder, the privileged son of the master of Metropolis, appears to be crucified on a clock as he tries to stop it.


Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 56538. Photo: Horst von Harbou / Collection de la Cinémathèque française, Paris. Publicity still for Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.