Ellen Richter Film

Silent Film Drama by Adolf Gärtner. Starring Ellen Richter

As is the case every year, things get lively at the famous Nice Carnival: People travel from all over the world to join in the revelry. Wearing masks and makeup, people dance in the streets—but not all the revelers are really here for the carnival: Some use the masks merely as a disguise.

In Cairo, a quest for a coveted antiquity draws the heroine into a clandestine cult devoted to Osiris. What begins as intrigue turns perilous—abductions, conspiracies, and night-time chases through temples and tombs—until she fights to escape the sect’s grip.

Paulus van Geldern is a lawyer who has made a name for himself as a criminal defense attorney, but is notoriously short of funds due to his unbridled passion for gambling. His gambling causes problems with his marriage to Martha who is thriving.

When a travelling troupe threatens to unleash a saucy Berlin revue on the provincial town of Emilsburg, the local Morality Society, a band of sanctimonious middle-aged men, stages a protest. Meanwhile, the reigning monarch is concerned that his son and heir is not living his life to the full. Ninon d’Hauteville, a showgirl and the revue’s star attraction, takes a job as piano teacher to the young prince after her engagement at the local theatre was brought to a premature end, a result of the Morality Society’s interference. It doesn’t take long for those hypocrites to get wind of this. While on the outside they appear to be concerned with running the immoral woman out of their town, behind closed doors they rank among the new piano teacher’s most ardent pupils. However, Ninon, out to right the wrong done against her, secretly keeps a “diary” of their visits, recording each encounter on film with a hidden camera.

Deviating from the historical facts, Lola is introduced as a young Spanish “Gypsy” who becomes involuntarily embroiled in an attempt to poison the Infante of Spain (a short but splendid cameo by Heinrich George). As a result, she has to flee the country, arriving first in Italy, where she is taught how to act like a lady. Later, in Paris, she is invited to dance at the city’s prestigious opera house, becoming a worldwide sensation. She then becomes secretly involved in a revolutionary plot by Louis Napoléon, the future emperor of France. When the plot fails, Lola is once again forced to flee, this time to Munich, where she captures the attention of Ludwig I. Their ensuing affair arouses a great deal of hatred among the people and the establishment, however. In the end, Lola has no choice but to leave again, and vanishes into the night mist.

Only You is a 1930 musical by Hermann Feiner and Willi Wolff starring Fritz Schulz and Walter Janssen.

The film follows the comic (mis)adventures of a poor street musician, who is roped into posing as an eccentric nobleman. He and his antics are rapturously received by the members of a bourgeois family desperate to mingle with the aristocracy. The daughter of the family takes a fancy to the baron (in reality, merely a “joke baron”), assuming him to be immensely wealthy.

Heads Up, Charley is a 1927 German silent comedy film directed by Willi Wolff and starring Ellen Richter, Anton Pointner, and Michael Bohnen. Marlene Dietrich appears in a supporting role.

An unscrupulous husband exploits his beautiful wife to advance his own career. When he dies under mysterious circumstances, she is accused of murder. To clear her name, the widow ventures into the Parisian underworld in search of the real killer.