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.

Harry Liedtke

German actor Harry Liedtke (1882-1945) was the charming ladykiller of many early silent classics. Detective serials like Joe Deebs made him one of the first male stars of the German cinema.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3050. Photo: Mac Walten, Berlin.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3055. Photo: Mac Walten, Berlin.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2850. Photo: Union. Pola Negri as Carmen and Harry Liedtke as Don José in the German silent drama Carmen (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 611/1. Photo: Union Film. Ossi Oswalda and Harry Liedtke in Die Austernprinzessin (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 658/5. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Henny Porten as Porzia, Harry Liedtke as Bassanio, and Carl Ebert as Antonio in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1984. Photo: Union-Film. Erna Morena, Harry Liedtke and Magnus Stifter in Rafaela/Wer weiss? (Arsen von Cserépy, 1917).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 284/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 463/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Riess.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 482/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1691/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Deutsch-Nordische Film-Union. Harry Liedtke in Eine tolle Nacht/A Crazy Night (Richard Oswald, 1927).

Elegant Gentleman

Harry Liedtke was born in Königsberg, East Prussia (today: Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1882. He was the seventh of eleven children of an import and export merchant who dealt with linseed and hemp. After the death of his father in 1896, he grew up in an orphanage and began a qualification in the retail business.

During a visit to Berlin, Liedtke met Hans Oberländer, the artistic director of Königliches Schauspielhaus. After several acting lessons, he became a cast member at Stadttheater Freiberg, Saxony. He had some more theatre engagements, and in 1908 he went to New York for one year to play at the New German Theatre.

After his return in Germany, his career finally got ahead with engagements at the Hof- und Nationaltheater in Mannheim and the Residenz-Theater and Deutschen Theater in Berlin.

Very early he came in contact with the medium film. In 1912 he made his film debut in Zu spät/Too Late (Carl Froelich, 1912), produced by film pioneer Oskar Messter. In the following years, he personified the elegant gentleman and youthful charmer in many productions of the Messter studio, like Eva (Curt A. Stark, 1913) starring Henny Porten, and Schuldig/Guilty (Hans Oberländer, 1914) with Leopoldine Konstantin.

In 1916 he became a widely popular star as the detective Joe Deebs in short adventure films like Wie ich Detektiv wurde/How I Became Detective (Joe May, 1916), and Das Rätselhafte Inserat/The Mysterious Advertisement (Karl Gerhardt, Joe May, 1916).


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2023. Photo: Union-Film. Harry Liedtke in Eine Nacht in der Stahlkammer/A night in the vault (Felix Basch, 1917).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 627/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Union. Pola Negri and Harry Liedtke in Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 656/2. Photo: Maxim Film. Harry Liedtke as Johan Friedrich Struensee, physician and lover of the Danish queen (Henny Porten) in Struensee/Der Liebe einer Königin (Ludwig Wolff, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 659/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner Film Co. Harry Liedtke in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant Of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 56/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Zelnik Film. Lya Mara and Harry Liedtke in An der schönen blauen Donau/The Beautiful Blue Danube (Friedrich Zelnik, 1926). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, 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. 925/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 980/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder. Käthe Dorsch and Harry Liedtke in Muß die Frau Mutter werden/Paragraph 144 (Georg Jacoby, Hans Otto, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1622/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Zelnick Film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1632/1. Photo: Fox. Harry Liedtke in Madame wünscht keine Kinder (Alexander Korda, 1926).

Lubitsch

Now, famous directors wanted Harry Liedtke for their films, and he developed into one of the first male stars of German cinema.

With director Paul Leni, he made Prima Vera/Camille (1917) opposite Erna Morena, Dornröschen/The Sleeping Beauty (1917) with his wife Käthe Dorsch, and Das Rätsel von Bangalor/The Mystery of Bangalore (Paul Leni, Alexander Antalffy, 1918) with Conrad Veidt.

With Ernst Lubitsch, Liedtke celebrated great successes in the 'Fledermaus' adaptation Das fidele Gefängnis/The Merry Jail (1917) with Ossi Oswalda, Der Rodelkavalier (1918), Die Augen der Mumie Ma/The Eyes of the Mummy Ma (1918) with Emil Jannings, Das Mädel vom Ballet/The Ballet Girl(1918), Carmen (1918) with Pola Negri, Die Austernprinzessin/The Oyster Princess (1919), Madame Dubarry (1919), Sumurun/One Arabian Night (1920), and Das Weib des Pharao/The Wife of the Pharaoh (1922) with Dagny Servaes.

Other popular films were the Frank Wedekind adaptation Lulu (Alexander Antalffy, 1917) with Erna Morena, the Detective series Der Mann ohne Namen/The Man Without a Name (Georg Jacoby, 1921), the comedy Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (F.W. Murnau, 1924) starring Alfred Abel, Nanon (Hanns Schwarz, 1924) starring countess Agnes Esterhazy, and Der Feldherrnhügel(1926) with Olga Tschechova.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 91/1. Photo: Aafa. Agnes Estherhazy​ and Harry Liedtke in Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1719/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Arthur Ziehm, Berlin. Conrad Veidt and Harry Liedtke in Kreuzzug des Weibes/The Wife's Crusade (Martin Berger, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 2070/1, 1927-1928. Photo: National. Harry Liedtke and Lee Parry in Regine, die Tragödie einer Frau/Two Women (Erich Waschneck, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3031/1, 1928-1929. Photo: R. Grunemann, Frankfurt/Oder.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3125/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3417/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Phoebus-Film AG. Christa Tordy and Harry Liedtke in Amor auf Ski/Cupid on skis (Rolf Randolf, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3417/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Phoebus-Film. Harry Liedtke and Christa Tordy in Amor auf Ski/Cupid on skis (Rolf Randolf, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3642/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film. Harry Liedtke and Hilda Rosch in Das Spiel mit der Liebe/The Game of Love (Victor Janson, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3957/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film. Harry Liedtke in Der Faschingsprinz/The carnival prince (Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1928).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4361/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin. Marianne Winkelstern and Harry Liedtke in Die Zirkusprinzessin/The Circus Princess (Victor Janson, 1929).

Silent operettas

In the second half of the 1920s, Harry Liedtke appeared in many silent operettas such as Liebe und Trompetenblasen/Love and Trumpet Playing (Richard Eichberg, 1925) with Lilian Harvey, Die Försterchristel/The Bohemian Dancer (Friedrich Zelnik, 1926) with Lya Mara, and Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame/I Kiss Your Hand Madame (Robert Land, 1929) with Marlene Dietrich.

When the sound film arrived Liedtke’s career slackened off. His voice turned out to be unsuitable. He got supporting roles in such films as Preußische Liebesgeschichte/A Prussian Love Story (Paul Martin, 1938) with Willy Fritsch, and Quax, der Bruchpilot/Quax, the Crashing Pilot (Kurt Hoffmann, 1941), but leading roles were leftover more rarely.

He changed inevitably from a ladykiller to a graying gentleman. With his leading role in the comedy Sophienlund (Heinz Rühmann, 1942) he could prove his acting skills. His final role was the lead in Das Konzert/The Concert (Paul Verhoeven, 1944).

During the invasion of the Red Army in April 1945, Harry Liedtke and his third wife, actress Christa Tordy were murdered by Soviet soldiers in their own house in Bad Saarow-Pieskow. One of the Russians smashed a bottle over Liedtke's head when he tried to save his wife from being raped.

Harry Liedtke first had been married to Hanne Schutt. From 1920 till 1928, Liedtke was married to the actress Käthe Dorsch.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 981/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 981/3, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1280/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1674/3, 1927-1928.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1812/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3181/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3592/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4189/3, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5273/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Guldenberg, Berlin.


German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin, no. A 3775/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Terra.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Wikipedia (German), Filmportal.de, and IMDb. This post was last updated on 8 July 2021.

Der Kaufmann von Venedig (1923)

Henny Porten and Harry Liedtke are two of the three stars of the German film Der Kaufmann von Venedig (Peter Paul Felner, 1923). It was a silent adaptation of the classic stage play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. But where is Shylock in this adaptation? Ross Verlag made three sepia-tinted postcard series for the film, no. 658, 659 and 661. Many of the beautiful photos were shot by Atelier Rembrandt. Under this name, the photographers Else and Alfred Cohn created the stills for stage productions and some classic German silent films of the 1910s and 1920s.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 659/1, 1923-1924. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Henny Porten as Porzia (Portia) in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant Of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 659/2. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner Film Co. Harry Liedtke as Bassanio in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant Of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 659/3. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Lia Eibenschütz as Jessica in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 659/4. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Ferdinand von Alten as the Prince of Aragon in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 661/1. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Henny Porten in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 661/2. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Henny Porten in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).

Where is Shylock?

Sturdy and blond Henny Porten (1890-1960) was one of Germany's most important and popular film actresses of the silent cinema. Harry Liedtke (1882-1945) was the charming ladykiller of many early silent classics. Detective serials like Joe Deebs made him one of the first male stars of the German cinema.

The two met in Der Kaufmann von Venedig (Peter Paul Felner, 1923), a free silent film adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. It was released in the United States in 1926 as The Jew of Mestri. The film was made on location in Venice, with scenes and characters added which were not in the original play. Directors of photography were Axel Graatkjær and the future Hollywood director Rudolph Maté. The only surviving copy of the film is an English one which is two reels shorter than the German version.

Porten plays the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia (Porzia in the film) of Belmont and Liedtke her noble but poor admirer Bassanio. Carl Ebert plays Bassanio's friend Antonio, the merchant of Venice, who wants to help his friend. Other roles were for Max Schreck (Nosferatu!) as The Doge of Venice, Ferdinand von Alten as the Prince of Aragon, and Lia Eibenschütz as Portia's friend Jessica.

But where is Shylock? Where is the Jewish moneylender who offers Antonio the money for his friend, but wants a pound of his flesh if he can't repay the loan? Shylock is played by Werner Krauss, but we could not find any postcards of him (yet).

Der Kaufmann von Venedig was written, produced and directed by Peter Paul Felner. Did he a good job? At IMDb, Ferdinand Von Galitzien writes: "It is an elegant and expensive German film production that was shot on location in beautiful and decadent Venice". However, he adds: "In spite of such important literary material (...) and reputable actors, Felner's direction is ordinary and even boring. He does little more than illustrate some passages of the manuscript and then counts on the beauty of Venice to do the rest. Alas, it's not enough."

Largely forgotten today, the film has survived only in a slightly abridged English export version entitled The Jew of Mestri and has been restored by the Munich Film Museum. “The staging of the great courtroom scene, making incredibly good use of the space that the courtyard of the Doge’s Palace in Venice provided, is a brilliant achievement that can hardly be surpassed. The arrangement of the magnificent and festive scenes is also exemplary,” judged the Reichsfilmblatt in 1923.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 658/1. Photo: Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Publicity still for Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923) with Henny Porten and Lia Eibenschütz.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 658/2. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Henny Porten as Porzia and Lia Eibenschütz as Jessica in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 658/4. Photo: Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Henny Porten as Porzia/Portia and Lia Eibenschütz as Jessica in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923). The man far right is Carl Ebert (Antonio).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 658/5. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Henny Porten as Porzia, Harry Liedtke as Bassanio, and Carl Ebert as Antonio in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 658/6. Photo: Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Publicity still for Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923) with Henny Porten, Carl Ebert, and Harry Liedtke.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 658/7. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner-Film Co. Henny Porten in Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).

Sources: Ferdinand Von Galitzien (IMDb), Filmarchiv Austria, Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.