02 March 2017

Die Tochter des Gräfin Stachowska (1917)

During the First World War, the German government stimulated the film industry and the star system in Germany by subsidising film postcards. It worked. One of the most popular series was the Film Sterne series by publisher Rotophot. A typical example is the set of postcards made for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska/The Daughter of Countess Stachowksa (Otto Rippert, 1917), produced by the great Erich Pommer for the Decla studio. The film's star is Hella Moja.

Hella Moja in Die Tochter des Gräfin Stachowska (1917)
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/1. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Hella Moja.

Hella Moja in Die Tochter des Gräfin Stachowska (1917)
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/2. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Hella Moja.

A poor Polish aristocrat


During the First World War and the following years Hella Moja (1890-1951) was one of the most popular stars of the German silent cinema. There was even a Hella Moja serial and in 1918 she founded her own film company.

In Die Tochter des Gräfin Stachowska/The Daughter of Countess Stachowksa (Otto Rippert, 1917) Moja plays a poor Polish aristocrat, who marries a rich man. She loves another man, but eventually returns to the other.

Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska was scripted by Paul Otto and photographed by Carl Hoffmann. The film was co-produced by Moja and legendary producer Erich Pommer. Moja's co-actors were Werner Krauss, Tony Tetzlaff, Thea Sandten, and a young Hans Albers, whose fourth film this was and his first substantial part.

Our sources differ about which film company produced the film. Filmportal.de indicates this was a Decla-Film-Gesellschaft Holz & Co., but the Murnau Stiftung claims it was produced by Moja's own film company Hella Moja Film-GmbH. We think Filmportal.de is right here. German Wikipedia writes that Moja founded her film company in 1918, and the postcards definitively show the Decla logo.

Hella Moja in Die Tochter des Gräfin Stachowska (1917)
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/3. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Hella Moja.

Hella Moja in Die Tochter des Gräfin Stachowska (1917)
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/4. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Hella Moja.

Sources: Filmportal.de, Murnau Stiftung (German), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

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