Die Puppe (1919)

Ernst Lubitsch's Die Puppe/The Doll (1919) is a romantic fantasy, starring Ossi Oswalda. This charming film is loosely based on the short story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, which also inspired the ballet Coppélia. The great charm of Die Puppe is its mood of fairy-tale unreality.


German collectors card by Ross Verlag in the series Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Stumme Film, picture no. 117, group 39. Photo: Union. Publicity still for Die Puppe/The Doll (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919). Caption: With Die Puppe/The Doll, Lubitsch created a completely new type of comedy for the screen.


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


Ernst Lubitsch and Ossi Oswalda. German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 337/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Zander & Labisch.

A special service for bachelors, widowers and misogynists

In the opening shot of Die Puppe/The Doll, Ernst Lubitsch sets up a doll's house against a stylised backdrop. A close-up of this model then dissolves into a full-sized version of the same stylised setting, from which emerge actors dressed as dolls. From this point onward, the entire film is staged on highly stylised sets.

The old Baron von Chanterelle (Max Kronert) has no family except for his gormless nephew Lancelot (Hermann Thimig). He wants to preserve his family line, so he forces Lancelot to choose one of the village maidens to wed.

Lancelot flees to a monastery to escape the forty eager maidens. The Baron offers his nephew a dowry of 300,000 francs to get married. But Lancelot is afraid of women.

The prior (Jacob Tiedtke) shows him an advertisement from the doll-maker Hilarius (Victor Janson), who offers a special service 'for bachelors, widowers and misogynists': a life-size clockwork girl! Lancelot decides to marry the mechanical bride, collect the dowry, then stash the doll in the attic.

Hilarius has just finished making a replica of his pretty daughter Ossi (Ossi Oswalda). The clockwork girl has a control panel on her back and a crank to wind her up.

The doll-maker's young apprentice (Gerhard Ritterband) accidentally breaks the arm of the doll and convinces the real Ossi to mimic the doll. Lancelot buys her, thinking she is a doll, and takes her back to the monastery, where they are wed.

Ernst Lubitsch once wrote to his biographer Herman G. Weinberg that he considered Die Puppe and Die Austernprinzessin/The Oyster Princess (1919) as his most outstanding comedies produced in Germany before he departed for Hollywood to make Rosita (1923).

The great charm of Die Puppe is its mood of fairy-tale unreality. The coachman's horses are played by men in pantomime-horse costumes. A cat and a rooster are played by cut-out figures. The moon has a human face.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 635/3 1919-1924. Photo: Union. Publicity still for Die Puppe/The Doll (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) with Ossi Oswalda


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 635/4 1919-1924. Photo: Union. Publicity still for Die Puppe/The Doll (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) with Ossi Oswalda and Hermann Thimig.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 635/5 1919-1924. Photo: Union. Publicity still for Die Puppe/The Doll (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) with Ossi Oswalda and Hermann Thimig.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 635/6. Photo: Union. Ossi Oswalda in Die Puppe/The Doll (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919).

Sources:  Will Gilbert (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Auf Probe gestellt (1918)

Another popular film with sturdy and blonde German diva Henny Porten (1890-1960) was the silent comedy Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918). Behind the camera were several talented artists working who would become very important for the Weimar cinema.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/7. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten and Hermann Thimig.

Put to the marriage test

In Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918), Henny Porten portrays the the young and impoverished widower Countess Marlene von Steinitz.

At the instance of her brother-in-law, Count Steinitz (Heinrich Schroth), she plans to marry the stupid but extremely rich Count Adolar von Warowingen (Reinhold Schünzel), which would liberate her from all her problems at once.

She asks Count Steinitz a delay of eight days and travels to the city to find a solution and enjoy her free life one last time. At an artists party she meets painter Frank Merwin (Hermann Thimig), seduces him and manages to invite the handsome young man to her castle.

When he awakes from his dream, he is treated like a famous personality by all bystanders. Marlene pretends to be his bride, putting him to the test to see if he is any good as husband.

Though Merwin stands the test poorly, and he is sent back to his shabby room, the Countess decides to have him, leaving Count Adolar with a basket as gift, and betrothing Frank in the city.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/1. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/2. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/3. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten and Reinhold Schünzel.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/4. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten.

The talent behind Auf Probe gestellt

The script of Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test was written by Robert Wiene, the future director of the classic silent horror film Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari/The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Ludwig Kainer had designed the sets for the film. Kainer designed the sets of all the late 1910s films with Porten and director Rudolf Biebrach.

The camera work was done by famous cinematographer and future director Karl Freund. He had shot many of the late 1910s films with Porten and directed by Biebrach. The following year, in 1919, Freund would become the close collaborator of director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau.

Auf Probe gestellt premiered on 15 March 1918 at the Mozartsaal cinema in the heart of Berlin.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/5. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/8. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918) with Henny Porten and Hermann Thimig.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 520/10. Photo: Messter Film, Berlin. Publicity still for Auf Probe gestellt/Put to the test (Rudolf Biebrach, 1918).

Sources: Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Hermann Thimig

Austrian film and stage actor and director Hermann Thimig (1890-1982) made 99 films during six decades. He was often cast as a reserved character. He was either shy, loveable or dreamy - like a child who looks with big eyes at the world around him.


German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm, no. 9544. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 6414. Photo: Kiba Verleih / Felton-Film.

Shy, Loveable or Dreamy

 
Hermann Friedrich August Thimig (sometimes written as Thiemig) was born in a dynasty of famous actors in Wien (Vienna), Austria-Hungary (now Austria), in 1890.

His father was the actor and director Hugo Thimig, who later became the manager of the Burgtheater in Vienna. His mother Fanny Thimig as well as both his sister Helen Thimig and his brother Hans Thimig were also actors. They often worked together on stage and in films.

Hermann started his professional career in 1910 at the Hoftheater (Court Theater) in Meiningen till the First World War interfered. In 1915 he could leave the army for medical reasons and went to Berlin to play at the Schauspielhaus and the Volksbühne (People's Stage).

A change in the Max Reinhardt Ensemble at the Deutschen Theater in 1916 gave Thimig his breakthrough.

In the same year he also made his film debut in the drama Die Gräfin Heyers/Countess Heyers (William Wauer, 1916). Then he was the partner of Ossi Oswalda in the comedy Ossis Tagebuch/Ossi's Diary (Ernst Lubitsch, 1917), and of Henny Porten in Auf Probe gestellt/Being Tested (Rudolf Briebach, 1918).

He was often cast as reserved characters. He was either shy, loveable or dreamy - like a child who looks with big eyes at the world around him.


Dutch postcard by Remaco-Film, no. 229. Hermann Thimig and Felix Bressart in Die Privatsekretärin/The Private Secretary (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931).


Dutch postcard by JosPe, no. 336. Photo: City Film. Publicity still from Die Privatsekretärin/The Private Secretary (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931) with Renate Müller.


Dutch postcard, no. 335. Photo: City Film.

Ernst Lubitsch

In the following years Hermann Thimig acted successfully in films as Moral und Sinnlichkeit/Morals and Sensuality (Georg Jacoby, 1919) with Erika Glässner, Die Brüder Karamasoff/The Brothers Karamasov (Carl Froelich, 1920) starring Fritz Kortner and Emil Jannings, and the comedy Kleider machen Leute/Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds (Hans Steinhoff, 1921) opposite his brother Hans Thimig.

Hermann appeared in three more comedies by Ernst Lubitsch: the comic fantasy Die Puppe/The Doll (1919) starring Ossi Oswalda, Die Bergkatze/The Mountain Cat (1921) with Pola Negri and Thimig as a timid bandit, and Die Flamme/The Flame (1923) with Negri and Alfred Abel.

Lubitsch knew how to integrate Thimig's original talent for the comic lover persona into his own satiric comedy style.

Thimig was also performing in the theatre. In 1924 he returned to Vienna to perform till 1932 at the Theater in der Josefstadt under the direction of Max Reinhardt. His greatest stage success was his role in 1924 as Truffaldino in Carlo Goldoni’s play Der Diener zweier Herren/The Servant of Two Gentlemen, directed by Max Reinhardt.

In 1918 he had his first engagement as a director at the Theater des Westens.

Successful silent films in which Thimig performed were Das Mädel mit der Maske/The Girl With the Mask (Victor Janson, 1922) again opposite Oswalda, the Cinderella variation Der verlorene Schuh/The Lost Shoe (Ludwig Berger, 1923) with Helga Thomas, and the Kammerspiel film Napoleon auf St. Helena/Napoleon at St. Helena (Lupu Pick, 1923) starring Werner Krauss.


Dutch postcard. Photo: City Film. Publicity still with Hermann Thimig and Anny Ondra in Kiki (Carl Lamac, 1932).


 Dutch postcard by distributor City-Film. Photo: Hermann Thimig and Magda Schneider in Glück über Nacht/Happiness Over Night (Max Neufeld, 1932). Mark the modern furniture and set design.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 195/1. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Viktor und Viktoria/Viktor and Viktoria (Reinhold Schünzel, 1933) with Hermann Thimig and Renate Müller.

Operettas and Comedies

When the sound film was introduced Hermann Thimig decided to focus on film operettas and comedies.

To his well-known films of the this period belong Die Drei-Groschen-Oper/The 3 Penny Opera (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1931) based on the text by Bertholt Brecht, and Mein Leopold/My Leopold ( Hans Steinhoff, 1931) starring Harald Paulsen.

He appeared again opposite Anny Ondra in the comedies Eine Nacht im Paradies/A Night in Paradise (Carl Lamac, 1932) and Kiki (Carl Lamac, 1932).

Other popular films were Kleiner Mann - was nun?/Little Man What Now (Fritz Wendhausen, 1933) with Hertha Thiele, Der Himmel auf Erden/Heaven on Earth (E. W. Emo, 1935) with Ilona Massey and Heinz Rühmann, and Der geheimnisvolle Mr. X/The Mysterious Mister X (J.A. Hübler-Kahla, 1936) with Ralph Arthur Roberts.

Critic H.T.S. wrote in 1936 in The New York Times about his the Viennese comedy Die Fahrt in die Jugend/The Trip to Youth (Carl Boese, 1935): "Hermann Thimig is excellent, as always, in the double rôle of an old Baron who goes to Vienna to be made young enough to win the hand of Cilly, star of a dancing troupe, and of his nephew, who joins the party at the estate just in time to keep them all guessing for a while. The charming Liane Haid, despite her long stage and screen experience, looks youthful enough to justify her refusal to be an 'old man's darling' and to warrant Leopold's enthusiasm for his uncle's choice."

Thimig often played with the in 1937 deceased actress Renate Müller, like in Der kleine Seitensprung/The Little Infidelity (Reinhold Schünzel, 1931), Mädchen zum Heiraten/Girls To Marry (Wilhelm Thiele, 1932) and the hugely successful Viktor und Viktoria/Victor and Victoria (Reinhold Schünzel, 1933).

Hal Erickson writes on AllMovie about the latter: "The most popular of Reinhold Schünzel's German directorial efforts, Viktor und Viktoria is a spoof of such music-hall 'male impersonators' as Vesta Tilley. Unable to get a show-business job, would-be singer Renate Müller is urged by her somewhat epicene friend Hermann Thimig to adopt a brand-new stage persona. Our heroine re-invents herself as a cross-dressing entertainer, posing as a man (Viktor) who poses as a woman (Viktoria)! The fun begins when Muller falls in love with Adolf Wohlbrück, who can't quite understand why he's so attractive to the aggressively male Viktoria. Viktor und Viktoria was remade in England by Jessie Matthews as First a Girl (1936), then of course by Blake Edwards as the 1981 Julie Andrews vehicle Victor/Victoria.'"


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6508/1, 1931-1932.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8741/1, 1933-1934. Photo: NDLS. Publicity still for Karneval und Liebe/Carnival of Love (Carl Lamac, 1934).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7383/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Aafa Film.

Older Gentleman

From 1934 on Hermann Thimig was working for the equally famous Burgtheater in Vienna, where he mainly appeared in roles as an older, distinguished gentleman or a quirky count. He played these characters also in films until the end of the war. Among those films were Johann (Robert A. Stemmle, 1943) starring Theo Lingen, and Die kluge Marianne/Smart Marianne (Hans Thimig, 1943) with Paula Wessely.

After Austria's Anschluss to Nazi-Germany, he was chosen to be a Staatsschauspieler (actor of the state) in 1938. In the final phase of World War II Adolf Hitler placed him on the Gottbegnadeten list of the most important artists, in August 1944. For this reason he didn't have to join the army and fight at the front.

After the war he continued his film career in such films as Der Prozess/The Proces (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1948) a drama about anti-Semitism with Ewald Balser, Geheimnisvolle Tiefe/Mysterious Shadows (G.W. Pabst, 1949) staring Paul Hubschmid, and the musical comedy Abenteuer im Schloss/Adventures in the Castle (Rudolf Steinboeck, 1952).

His final appearance for the cameras was in the TV comedy Der Arzt wider Willen/Doctor Against His Will (Hans Hollmann, 1967) with Paul Dahlke. In 1965 Thimig became a honorary member of the Burgtheater and in 1969 he was awarded with the Filmband in Gold for long and outstanding achievements in the German cinema.

Hermann Thimig died in 1982 in Vienna.

He was married twice. First with actress Hanna Wisser and in second marriage with actress Vilma Degischer. He had three daughters: from his first marriage Christine (1923), and from his second marriage Hedwig (1939) and Johanna (1943), who also became actors.


Scene from Viktor und Viktoria/Victor and Victoria (1933). Source: atqui (YouTube).


Hermann Thimig and Lizzi Holzschuh sing So verliebt (So much in love) in Der Himmel auf Erden/Heaven on Earth (1935). Source: BD 130 (YouTube).

Sources: Stephanie D'Heil (Steffi-line) (German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), H.T.S. (New York Times), Filmportal.de, IMDb and Wikipedia.