''Luther'' is a 1928

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

film about the life of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

, father of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The silent film starred

Eugen Klöpfer Eugen Gottlob Klöpfer (10 March 1886 in Talheim, Heilbronn – 3 March 1950 in Wiesbaden) was a German actor. Early life Born to Karl Klöpfer and his wife Karoline, née Hörsch, Eugen attended the Realschule ("secondary school") in Heilbro ...

as Luther and

Theodor Loos Theodor August Konrad Loos (18 May 1883 – 27 June 1954) was a German actor. The son of a watchmaker and instruments manufacturer, he left secondary school prematurely and worked for three years at an export firm for music instruments in L ...

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...

, and was written by

Berlin Cathedral The Berlin Cathedral (german: link=yes, Berliner Dom), also known as the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, is a monumental German Evangelical church and dynastic tomb (House of Hohenzollern) on the Museum Island in centra ...

chaplain

Bruno Doehring Bruno Doehring (February 3, 1879 – April 16, 1961) was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian. A preacher at the Berlin Cathedral from 1914 to 1960, Doehring was a popular figure in the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union in Berlin. He ...

. 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

Robert Herlth Robert Herlth (2 May 1893 – 6 January 1962) was a German art director. He was one of the leading designers of German film sets during the 1920s and 1930s.Reimer & Reimer p.146 Filmography * ''Masks'' (1920) * '' Island of the Dead'' (1921) * ' ...

Walter Röhrig Walter Röhrig (13 April 1897 – 1945) was a German art director.Stephens p.163 Selected filmography * '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920) * ''Masks'' (1920) * ''Parisian Women'' (1921) * '' Island of the Dead'' (1921) * ''Miss Julie'' (192 ...

and

Werner Schlichting Werner Schlichting (1904–1996) was a German art director who worked on over a hundred films during a lengthy career. He worked on a number of Austrian films including '' The Congress Dances'' and ''The Last Ten Days'' (1955).Fritsche p.253 Sele ...

. 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 19 ...

Cast

Rudolf Lettinger Rudolf Lettinger (26 October 1865 in Hamburg – 21 March 1937 in Berlin-Schöneberg) was a German stage and film actor. He made his stage debut in 1883 when he played the role of Kosinsky in Friedrich Schiller's drama ''The Robbers''. Some of ...

as Luther's father *

Elsa Wagner Elsa Wagner (24 January 1881 – 17 August 1975) was a German actress who appeared in numerous theatrical productions and feature films during the 20th century, including 1920's '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari''. Life and career Born as Elisab ...

as Luther's mother *

Livio Pavanelli Livio Cesare Pavanelli (7 September 1881 – 29 April 1958) was an Italian film actor. Pavanelli was born in Copparo, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy and died in Rome in 1958 at age 76. Selected filmography * ''Mariute'' (1918) *'' Fabiola'' (1 ...

as Luther's friend Alexius *

Arthur Kraußneck Arthur Kraußneck (born Arthur Carl Gustav Müller; 1856–1941) was a German stage and film actor. Selected filmography * ''The Adventuress of Monte Carlo'' (1921) * '' The Doomed'' (1924) * '' My Leopold'' (1924) * '' Chronicles of the Gray Ho ...

as Staupitz *

Karl Platen Karl Platen (6 March 1877 – 4 July 1952) was a German actor and cinematographer known for '' Girl in the Moon'' (1929) and '' M'' (1931). Biography Karl Platen was born as Carl Platen on March 6, 1877 in Halle an der Saale, Germany. He died ...

as Brother Franziskus *

Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...

Hermann Vallentin Hermann Vallentin (24 May 1872 – 18 September 1945) was a German actor. Biography Hermann Vallentin was born in Berlin in 1872. He was the son of a Jewish timber merchant and factory owner, Felix Vallentin. He was the older brother of actress ...

as Karlstadt *

Karl Elzer Karl Conrad Elzer (2 August 1881 – 30 August 1938) was a German film actor. Elzer was born in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and died in Rottach-Egern, Bavaria, Germany at age 57. Selected filmography * ''The Robber Bride'' (1916) * '' ...

as Friedrich the Wise *

Werner Schott Werner Schott (20 November 1891, in Berlin – 6 September 1965) was a German actor. Selected filmography * ''Gefesselt'' (1920) - Allan * ''Das vierte Gebot'' (1920) - Weltpriester Eduard * ''Wie Satan starb'' (1920) * ''Golgatha'' (1920) - Jos ...

as Johann the Steadfast *

Ferdinand von Alten Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

as Miltitz *

Bruno Kastner Richard Otto Bruno Kastner (January 1890Different sources cite 1 January, 3 January, 20 January, and 30 January as Kastner's date of birth. – 30 June 1932) was a German stage and film actor, screenwriter, and film producer whose career was most ...

Ulrich von Hutten Ulrich von Hutten (21 April 1488 – 29 August 1523) was a German knight, scholar, poet and satirist, who later became a follower of Martin Luther and a Protestant reformer. By 1519, he was an outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church. Hutte ...

Leopold von Ledebur Leopold von Ledebur (18 May 1876 – 22 August 1955) was a German stage and film actor. Selected filmography * '' Carmen'' (1918) * ''The Serenyi'' (1918) * ''Midnight'' (1918) * ''The Foolish Heart'' (1919) * ''The Golden Lie'' (1919) * '' Th ...

Sickingen Franz von Sickingen (2 March 14817 May 1523) was an Imperial Knight who, with Ulrich von Hutten, led the so-called "Knights' Revolt," and was one of the most notable figures of the early period of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation. Sickin ...

Ernst Rückert Anton Ernst Rückert (20 December 1886 – 3 September 1945) was a German stage and film actor. Rückert began his theatre career in 1908 and has appeared on the stage in Bleicherode, Königsberg and Kiel, among others. In 1910 he took up an eng ...

as Imperial Herald Caspar Sturm *

Georg Schmieter Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also * George (disambiguation) George may refer to: People * George (given name) * G ...

Georg von Frundsberg Georg von Frundsberg (24 September 1473 – 20 August 1528) was a German military and Landsknecht leader in the service of the Holy Roman Empire and Imperial House of Habsburg. An early modern proponent of infantry tactics, he established ...

Max Maximilian Max Maximilian (born Franz Kuhn; 23 September 1885 – 25 June 1930)Landesarchiv Berlin, Sterberegister StA Schöneweide, Nr. 196/1930 was a German singer, actor and director.Waldman p.141 Career Maximilian was born in Cologne and began his career ...

Hans Sachs Hans Sachs (5 November 1494 – 19 January 1576) was a German ''Meistersinger'' ("mastersinger"), poet, playwright, and shoemaker. Biography Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg (). As a child he attended a singing school that was held in the churc ...

Max Grünberg Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

Jakob Tiedtke Jakob Karl Heinrich Wilhelm Tiedtke (23 June 1875 – 30 June 1960) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 190 films between 1914 and 1955. Selected filmography * ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1918 film), The Pied Piper of Hamel ...

as Tetzel *

Hans Wassmann Hans Wassmann (1 January 1873 – 5 April 1932) was a German film actor.Chandler p.271 Selected filmography * '' Laugh Bajazzo'' (1915) * '' Miss Venus'' (1921) * '' Louise de Lavallière'' (1922) * '' A Glass of Water'' (1923) * '' Nanon'' (1924 ...

as Robber Baron *

Alexander Murski Alexander Alexandrovich Murski (Russian: Александр Александрович Мурский) (1 November 1869 – April 1943) was a Saint Petersburg, Russian-born German actor. Murski died in 1943 in Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, Fran ...

as the printer

Hans Lufft Hans Lufft (1495–1584) was a German printer and publisher, commonly called "the Bible Printer," because in 1534 he printed at Wittenberg the first complete edition of Luther's Bible, in two Folio volumes with woodcut illustrations by Lucas Cran ...

Heinz Salfner Heinz Salfner (31 December 1877 – 13 October 1945) was a German stage and film actor. Salfner appeared in more than sixty films during his career. He played the lead in the 1932 crime film '' A Shot at Dawn''.Youngkin p.465 Selected filmography ...

as Palace Captain Berlepsch * Hans Carl Müller as

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (Crown of Castile, Castil ...

Max Schreck Friedrich Gustav Maximilian Schreck Eickhoff, Stefan. 2007 (6 September 1879 – 20 February 1936), Walk, Ines. 2006. known professionally as Max Schreck, was a German actor, best known for his lead role as the vampire Count Orlok in the film ' ...

as Aleander *

Georg John Georg John (born Georg Jacobsohn; 23 July 1879 – 18 November 1941) was a German stage and film actor. Early life Georg Jacobsohn was born into a Jewish household in Schmiegel, Province of Posen, Imperial Germany. Career John began his ...

as Cripple (disabled man)

External links

* 1928 films Films of the Weimar Republic German silent feature films German black-and-white films Films about Martin Luther Films shot at Babelsberg Studios German historical films 1920s historical films Silent horror films 1920s German films {{bio-film-stub