Ross Verlag, Part 21: Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film (5)

In 2025, EFSP will continue its grand Ross Verlag Tribute. In the fifth post on 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', we focus on the Weimar studios like the glass house of the pioneering Eiko film and on what happened on and behind the sets. We love theses little-known pictures of the gigantic forest set for Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen (1924), the groundbreaking 'entfesselte kamera' (unchained camera) as used for F.W. Murnau's Der letzte Mann (1924) and the model for Leni Riefenstahl's Der heilige berg (1926). Ross Verlag published the collector card series in the 1930s for the 'Cigaretten-Bilderdienst' in Altona-Bahrenfeld.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 129. Photo: Phoebus-Film. Luciano Albertini in Der Mann auf dem Kometen/The Man on the Comet (Alfred Halm, 1925).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 130, group 40. Photo: Ufa. Leni Riefenstahl in Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü//The White Hell of Piz Palü (Arnold Fanck, G. W. Pabst, 1929).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no, 131, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit/Ways to Strength and Beauty (Nicholas Kaufmann, Wilhelm Prager, 1925). Capture: Morgen (Morning).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 134. Photo: Ufa. Max Schreck in the first German Horror film, Nosferatu (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1922).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 134. Photo: Ufa. Paul Wegener and Lyda Salmonova in Der verlorene Schatten/The Lost Shadow (Rochus Gliese, 1921).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 135, group 43. Photo: Terra Film. Anita Dorris and Paul Wegener in Svengali (Gennaro Righelli, 1927).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 138, group 40. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch, Gerda Maurus and Gustl Stark-Gstettenbauer in Frau im Mond/Woman in the Moon (Fritz Lang, 1929).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 139, group 43. Photo: Eiko. Caption: The Old Glass House of the Eiko Film Studio.


GGerman collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 140. Photo: Ufa. Small set for a society drama in the old glass house of the Eiko Film studio.

German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 143, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Heinrich George and Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1926). Caption: Heinrich George plays the scene.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 146, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Ungarische Rhapsodie/Hungarian Rhapsody (Hanns Schwarz, 1928). Caption: Harvest on a giant estate in Hungary as a backdrop for the film Hungarian Rhapsody.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 149. Photo: Union-Messter-Film. Caption: Set for Anna Boleyn, a tournament set is built at the Tempelhof studio.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 150, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Set for Anna Boleyn (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920). Caption: And as it later appeared in the film.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 151, group 40. Photo: Ufa. Paul Richter in Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (Fritz Lang, 1924). Caption: The artistic studio forest in the film Nibelungen. Paul Richter as Siegfried.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 153, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Caption: Model for the film Der heilige Berg/The Holy Mountain (Arnold Fanck, 1926).


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 158, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Caption: Lighting of a small studio scene.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 160, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Emil Jannings during the shooting of Der letzte Mann/The Last Laugh (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1924). Caption: The Last Laugh is filmed, with a fixed camera.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 161. Photo: Ufa. Caption: The unchained camera on rails.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 162, group 43. Photo: Ufa. Caption: The unchained camera on the chassis.


German collector card by Ross Verlag in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film', no. 164, group 40. Photo: Ufa. Hermann Thimig and Ossi Oswalda in Die Puppe/The Doll (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919). Caption: From the film Die Puppe/The Doll. Trick shot. Ossi Oswalda appears in Hermann Thimig's dream.

Our Ross Verlag Tribute will be continued next week.