01 June 2016

Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall (1918)

Henny Porten (1890-1960) was one of the three most famous divas of the early German silent cinema. She produced many of her own films, but started her career at film pioneer Oskar Messter's studio Messter-Film. A fine example is the drama Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall/The Dynasty of von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) in which she co-starred with German actor Bruno Decarli.

Henny Porten in Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 525/2. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten.

Henny Porten in Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 525/3. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten and Heinz Burkart (right).

Henny Porten in Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 525/5. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten and Rudolf Biebrach.

Love is Bigger than Revenge


Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall/The Dynasty of von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) narrates of Magdalena von Ringwall (Henny Porten) and her brother Arpad (Kurt Vespermann), who are the last descendants of the Ringwall family.

Arpad is murdered but the culprit cannot be found. Magdalena meets a man, Vormund (Bruno Decarli), and falls in love with him, unknowing that he his Arpad's murderer. When she is finally informed, her love is bigger than her call for revenge.

Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall was produced by Messter (Film)Projektion in Berlin in a series called, Seltsame Menschen (Strange people).

The crew for the film is interesting. Robert Wiene, the director of the classic wrote the script. Cameraman was Karl Freund and the sets were designed by Jack Winter and Ludwig Kainer. Supporting actors in the cast were Frida Richard, Heinz Burkart and director Rudolf Biebrach.

Henny Porten in Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 525/6. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Kurt Vespermann and Henny Porten.

Henny Porten in Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 525/7. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918).

Henny Porten in Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 525/8. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten and Bruno Decarli.

Henny Porten in Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 525/10. Photo: Messter-Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten and Bruno Decarli.

Source: Wikipedia (German), The German Early Cinema Database, Filmportal.de and IMDb.

No comments: