''Circus of Life'' (German: ''Zirkus des Lebens'') is a 1921 German silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Johannes Guter Johannes Guter (born Jānis Gūters; 25 April 1882 – 18 March 1962) was a Latvians, Latvian-born German filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer. Although most of his work is now lost, he is considered a pioneer of German silent cin ...

and starring

Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film ''Jud S ...

Lydia Potechina Lydia Potechina (5 September 1883 – 30 April 1934) was a Russian actress. She emigrated to Germany in 1918. She was married to the Russian-German film producer Max Pfeiffer. Selected filmography *''Destiny'' (1921) * '' The Conspiracy in Genoa ...

and

Rudolf Klein-Rogge Friedrich Rudolf Klein (24 November 1885 – 29 May 1955), better known as Rudolf Klein-Rogge, was a German film actor, best known for playing sinister figures in films in the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a mainstay in director Fritz Lang's ...

.Hardt p.64 The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Hermann Warm Hermann Warm was a German art director for films. Born in 1889 (died 1976) in Berlin, Germany, Warm was an important figure in the expressionist movement of the 1920s. Warm entered the German film industry in 1912 after working on-stage for a whil ...

. It premiered at the

Marmorhaus The Marmorhaus (English: Marble House) is a former cinema located on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin. Opened in 1913, it takes its name from a large marble façade. Designed by the architect Hugo Pál, the walls of the foyer and auditorium were dec ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Cast

as Philipp Hogger *

as Stepanida *

as Chauffeur Tom * Emil Heyse as Clown Apapit * Joseph Klein as George Garpin *

Philipp Manning Philipp Manning (23 November 1869 – 9 April 1951) was a British-born German actor. He was born in Lewisham to a British father and a German mother. He was sent to Germany for his education and settled there. He often played British characters i ...

as Alter Diener * J.N. Douvan-Tarzow as Senator Hartwich * Gustav May as Henry Hogger *

Paul Richter Paul Richter (1 April 1895 – 30 December 1961) was an Austrian film actor. He owed his great popularity in German films of the silent era largely to the directors Joe May and Fritz Lang. Biography Richter made his film debut right before W ...

as Francesco *

Greta Schröder Greta Schröder (27 June 1892 – 8 June 1980) was a German actress. She is best known for the role of Thomas Hutter's wife and Count Orlok's victim in ''Nosferatu'' (1922). In the fictionalized 2000 film ''Shadow of the Vampire'', she is port ...

as Alegria * Vicky Werckmeister as Elinor Hartwich

References

Bibliography

* Hardt, Ursula. ''From Caligari to California: Erich Pommer's life in the International Film Wars''. Berghahn Books, 1996.

External links

* 1921 films Films of the Weimar Republic German silent feature films Films directed by Johannes Guter German black-and-white films Circus films UFA GmbH films {{Germany-silent-film-stub