02 November 2017

Der Ring der drei Wünsche (1918)

Famous stage actor Alexander Moissi played in Der Ring der drei Wünsche (Arthur Wellin, 1918) a hunchback who obtains a wishing ring: youth, beauty and health. Moissi's co-actors were Ria Jende and Eduard von Winterstein. The German silent film was produced by Rudolf Dworsky for Amboss-Film and Dworsky Co. and scripted by Hans Land (pseudonym of Hugo Landsberger) and Emil Rameau.

Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche
German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 537/1. Publicity still for Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of the Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918) with left Alexander Moissi and Eduard von Winterstein.

Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche
German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 537/2. Publicity still for Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of the Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918) with Alexander Moissi.

Deported from Prague to the Lodz ghetto


Arthur Wellin (1880-prob. 1941) was a Jewish film director, born as Arthur Lewin. He had been a prolific stage director before shifting to film.

This was a reason for Austrian actor Alexander Moissi to engage him as film director for 5 films between 1918 and 1920. Wellin was also co-owner of Ambross-Film, with Rudolf Dworsky.

All in all he directed some 27 silent films, and at times also acted. In 1933 he was expelled from acting when Adolf Hitler took over in Germany. In 1941 he was deported from Prague to the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and from there probably sent to one of the extermination camps.

Hugo Landsberger (1861-reported missing 1938) was a Jewish writer, who produced several socially engaged short stories, books and plays under the pseudonym of Hans Land, while he also produced popular entertainment works such as Stürme (1909) and Staatsanwalt Jordan (1915).

From 1913 he also wrote various film scripts for films including Die Richterin/The Judge (Paul von Woringen 1917) with Lotte Neumann, Die singende Hand/The Singing Hand (Arthur Wellin 1918) with Theodor Loos, and Die Sünde/The Sin (Alwin Neuss, 1918) with Ressel Orla. Land also acted occasionally, and directed the film Stürme/Storms (Hugo Landsberger, 1913), based on his own work.

Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche
German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 537/3. Publicity still for Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of the Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918) with Alexander Moissi and Ria Jende.

Alexander Moissi in Der Ring der drei Wünsche
German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 537/8. Publicity still for Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of the Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918) with Alexander MoissiEduard von Winterstein and Ria Jende.

Sources: The German Early Cinema DatabaseWikipedia (German) and IMDb.

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