''The Serfs'' (German: ''Die Leibeigenen'') is a 1928 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 ...

directed by

Richard Eichberg Richard Eichberg (27 October 1888 – 8 May 1952) was a German film director and producer. He directed 87 films between 1915 and 1949. He also produced 77 films between 1915 and 1950. He was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Munich, Germ ...

and starring

Heinrich George Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz (9 October 1893 – 25 September 1946), better known as Heinrich George (), was a German stage and film actor. Career Weimar Republic George is noted for having spooked the young Bertolt Brecht in his first ...

Mona Maris Mona Maris (born Mona Maria Emita Capdeville or Maria Rosa Amita Capdeville, November 7, 1903 – March 23, 1991) was an Argentine film actress. Early life Mona Maris was born Mona Maria Emita Capdeville. Some sources spell her last name as C ...

and Maria Reisenhofer. 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 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 ...

. The film's art direction was by

Jacek Rotmil Jacek Rotmil (1888–1944) was a Russian-born art director and production designer who worked on 100 films during his career Following the First World War, Rotmil entered the booming German film industry and worked prolifically until 1933. Follo ...

. It premiered on 11 January 1928 at the

Gloria-Palast The Gloria-Palast was a German Movie theater, cinema located on the Kurfürstendamm in the German capital Berlin. It was constructed in 1924 and replaced the existing Baroque Revival architecture, neo-Baroque Romanischen Hauses designed by Franz ...

.Grange p.276

Cast

as Wildhüter Nikita *

as Leibeigene Tatjana, eine Waise * Maria Reisenhofer as Gräfin Danischeff *

Harry Halm Harry Halm (born Harry Hermann Hahn; 17 January 1901 – 22 November 1980) was a German film actor. He was the son of director Alfred Halm and took acting lessons with Eduard von Winterstein and Hermann Vallentin. He began his stage career in 191 ...

as Alexej Danischeff, ihr Sohn *

Oskar Homolka Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978) was an Austrian film and theatre actor, who went on to work in Germany, Britain and America. Both his voice and his appearance fitted him for roles as communist spies or Soviet officials, for w ...

as Gouverneur Fürst Kurganow *

Jutta Jol Jutta Jol (4 February 1896 – 26 October 1981) was a German actress. Born Justine Jutta Blanda Hermine Gehrmann in Metz, Lothringen German Reich (now, Lorraine, France), she died in Berlin. Selected filmography * '' Lord Reginald's Derby Ride'' ...

as Sonja Kurganow, seine Tochter

References

Bibliography

* Grange, William. ''Cultural Chronicle of the Weimar Republic''. Scarecrow Press, 2008.

External links

* 1928 films 1928 drama films Films of the Weimar Republic German silent feature films German drama films Films directed by Richard Eichberg German black-and-white films Films set in the Russian Empire UFA GmbH films Silent drama films Films shot at Babelsberg Studios 1920s German films 1920s German-language films {{Germany-silent-film-stub