Walter Rilia Movies
German actor Walter Rilla used the rise of Hitler as his cue to get out of his native country while the getting was good. Having no trouble establishing himself in British and French films after 1934 (he'd been on stage for 13 years at that time), Rilla specialized in sinister foreigners -- and, of course, Nazis during the war years. After the war, Rilla continued his evil film ways in a progression of appearances as sultans, megalomaniacs and corporate villains. Walter Rilla was the father of prominent British-based film director Wolf Rilla; the elder Rilla's own directorial career was confined to one film, 1951's Behold the Man, and several stage and TV productions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1932
Also known as Komm' zu Mir Rendezvous, this is the German-language version of the French marital farce L'Amour Chante. To throw her suspicious husband off track, an unfaithful wife hires a total stranger to pose as her singing coach. While our hero doesn't know one note from another, he pulls off his charade so well that he is hired to give voice lessons to the husband's mistress. Sensing a good thing when he sees one, the faux singing teacher sets up a music conservatory, catering exclusively to philandering spouses. Though its direction is sometimes credited to Carl Boese, Rendezvous was actually directed by Robert Florey, who also helmed L'Amour Chante and its Spanish-language version, Professor de mi Señora. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Arthur Roberts, Walter Rilia, (more)
- 1931
Also known as 24 Hours in a Woman's Life, this perceptive romantic drama was based on the novel by Stefan Zweig. Henny Porten plays Alice, a widow who undergoes a lifetime worth of emotional turmoil during a weekend vacation in Italy. After getting caught in a rainstorm and boarding the wrong boat, Alice ends up in a casino, where she meets an impoverished young man named Thomas (Walter Rilla). The two spend the night together then promise to meet again in the forest the following day. Upon discovering that Thomas is a military deserter and chronic gambler, Alice pays all of his debts, extracting a promise from him that he'll quit gambling and return home to face up to his responsibilities. Alas, Thomas soon retreats to the gaming tables, whereupon their relationship is permanently and irrevocably severed. The Zweig novel was refilmed in 1953 as Affair in Monte Carlo, then again in 1968 under its original title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henny Porten, Walter Rilia, (more)
- 1931
The 1930 Hollywood feature Laughter, which starred Nancy Carroll and Fredric March, was also lensed in two foreign-language versions. Both the German Die Manner um Lucie and the French Rive Gauche were directed by Alexander Korda. Liane Haid, Walter Rilla and Oskar Karlweis star in this Teutonic spin on the original Harry D'Arrast-Douglas Doty screenplay (D'Arrast also directed the English-language Laughter). Liane assumes the Nancy Carroll role as a Follies dancer who marries likeable millionaire Karlweis. He denies her nothing, not even an extramarital fling with composer Rilla. The complications that follow are both sophisticated and logical, with the characters behaving like human beings rather than French-farce stick figures. We'll let the auteur theorists argue over whether Alexander Korda's direction was any more accomplished than Harry D'Arrast's. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1931
The "great yearning" of the title refers to the desire of heroine Camilla Horn to become a famous movie star. Fortunately, director Theodor Loos happens to be combing the countryside, searching for "something new" to put before the cameras. He discovers Horn, and the rest can be filled in by the audience blindfolded. The charm of this picture lies not in its corny plotline, but in its handling by young director Stefan Szekely, who refuses to sugar-coat his depiction of movie-studio life but instead offers something very close to the truth. Die Grosse Sehnsucht features cameo appearances by such German film faves as Lil Dagover, Liane Haid, Anny Ondra, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Luis Trenker, Conrad Veidt, and many, many more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Camilla Horn, Theodor Loos, (more)
- 1930
Hereditary Instinct suggests that "blood will tell" no matter what one's upbringing. It begins when the heroine is raped while attending classes at Cambridge University. The assailant is the adopted son of a famed British barrister, who has been careful to rear the boy as a gentleman. It turns out that the rapist is actually the offspring of a notorious crook -- and as they say, like father, like son. Unable to control his hereditary impulses, the boy kills himself, but not before assaulting and murdering another unfortunate girl. Filmed as a silent, Hereditary Instinct was released with a hastily cobbled-together musical track. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Rilia, Fritz Alberti, (more)
- 1930
Zweierlei Moral (Different Morals) was adapted from Pearls' Comedy, a play by Bruno Frank. A string of pearls figures into the plotline in which the sexual double-standard separating men from women is elaborated upon. Critics familiar with the original stage play found the film version inferior, complaining that the direction was slow and ponderous and the acting over-emphatic. Also attacked were the costumes worn by the actors, which were described variously as ill-fitting and in bad taste. Only leading players Aribert Waescher and Ida Wuerst were singled out for any other praise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Rilia, Aribert Waescher, (more)
- 1929
Prolific filmmaker Gustav Ucicky cut his cinematic teeth on such minor efforts as Inherited Passions (Vererbte Triebe). Walter Rilla plays a pleasant young man who unfortunately carries with him his family's "curse": alcoholism. Whenever he gets drunk, Rilla's Dr. Jekyll personality degenerates into Mr. Hyde. First, he murders a prostitute then tries to bump off his stepfather's new young wife. Arrested and put on trial, he is defended by that selfsame stepfather, who argues that Rilla's "inherited passions" were beyond the poor boy's control. An argument is made for the "sexual sterilization" of such unfortunates as Rilla. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1929
In the wake of the Russian Revolution, a beautiful young aristocrat is assaulted by wild-eyed rebel Sajenko. The girl manages to escape her attacker with virtue intact, and shortly thereafter she relocates to a European colony reserved for expatriate Russians. Here her path again crosses that of Sajenko, now a high-ranking Soviet secret agent. Unrepentantly, Sajenko once more tries to rape the heroine. Pretending to succumb to his "charms," the girl convinces Sajenko to sign a paper that will seal his doom upon his return to the USSR. The far-from-admirable title character was played by Michael Bohnen, a baritone with the Metropolitan Opera Company (just why Bohnen was hired for a silent film was anybody's guess). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Bohnen, Suzy Vernon, (more)
- 1921
A father-son conflict set against the tumultuous background of the First World War lies at the center of this high-class soap opera. S.I. Rupp (Emil Jannings) is a former butcher who has been elevated to the pinnacle of success in postwar Europe, by virtue of having made a few correct decisions about business during the recently ended world war. Now he is one of the wealthiest men on the continent, and beloved of the press and public for his charitable work, his beef company feeding thousands every day who would otherwise starve; and he has in his employ, at his beck-and-call, numerous members of the former aristocracy, reduced to penury by the dissolution of countries and governments. Rupp is a decent man but also a crude man, given to acting on his impulses, and like many a self-made man he also has a tendency to brook no contradiction or interference when he thinks he's right, which is most of the time. The one person in the world whom he loves and respects is his son, Fred (Hermann Thimig), by his first marriage, who, among his other attributes, is a champion-level racing-car driver. Rupp's personal life explodes, however, when he agrees to marry a beautiful former aristocrat; through a misunderstanding, Rupp thinks his son is also interested in his bride-to-be, and father and son end up estranged, just when Rupp's enemies and rivals are preparing to destroy him and his empire. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emil Jannings
