Walter Schmidthässler

Walter Schmidthässler (born July 1, 1864 in Leipzig , † December 4, 1923 in Berlin ; actually Walter Schmidt-Hässler ) was a German actor , film director and screenwriter .

Life

The son of a paper manufacturer took acting lessons in Hamburg from Marie Stolte. He began his stage career in Amsterdam and from 1885 played in the field of the youthful hero at theaters in Magdeburg , Dessau , St. Gallen , Budapest , Riga and at the Meiningen court theater .

In Meiningen Schmidthässler switched to the character subject and was the title character in Hamlet , Don Carlos and Richard III. He portrayed other important characters as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Mephisto . He also took on leading roles in comedies, such as Striese in Der Raub der Sabinerinnen und Giesecke in Im Weisse Rößl . He also wrote a few plays himself.

From 1910 he directed numerous short films for Deutsche Vitascope GmbH, in which he occasionally also took part. He discovered several later well-known silent film stars such as Max Mack , Wanda Treumann , Hans Junkermann , Theodor Loos , Emil Jannings and Hanni Weisse .

In 1911 he founded Schmidthässler-Film GmbH in Berlin, which became Continental-Kunstfilm GmbH on February 5, 1912. Schmidthässler's partner was the engineer Max Rittberger. The company moved into the old Deutsche Vitascope studio in Berlin, Chausseestrasse 123. Schmidthässler left Continental after a few months and returned to Deutsche Vitascope in April 1912 as a director and author. In the 20s Schmidthässler limited himself to writing scripts.

Filmography (selection)

• 1910: Wilted Rosen (also actor)
• 1910: King and Page
• 1911: buds
• 1911: Countess and servant (also actor)
• 1911: The Ballhaus Anna
• 1911: The friend's bride
• 1911: Your childhood friend (also actor)
• 1911: Loyalty to servants
• 1911: In vain
• 1911: The honest finder (also actor)
• 1911: Defeated winners
• 1911: are you Santa Claus?
• 1911: The bachelor's will
• 1911: The great king and his chamber hussar (also actors)
• 1911: a spring dream
• 1911: Moon Night Magic
• 1911: Ninon de l'Enclos
• 1911: sacrifice of love
• 1911: Seemann's love and suffering
• 1911: Defiant blood
• 1911: father and son
• 1911: Tooth for tooth
• 1912: Woman without a heart (2 parts)
• 1912: The train of the heart
• 1913: The waters are silent
• 1913: The silver cross
• 1913: Outside the door
• 1913: The Golden Bed (also script)
• 1913: The track in the snow
• 1913: Countess Spinarosa dances
• 1914: A Child's Heart (also screenplay)
• 1914: Marriage upon notice
• 1914: The dead live
• 1914: the white horse
• 1914: In the trenches (also script)
• 1914: Ladies' Paradise (script only)
• 1914: The shot at midnight
• 1915: The ermine coat (also actor)
• 1915: When three do the same thing ... (also script)
• 1915: The enigmatic woman
• 1916: And knowledge is death
• 1916: The Hradschin's magic lamp
• 1916: The green vial (also screenplay)
• 1916: The belt of the dollar princess
• 1916: The miracle of the Madonna
• 1916: The junk dealer from Prague
• 1916: The craft boy (also screenplay)
• 1916: In the last second (also script)
• 1916: The castle horror
• 1916: Sleep sold
• 1916: Paths that lead into the dark
• 1916: The orphanage child
• 1916: Welker Lorbeer (also screenplay)
• 1917: John Riew - A Girl's Fate (also screenplay)
• 1918: The Eskimo Baby
• 1918: The rose of the wild
• 1918: Edelwild
• 1918: The poison of the Medici
• 1918: The land of longing
• 1918: Liebesopfer (also screenplay)
• 1918: Love and Life (2 parts)
• 1918: The Vision (also screenplay and actor)
• 1918: The madness is short
• 1918: Cain (4 parts)
• 1919: The feasts of the Prince of Ferrara
• 1919: The Gate of Freedom
• 1919: Treu der Jugend (screenplay and actors only)
• 1921: The Hero of the Day (script only)
• 1921: Poor, Little Eva (2nd part; only script)
• 1921: The Barelli siblings (screenplay only)
• 1921: The Black Snake (script only)
• 1922: Die Schneiderkomteß (script only)
• 1922: The Secret of Countess Herta (only screenplay)

literature

• Ludwig Eisenberg : Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century . Verlag von Paul List , Leipzig 1903, p. 897, ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

Web links

• Walter Schmidthässler at filmportal.de
• Walter Schmidthässler in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Walter Schmidthässler at The German Early Cinema Database
• Schmidt-Hässler at The German Early Cinema Database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Newer researchers give Heinz Schall as the director of the film. See the Eskimo baby. In: Heide Schlüpmann, Karola Gramann (ed.): Asta Nielsen. Volume 2: Karola Gramann: Moths. Asta Nielsen, her films. 2nd Edition. Filmarchiv Austria et al., Vienna et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-902531-83-4 , p. 235.