''Herkules Maier'' is a 1928 German silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Alexander Esway Alexander Esway (20 January 1895 – 23 August 1947) was a Hungarian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer. Life and career Esway was born Sándor Ezry in Budapest. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked as a director and screenwrit ...

and starring Reinhold Schünzel,

Claire Rommer Claire Rommer (born Klara Romberger; 7 December 1904 – 19 August 1996) was a German stage and film actress. Selected filmography * '' The Queen of Whitechapel '' (1922) * '' The Anthem of Love'' (1922) * '' Der Herzog von Aleria'' (1923) * ...

and Ida Perry.Bock & Bergfelder p.434 It was shot at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Arthur Schwarz and

Julius von Borsody Julius von Borsody (8 April 1892 in Vienna – 18 January 1960, also in Vienna) was an Austrian film architect and one of the most employed set designers in the Austrian and German cinemas of the late silent and early sound film periods. His yo ...

. It premiered at the

Ufa-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 192 ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Synopsis

A travelling salesman and his wife are expecting a baby. He tries various schemes to raise money to support them both.

Cast

* Reinhold Schünzel as Stadtreisender Herkules Maier *

as Maria, seine Frau * Ida Perry as Schwiegermutter *

Sophie Pagay Sophie Berg Pagay (22 April 1860 – 23 January 1937) was an Austrian stage and film actress, born in Brünn, Austria-Hungary. She began acting as a child, and went to Berlin to perform on stage in 1887. She married actor Hans Pagay. Selecte ...

Ellen Plessow Ellen Plessow (born as Helene Wiemuth Penning on 12 January 1891, in Oldenburg – 2 September 1967, in West Berlin) was a German actress. Plessow attended the conservatory in Hanover and played in Berlin theatres. Starting in the 1920s she playe ...

Ernst Behmer Ernst Behmer (22 December 1875 – 26 February 1938) was a prolific German stage and film actor who appeared in more than a hundred films during the silent and early sound eras. Behmer was born in Königsberg, East-Prussia, Germany (now Kalin ...

* Julius E. Herrmann * Albert Paulig *

Ferry Sikla Ferry Sikla (born Ferry Sykla; 11 March 1865 – 8 February 1932) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in more than fifty films from 1914 to 1931. Selected filmography References External links * 1865 births 1932 deaths G ...

Eugen Burg Eugen Burg (6 January 1871 – 17 April 1944) was a German actor. His daughter was Hansi Burg. Burg was a close friend of the actor Hans Albers. Burg was born Eugen Hirschburg into a Jewish family, but later converted to Protestantism. He was b ...

Max Ehrlich Max Michaelis Ehrlich (7 December 1892 – 1 October 1944) was a German actor, screenwriter, and director on the German theater, comedy and cabaret scene of the 1930s. Ehrlich began his career in the 1920s at various theatres, including leadin ...

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 ...

* Gertl Grossmann * Carl Geppert * Rosa Valetti as Wirtin *

Ludwig Stössel Ludwig Stössel (12 February 1883 – 29 January 1973) was an actor born in Lockenhaus, now Austria, then Hungary. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses who were forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Biography S ...

Carla Bartheel Carla Bartheel (born Charlotte Franziska Johanna Barthel, 5 July 1902 – 28 December 1983) was a German film actress and photographer.Giesen p.200 Biography Carla Bartheel was born Charlotte Franziska Johanna Barthel on 5 July 1902. She took act ...

Hugo Werner-Kahle Hugo Werner-Kahle (5 August 1882 – 1 May 1961) was a German stage and film actor (and sporadically, a movie director). He appeared in around a hundred films during his career. Selected filmography * '' Midnight'' (1918) * '' The Bracelet'' (191 ...

Sig Arno Sig Arno (born Siegfried Aron, 27 December 1895 – 17 August 1975) was a German-Jewish film actor who appeared in such films as '' Pardon My Sarong'' and '' The Mummy's Hand''. He may be best remembered from '' The Palm Beach Story'' (1942) as T ...

* Maria Kamradek *

Paul Westermeier Paul Westermeier (9 July 1892 – 17 October 1972) was a German film actor. Selected filmography * '' Wedding in the Eccentric Club'' (1917) * '' Agnes Arnau and Her Three Suitors'' (1918) * '' About the Son'' (1921) * '' Memoirs of a Film Act ...

* Lydia Newerowskaja * Arthur Schwarz

References

Bibliography

* Hans-Michael Bock and Tim Bergfelder. ''The Concise Cinegraph: An Encyclopedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books.

External links

* 1928 films Films of the Weimar Republic Films directed by Alexander Esway German silent feature films German black-and-white films UFA GmbH films Films shot at Babelsberg Studios 1928 comedy films German comedy films {{Germany-silent-film-stub