European Film Star Postcards: Ellen Richter

08 October 2021

Ellen Richter

This year’s biggest retrospective of Le giornate del Cinema Muto, the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, is dedicated to the Austrian-Jewish actress and producer Ellen Richter (1891-1969), a versatile star of Weimar cinema whose enormous popularity was international in scope. During the mid-1910s, Richter caused a sensation as a leading lady in action films. Sadly a large percentage of her films are lost and her name is today almost forgotten, but thanks to the determination of scholars Oliver Hanley and Philipp Stiasny, a number of gems have been discovered in German, Russian, Dutch, and French archives.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 766/3, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 766/4, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1017/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1199/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3360/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3874/1, 1928-1929.

Ellen Richter, Anton Pointner and Hans Brausewetter in Der Flug um den Erdball (1925)

German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der stumme Film, picture no. 66. Photo: Ellen-Richter-Film. Ellen Richter, Anton Pointner and Hans Brausewetter in Der Flug um den Erdball/The flight around the globe (Willi Wolff, 1925).

Sensation and Adventure Films

Ellen Richter was born Käthe Weiss in 1893 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria). She studied acting with Ferdinand Gregori at the Akademie für darstellende Kunst.

In 1915 she conquered European audiences with sensation and adventure films like the Joe Deebs detective film Das Gesetz der Mine/The Law of the Mine (Joe May, 1915) starring Max Landa.

She became in no time a competitor of action star Harry Piel in films like Der Ring des Schicksals/The Ring of Fate (Richard Eichberg, 1916), Der Spion/The Spy (Karl Heiland, 1917), and Der Flieger von Görz/The Aviator of Gorizia (Georg Jacoby, 1918) starring Harry Liedtke.

These films had enormous success. In 1920 Ellen Richter founded her own production company, Ellen Richter Film, together with her later husband Willi Wolff.

From then on, he directed and wrote, and she produced and acted in films tailored to her. She soon had the reputation that her films always contained an expensive excursion to exotic locations.

Italian postcard by Ed. G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 341. Photo: Ellen Richter-Film. Ellen Richter in Lola Montez, die Tänzerin des Königs (Willi Wolff, 1922).

German postcard by NPG (Neue Photographische Gesellschaft), no. 911. Photo: Anny Eberth, Berlin.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 5078. Photo: Atelier Eberth. Perhaps this photo refers to Richter's film Zigeunerweisen (Rudolf Meinert, 1918).

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 192. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 193. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin. Collection: Didier Hanson.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 194. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2199. Photo: Mac Walten, Berlin.

German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 2604. Photo: Meinert Film. Ellen Richter in Die schöne Jolan (Rudolf Meinert, 1918), scripted by Willi Wolff. The man on her right is probably Hugo Flink, Richter's co-actor in this film.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3245. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 120/1. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin. Collection: Didier Hanson. Could perhaps refer to the film Das Teehaus zu den zehn Lotosblumen (Georg Jacoby, Union 1919), with Richter in the lead.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 120/2. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 120/3. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 120/5. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard by Rotophot., no. 1651. Photo: Willinger.

The Nerveless Woman

Ellen Richter was able to hold her popularity well till the end of the 1920s. In 1923 she had married Willi Wolff.

Richter appeared in his films like Lola Montez, die Tänzerin des Königs/Lola Montez, the King's Dancer (Willi Wolff, 1922) with Georg Alexander, Der Flug um den Erdball/The Flight Around the Globe (Willi Wolff, 1925), Moral (Willi Wolff, 1928) and Die Frau ohne Nerven/The Nerveless Woman (Willi Wolff, 1929) opposite Walter Janssen.

In the 1930s Richter only played in a few films such as Die Abenteurerin von Tunis/The Adventuress of Tunis (Willi Wolff, 1931) and Das Geheimnis von Johann Orth/The Secret of Johann Orth (Willi Wolff, 1932) with Karl Ludwig Diehl, before she retired from the film business.

Her last film was the crime comedy Manolescu, der Fürst der Diebe/Manolescu, King of Thieves (Georg C. Klaren, Willi Wolff, 1933) starring Iván Petrovich.

The rise of the Nazis finished her film career. The Jewish Richter was forbidden to produce more films and was in 1938 excluded from the Reichsfilmkammer.

During the Second World War, she lived in foreign countries. After her return to Germany, she worked again in film production, but now on a small scale.

Ellen Richter died in 1969, in Düsseldorf, West Germany. Willi Wolff had passed away in 1947.