Paul Hartmann

During his long career, German actor Paul Hartmann (1889-1977) made over 100 films, both in the silent and the sound period. Despite his commitment to the Nazi regime, he could continue his career quite smoothly into the 1950s and 1960s.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 411/1. Photo: Union. Paul Hartmann as Sir Henry Norris in Anna Boleyn (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920).


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 9303. Photo: Zander & Labisch. Publicity still for Volk in Not/People in Need (Wolfgang Neff, 1925).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 161/2. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 161/3. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 2202. Photo: Fritz Richard. Paul Hartmann as Don Carlos in the eponymous play by Friedrich Schiller.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 2297. Photo: Fritz Richard.


German postcard by Verl. Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 3068. Photo: Atelier Oertel, Berlin.

Burgtheater

Paul Wilhelm Constantin Hartmann was born in Fürth, Germany in 1889. He was the son of Wilhelm Hartmann, the manager of a toy export company, and his wife Maria Hartmann-Betz. From 1907 on, he studied acting with Adalbert Czokke, and in 1908 he had his first engagement at the Stadtheater Zwickau. In the following years, he played at the Bellevue-Theater in Stettin, the Stadttheater Zürich, and from November 1913 at the Deutsche Theater in Berlin under the direction of the legendary Max Reinhardt.

He also started to work for the cinema. He made his film debut as a jeune premier in 1915 in Zofia - Kriegs-Irrfahrten eines Kindes/Zofia – the War Odysseys of a Child (Hubert Moest, 1915) with Ernst Pittschau and Hedda Vernon Soon followed more films like Der Trick/The Trick (Fred Sauer, 1915) with Aud Egede Nissen, Die verschleierte Dame/The Veiled Lady (Richard Oswald, 1915), Ein Blatt Papier/A Page of Paper (Joe May, 1916), and Feenhände/Hands of a Fairy (Rudolf Biebrach, 1916) with Henny Porten. He also appeared in the Harry Deebs detective Das Geheimnis der leeren Wasserflasche/The Secret of the Empty Water Bottle (Joe May, 1917) starring Harry Liedtke, Christa Hartungen (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917), and Es werde Licht!/Let There Be Light! (Richard Oswald, 1918).

That same year, he appeared in Der Trompetter von Säkkingen/The Trumpeter of Säckingen (Franz Porten, 1918), based on a popular opera (1884) by Viktor Nessler, which in turn was based on a romantic book by Joseph Victor von Scheffel, published in 1854. The story is set in Heidelberg and Säckingen during the 17th century, after the Thirty Years War. Law student and later trumpeter Werner Kirchhof falls in love with Margareta, a baron's daughter, but her mother wants to marry her to the cowardly Damian. Werner proves to be a hero and a compassionate pope makes him Marquis of Camposanto. Then, after five years of separation, nothing can prevent a happy ending.

Hartmann's stage and film career suffered a short break when he was called into the military service in 1917. After that, he continued his film career smoothly. In the 1920s he played romantic and melancholic characters in films like Katharina die Grosse/Catherine the Great (Reinhold Schünzel, 1920) with Lucie Höflich, Anna Boleyn/Anne Boleyn (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) with Emil Jannings and Henny Porten, and Schloss Vogelöd/The Haunted Castle (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1921) with Olga Tschechova.

He also appeared inDer Roman der Christine von Herre (Ludwig Berger, 1921) with Heinrich George, Luise Millerin (Carl Froelich, 1922) with Lil Dagover, Alt-Heidelberg/The Student Prince (Hans Behrendt, 1923) with Eva May, Zur Chronik von Grieshuus/The Chronicles of the Gray House (Arthur von Gerlach, 1925) and the silent film operetta Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight Of The Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925) with Jaque Catelain. In 1924 he worked at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Wien (Vienna), and in 1925 he moved over to the Burgtheater. From 1927 he turned away from the film business and devoted his career exclusively to the Burgtheater.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 508/2. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann in Höhenluft (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 509/2. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann in Die Claudi vom Geiserhof (Rudolf Biebrach, 1917).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Series Film-Sterne, no. 534/3. Photo: Eiko-Film. Paul Hartmann and Leonore Oppermann in Der Trompeter von Säkkingen (Franz Porten, 1918). The outdoor scenes of the film were shot by Porten at Säckingen, using some 200 local extras.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Series Film-Sterne, no. 534/5. Photo: Eiko-Film. Paul Hartmann and Leonore Oppermann in Der Trompeter von Säkkingen (Franz Porten, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Series Film-Sterne, no. 535/5. Photo: Eiko-Film. Publicity still for Der Trompeter von Säkkingen (Franz Porten, 1918), starring Paul Hartmann.


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


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 640/3. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann in the German silent film Die goldene Krone (Alfred Halm, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 645/1. Photo: Union Film. Henny Porten (Anna Boleyn) and Paul Hartmann (Sir Henry Norrris) in the German silent film Anna Boleyn (1920) by Ernst Lubitsch. After many years in France, Anna Boleyn returns to England. At the house of her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, she meets Sir Henry Norris, her old flame, who is now in the service of King Henry VIII.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 3069. Photo: Atelier Oertel, Berlin. Perhaps a card for the silent film Katharina die Grösse (Reinhold Schünzel, 1920), in which Hartmann played Alexander Manonow opposite Lucie Englisch as the famous czarina Catherine the Great.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 2200. Photo: B.J.G. Paul Hartmann as Don Carlos in the play 'Don Carlos' by Friedrich Schiller.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 8751. Photo: Zander & Labisch. Gertrud Hackelberg as Thekla and Paul Hartmann as Max Piccolomini in the play 'Wallensteins Tod', performed in 1916 at the Volksbühne in Berlin. The play 'Wallenstein's Tod' (Wallenstein's Death, 1799) was the third part of Friedrich Schiller's 'Wallenstein-Trilogie'. In this drama Schiller addresses the decline of the famous general Albrecht von Wallenstein, basing it loosely on actual historical events during the Thirty Years' War.


German postcard by Wellington. Photo: Eilinger, Salzburg. Rosamond Pinchot as Hippolyta and Paul Hartmann as Theseus in 'Ein Sommernachtstraum' (A Midsummernight's Dream) by William Shakespeare. This photo was taken for the stage production at the Salzburger Festspiele in 1927, directed by Max Reinhardt.

Tough and adamant heroes

With the introduction of the sound film, Paul Hartmann returned to the cinema. He played tough and adamant heroes, like the constructor and captain next to Hans Albers in the deluxe German/British production F.P.1 antwortet nicht/F.P.1 Doesn't Answer (Karl Hartl, 1932), or as the self-sacrificing engineer in Der Tunnel/The Tunnel (Kurt aka Curtis Bernhardt, 1933). Other popular films were Der Läufer von Marathon/The Marathon Runner (Ewald André Dupont, 1933), Salon Dora Green/The House of Dora Green (Henrik Galeen, 1933) with Alfred Abel, and Mazurka (Willi Forst, 1935) with Pola Negri.

From 1935 on he was a company member of the Preußischen Staatstheater in Berlin, where he stayed till the end of WW II. In 1934 he was named 'Staatsschauspieler' (Stage Artist of the State), and from May 1937 he was part of the UFA Art Committee. He also appeared in such propaganda films as Pour le mérite (Karl Ritter, 1938), the biography Bismarck (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1940) and Ich klage an/I Accuse (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1941). In April 1942 he became the president of the Reichstheaterkammer.

His commitment to the Nazi regime did not really harm his career or his popularity after the war. After being banned from the theatre in 1945 Hartmann could only return to the stage in 1948 as Faust in a production of the Goethe play in Bonn. During the 1950s he was engaged by the Schauspielhaus in Düsseldorf, the Theater am Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, and the Burgtheater in Vienna. He also returned to the cinema. The ageing star now mainly worked as a character actor in supporting roles, such as in Die Dame in Schwarz/The Lady in Black (Erich Engels, 1951) with Mady Rahl, Der grosse Zapfenstreich/The Sergeant's Daughter (George Hurdalek, 1953) with Johanna Matz, and Regina Amstetten (Kurt Neumann, 1954).

Later followed parts in Die Barrings/The Barrings (Rolf Thiele, 1955) with Dieter Borsche and Nadja Tiller, Der Fuchs von Paris/The Fox of Paris (Paul May, 1957), Buddenbrooks (Alfred Weidenmann, 1959), and Rosen für den Staatsanwalt/Roses for the Prosecutor (Wolfgang Staudte, 1959). He finished his film career in the 1960s with productions like the TV film Hermann und Dorothea (Ludwig Berger, 1961), the Heimatfilm Waldrausch (Paul May, 1962), and the international war film The Longest Day (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, 1962), an all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck.

Hartmann's last appearance was in the TV film Demetrius (Ludwig Berger, Heribert Wenk, 1969). In 1964 he was awarded the Filmband in Gold for his continuing and outstanding contributions to the German Film. Paul Hartmann died in 1977 in München (Munich). He was married twice. During WWI he had married a Slavic ballet dancer, who died in 1952. In 1955 he married the painter Elfriede Lieberun.


German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 8766. Photo: Becker & Maass.


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


German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, picture no. 96, group 43. Photo: Decla-Film. Paul Hartmann and Lil Dagover in Luise Millerin (Carl Froelich, 1922).


German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, picture no, 113, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der Evangelimann/The evangelist (Holger-Madsen, 1924). Caption: "Paul Hartmann in der verfilmten Oper 'Der Evangelimann' von Wilhelm Kienzl". (Paul Hartmann in the filmed Opera 'The Evangelist' by Wilhelm Kienzl.)


German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., A.G. Paul Hartmann in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 25/7. Photo: Ufa. Lil Dagover and Paul Hartmann in the German silent film Zur Chronik von Grieshuus/The Chronicles of the Gray House (Arthur von Gerlach, 1925).


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 689. Photo: Hugo Engel Filmproduktion. Publicity still for Die Familie ohne Moral/The family with no morals (Max Neufeld, 1927).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7518/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Sybille Schmitz and Paul Hartmann in F.P.1 antwortet nicht/F.P.1 Doesn't Answer (Karl Hartl, 1932).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 132, group 44. Photo: Bayerische Filmges. / Ross Verlag. Paul Hartmann in Der Tunnel/The Tunnel (Kurt Bernhardt, 1931).


German postcard by Cozy Verlag, Salzburg. Photo: Friedrich Franz Bauer. Publicity still for the stage production 'Jedermann', performed at the Salzburger Festspiele.


German collectors card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Majestic-Film / Tobis.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3255/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis / Foto Dähn.


German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: Tobis / Klagemann.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Hal Erickson (AllMovie - page now defunct), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 20 August 2024.

Der Rosenkavalier (1925)

French actors Huguette Duflos and Jaque Catelain, and German actors Paul Hartmann and Michael Bohnen played the leads in the Austrian silent film Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925), adapted from the comic opera by Richard Strauss with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 824. Photo: Isabey, Paris. Jaque Catelain in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 47/1. Photo: Bruckmann-Verleih / Robert Wiene-Produktion der Pan-Film A.-G., Vienna. Jaque Catelain and Elli Felicie Berger in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 47/2. Photo: Bruckmann-Verleih / Robert Wiene-Produktion der Pan-Film A.-G., Vienna. Huguette Duflos and Jaque Catelain in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Amorous twists and turns

The Austrian silent film Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (1925) was based on the opera of the same name by Richard Strauss (music) and Hugo von Hofmannsthal (libretto). Robert Wiene, creator of the expressionistic masterpiece Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari/The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), was the director.

Hugo von Hofmannsthal considerably changed the storyline of the opera for the film version of Der Rosenkavalier (1925). The film included for instance a final scene in the formal gardens behind the Field Marshal's residence.

The story is situated at the Austrian court. While the marshal of Werdenberg (Paul Hartmann) is becoming famous in the war, his wife, Countess Maria Theresia von Werdenberg (Huguette Duflos), consoles herself in the arms of the young Count Octavian (Jaque Catelain) and tries to arrange the love affairs of her nephew, Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau (Michael Bohnen), by presenting him to young Sophie (Ellie Felicie Berger).

This baron is taken with her and the 'Marschallin' proposes Octavian to be Ochs’ matchmaker (Rosenkavalier, the Knight of the Rose) in order to present the traditional silver rose to his fiancée. But when they meet, Octavian and Sophie immediately fall in love with each other...

Analogous to the opera’s three acts, the film’s narrative consists of three main units. These are interspersed with war scenes portraying the world as lived in by the Marshall, who does not appear in the opera. In the film, his character takes on an active role, resolving the amorous twists and turns at the end of the film which, in the opera, are left unresolved.

Filming began on 18 June 1925 at the famous Schloßtheater Schönbrunn in Vienn, which lasted until the end of August after several weather-related interruptions. Other locations were in Vienna, as well as outside, in Lower Austria. Indoor shots were shot in the film studio of Listo-Film. The numerous and elaborate rococo costumes were created by the Wiener Werkstätte für dekorierte Kunst Ges.m.b.H. and the wigs of Ludwig Rudolf.

The production fell temporally in the middle of the worst crisis of the Austrian silent cinema, which at this time endured heavy competition by the cheaply made but qualitative US productions. Numerous domestic production companies went bankrupt at that time. The Pan-Film was one of the few major companies that continued to make films.


Vintage postcard. Huguette Duflos and Jaque Catelain in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).


German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., A.G. Paul Hartmann in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

A formidable narrative power

Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1926) premiered on 10 January 1926 at the Dresden Semperoper (Semper Opera House), which had also hosted the actual opera's premiere 15 years earlier. Richard Strauss' score included music not only from the opera but also sections of his Couperin Suite and several marches and dances from Strauss’ repertoire. Strauss also composed new ones.

During the film's performances, the music was provided by an orchestra. At the premiere, this was conducted by Richard Strauss himself. The film's projection speed had to be adjusted by the projector in order to fit the speed of the orchestra. This task fell to the film's cameraman, Hans Androschin, because only he knew the exact length of each scene and cut.

In later performances, a special recording, also conducted by Strauss, provided the music. Richard Strauss conducted the Vienna and London premieres and recorded excerpts from the film score on the Victrola label at that time. A planned tour of the United States in 1927 by Strauss and his orchestra failed to go ahead because of the emergence of sound films.

Although Pan-film landed her greatest artistic success with this film, the company also went broke due to the enormous costs of this production. For a long time, the film and the accompanying score for large orchestra had not been performed due to synchronisation problems and the loss of the last reel.

After the restoration of the film in 2006 and the reconstruction of the missing final sequence of the film by the Filmarchiv Austria, Der Rosenkavalier was re-released for a television broadcast by German broadcaster ZDF and Arte on 6 September 2006 at the site of its premiere, the Semperoper in Dresden. The musical accompaniment was performed by the Saxon Staatskapelle Dresden, conducted by Frank Strobel.

Frank Strobel: "In Wiene’s film, which some consider to be too conventional, the cinematic imagery is just one element within the overall concept. The other is the music, whose interaction with the film is lending it a formidable narrative power. In the Rosenkavalier film, the typical approach to film music composition, whereby the music is written subsequent to the film and functionally adapted to it, is turned on its head: The film’s central element is the music played by the orchestra as opposed to the libretto. The music is served by the film along with its new episodes and is also consistently referred to by the choreography of the actors. This is not surprising since the film was shot after the music."


German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., A.G. Jaque Catelain, Paul Hartmann and Ellie Felicie Berger in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).


German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., A.G. Michael Bohnen, Jaque Catelain, Ellie Felicie Berger and Carl Forest in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).


German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., AG. Paul Hartmann and Huguette Duflos in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Sources: Frank Strobel, Wikipedia and IMDb.

Monika Vogelsang (1920)

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 for Henny Porten and Gustav Botz [?] in Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 633/2. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Henny Porten in Monika Vogelsang (Rudolf Biebrach, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 633/3. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for 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 for 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 for 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.

Die goldene Krone (1920)

Henny Porten, Hermann Thimig and Paul Hartmann star in the German silent film Die goldene Krone/The Golden Crown (Alfred Halm, 1920), produced by Messter-Film GmbH. Ross Verlag presented this series of seven sepia postcards with scenes from the film. None of our usual sources offered a plot of the film, but in Die Freie Deutsche Bühne of 22 August 1920, we discovered a review by acclaimed author Joseph Roth.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 640/1. Photo: Messter. Publicity still of Henny Porten in Die goldene Krone (Alfred Halm, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 640/2. Photo: Messter. Publicity still of Henny Porten in Die goldene Krone (Alfred Halm, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 640/3. Photo: Messter. Publicity still of Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann in Die goldene Krone (Alfred Halm, 1920).

Nobody is guilty, it is just fate

In Die goldene Krone/The Golden Crown (1920), Henny Porten plays Marianne, daughter of the owner of the hotel Zur goldene Krone (At the Golden Crown). She loves a duke, Franz Günther (Paul Hartmann), who has tuberculosis and is mortally ill. To prevent the bankruptcy of his hotel, Marianne's father wants her to wed Klaus (Hermann Thimig), son of rich fish trader Stöven. Klaus, who is a good sport, is prepared to compromise and accepts her affair.

But as Joseph Roth writes in Die Freie Deutsche Bühne, Marianne breaks up 'betrothal, best wishes, wedding nights' and flees Klaus to take care of the dying duke, with all her efforts. However, the duke's family arrives and Marianne has to step back, right in the night when he dies. On his deathbed the duke commissions his aide-de-camp to marry Marianne, but the latter shoots himself because of the family. Marianne returns to her father's hotel to help it rise again. There Klaus returns to her and they marry at last.

Of course there is no proof about the reliability of Roth's plot description, and his negative final judgment might have influenced the rest of the text. In his introduction Roth stressed that Olga Wohlbrück, on whose story, published in Die Berliner Woche, the film was based, was a 'Courts-Mahler mit Niveau, und grammatikalischem Deutsch'. Wohlbrück's stories were popular among middle class women, as they always treated young women as protagonists who because of class difference could not marry their beloved aristocrats. Nobody is guilty, it is just fate. It is presented with credibility and cool detachement. Meanwhile the stories give insight in life in the higher classes.

Die goldene Krone had its first night in Berlin on 6 August 1920. The film was scripted by director Alfred Halm and Hans Bennert. Sets were by Ludwig Kainer and cinematography was by Willy Gaebel.

At the end of his critique, Joseph Roth, seriously condemned the film from his left-wing perspective: "Yet, I protest that today, on 7 August 1920, less than 2 years after the revolution, the world view of Die Woche is spread from cosy family circles to the masses by means of cinema. That 'fatzery' tragically works, because Olga Wohlbrück needs to live. I protest." Roth may have been overcharging it a bit, but it is indeed ambiguous that while the Weimar Republic in 1919 stripped the German nobility of all legal privileges and immunities, the aristocracy remained such a focus within the mainstream German cinema.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 640/4. Photo: Messter. Publicity still of Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann  in Die goldene Krone (Alfred Halm, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 640/5. Photo: Messter. Publicity still of Henny Porten in Die goldene Krone (Alfred Halm, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 640/6. Photo: Messter. Publicity still of Henny Porten and Paul Hartmann  in Die goldene Krone (Alfred Halm, 1920).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 640/7. Photo: Messter. Publicity still of Henny Porten and Hermann Thimig in Die goldene Krone (Alfred Halm, 1920).

Sources: Joseph Roth (Die Freie Deutsche Bühne - German), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia, and IMDb.