Eva (1913) and Wenn Wunden heilen (1914)

We finish our little Henny Porten tribute with one of her earliest film successes, the melodrama Eva (1913). Her husband, Curt A. Stark, directed her, and Harry Liedtke was one of her co-stars in this Messter Film production. The Spanish editor Reclam Films published a series of small collector cards for the film. We added for this post a second Reclam Film series for another little-known Messster production, Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal (Hans Oberlénder, 1913-1914) starring Alice Hechy.

Eva (1913)

Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 1 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten, Hans Marr and possibly Harry Liedtke in Eva (Curt A. Stark, 1913).


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 2 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten and Hans Marr in Eva (Curt A. Stark, 1913).


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 3 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten, Hans Marr and Hermann Seldeneck in Eva (Curt A. Stark, 1913).

The recklessness and snobbery of the aristocracy

The success of Eva (Curt Stark, 1913) provided the opportunity for Porten to have her own Henny Porten series at Messter. Until his death at the Western Front in 1916, Curt Stark directed most of Porten's films and was also her first husband. Typical for German melodrama during the Wilhelminian era, Eva criticises the recklessness and snobbery of the aristocracy, but in the end, the class conflict and age difference are too big for a happy marriage. The heroine dies in her husband's arms.

Count Düren (Hermann Seldeneck) establishes the Neue Westfälische A.G., which he names ‘Evamine’ after his daughter Eva (Henny Porten). He appoints the experienced businessman Johannes Hartwig (Hans Marr), who enjoys his full confidence and also adores his daughter Eva, to head the company. Hartwig knows how to lure future shareholders, most of whom he finds among Count Düren's circle of acquaintances or among the company's workers. While Düren is hosting a reception to mark the launch of ‘Evamine’, a disturbing telegram arrives, stating that the company has already filed for bankruptcy. Although everyone now turns on Hartwig, it is Düren who had concealed the true financial situation of this new company from him from the outset. Eva is appalled by her father's business practices and stands in solidarity with Hartwig – much to the annoyance of her fiancé, Count Elimar (Harry Liedtke), an arrogant class-conscious snob. When he expects Eva to share his attitude, she breaks off the engagement.

Hartwig feels obliged to act and uses his entire fortune to protect the shareholders from losing their entire investment. Then things take a dramatic turn. Eva's father feels dishonoured by his own irresponsible actions and shoots himself. Eva, in turn, marries Hartwig out of a sense of gratitude and duty, without loving this much older man. The couple have a daughter, whom they name Lieschen. The marriage is ill-fated, and Eva is unhappy with her unloved husband. Mother Hartwig (Frieda Richard) adds to the tension by reproaching Eva for her aristocratic origins, as a kind of counterpoint to Count Elimar. When Elimar re-enters Eva's life and claims that he still loves her, she takes this as an opportunity to leave her husband and child. With a heavy heart, her husband agrees to a divorce.

But Elimar does not want Eva back in the sense that he intends to marry her. Rather, he envisions a liaison, a love affair without any firm commitment, and therefore tries to thwart Eva's divorce from Hartwig. Then one day, another of Elimar's exes, a certain Toinette (Marie Wendt), shows up and tells Eva all about the other girls this man has seduced and then callously abandoned. Now Eva demands that her ex-fiancé marry her, as this is the only way to preserve her honour. When he refuses, Eva shoots him. Countess Düren is sentenced to three years in prison, where she is cared for by Toinette, but is still terminally ill after her release. In the end, it is once again the loyal, decent Johannes Hartwig who immediately approaches her upon her release to take her home with him. But Eva is already so exhausted that she dies with a smile on her lips, because Hartwig has forgiven her.

Eva was shot at the Messter studios in Blücherstrasse in Berlin, with cinematography by Carl Froelich. The screenplay was based on a stage play by Richard Voss. The film had its press screening at the Admiraltheater in Berlin on 22 May 1913. The next day, the public screening started. The Berlin Morgenpost wrote at the time: "However, the plot of this drama, with its powerful emotions, is particularly well suited for portrayal on the silver screen. The well-known film actress Henny Porten gave a brilliant performance as Eva. She demonstrated her complete mastery of film technique through her facial expressions. She was supported in the leading roles by Hans Marr, the excellent Ibsen actor, who still seemed somewhat out of place in the film, Frieda Richard from the Berlin Theatre, and Messrs. Liedtke and Seldeneck."


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 4 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten and Hans Marr in Eva (Curt A. Stark, 1913).



Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 5 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Possibly Marie Wendt and Harry Liedtke in Eva (Curt A. Stark, 1913).


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 6 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Henny Porten, and Frieda Richard in Eva (Curt A. Stark, 1913).

Wenn Wunden heilen (1914)

Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 1 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Alice Hechy and Charly Berger in Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal (Hans Oberländer, 1913).


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 2 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Alice Hechy, Charly Berger, Olga Engl and Hans Mierendorff in Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal (Hans Oberländer, 1913).


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 3 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Alice Hechy in Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal (Hans Oberländer, 1913).

The count, the governess and the young painter

Young German singer Alice Hechy starred as a young governess in the Messter production Wenn Wunden heilen / When wounds heal (Hans Oberländer, 1913). A year before, she had played, credited as Alice Scheel Hechy, her first film role for director Oberländer in Problematische Naturen / Problematic Natures (Hans Oberländer, 1912), also a Messter production.

In Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal, governess Hechy marries a count, played by Hans Mierendorff. As in Eva, class conflict and age difference are too big, and the couple soon divorces. The lovely Hechy then marries her once beloved painter, played by Charly Berger. Olga Engl played the snobbish mother of the count.

Though produced in 1913, Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal had its release in June 1914. Happily, the film was also released in Spain. The film title on the minicards of Reclam Film is Cuando las heridas se cicatrizan. This translates as 'When Wounds Leave Scars'. We prefer it above the German title

Although she was primarily a singer, Hechy acted in more silent films, like Das rote Pulver / The Red Powder (Joseph Delmont, 1913), Fräulein Piccolo / Miss Piccolo (Franz Hofer, 1914) with Dorrit Weixler, and Dorrits Eheglück / Dorrit’s Married Bliss (Paul Otto, 1916) with Bruno Kastner. Her most significant role in these years was that of the mechanical doll Olympia in Hoffmann's Erzählungen / Tales of Hoffmann (Richard Oswald, 1916), the early silent film adaptation of the operetta by Jacques Offenbach.

Then Hechy started a successful stage career in Berlin. First, she appeared at the Lustspielhaus (comedy house), then at the Theatre in der Kommandantenstraße, at the Neuen Theater am Zoo, and at the Theatre in der Behrenstraße. In the 1920s and early 1930s, Alice Hechy was repeatedly the star of the revues of Herman Haller. Guest performances took her to revues and operettas in Vienna.


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 4 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Alice Hechy, Olga Engl and Hans Mierendorff in Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal (Hans Oberlénder, 1913).


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 5 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Charly Berger in Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal (Hans Oberlénder, 1913).


Spanish minicard by Reclam Films, card 6 of 6. Photo: Messter Film. Alice Hechy, Charly Berger, Olga Engl and Hans Mierendorff in Wenn Wunden heilen / When Wounds Heal (Hans Oberlénder, 1913).

Sources: Filmportal, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.