''The Missing Wife'' (German:''Die verschwundene Frau'') is a 1929 Austrian

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Karl Leiter Karl Leiter (1890-1957) was an Austrian screenwriter and film director. Selected filmography * ''Queen Draga'' (1920) * ''Pratermizzi'' (1927) * ''Father Radetzky'' (1929) * '' The Missing Wife'' (1929) * ''Das Ferienkind'' (1943) * '' Ich bitte ...

and starring

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 19 ...

Iris Arlan Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants *Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional enti ...

and

Mary Kid Mary Kid (born Marie Anna Albertine Keul; 8 August 1901 – 29 October 1988) was a German actress. She appeared in more than forty films during the Weimar Republic, but her career came to an end in the early sound era. Selected filmography * '' H ...

. The 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 ...

Hans Ledersteger Hans Ledersteger (1898–1971) was an Austrian art director who worked for many years in the German film industry. While mainly employed in Germany, he occasionally also worked in other countries such as Italy and his native Austria including on s ...

. The film is notable for marking the screen debut of

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

. The film was believed

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

until 1984. It wasn't until it was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard ...

in 1996 that Lorre's small role was noted. Lorre had never spoken about the film and always maintained that '' M'' (1931) was his first film, which was a breakthrough role as opposed to a brief, uncredited cameo.Youngkin pp. 37–38

Cast

as Adam Bertram *

as Eva *

as Dr. Med. Hanna Karsten * Peter C. Leska as Dr. Fritz Steiner *

Reinhold Häussermann Reinhold Häussermann (10 February 1884 – 4 April 1947) was a German-born Austrian stage and film actor. Haussermann appeared in twenty-one films during his career, largely in supporting roles in films such as Karl Leiter's '' The Missing Wife' ...

as Polizeirat Alois Hartl *

Richard Waldemar Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

as Tobias Ameisel *

Albert Kersten Albert von Kersten (1889–1937) was an Austrian stage and film actor.Giesen p.191 Selected filmography * '' Serge Panine'' (1922) * '' Fatme's Rescue'' (1922) * '' Gypsy Love'' (1922) * '' William Ratcliff'' (1922) * '' The Hell of Barballo'' (1 ...

Clementine Plessner Clementine Plessner (7 December 1855 – 27 February 1943) was an Austrian stage and film actress. Plessner worked in the German film industry and appeared in over sixty films, mostly during the silent era. Plessner featured in Richard Oswald's ...

as Patient of a Dentist

References

Bibliography

* Youngkin, Stephen. ''The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre''. University Press of Kentucky, 2005.

External links

* 1929 films Austrian silent feature films Austrian crime comedy films 1920s rediscovered films 1920s crime comedy films Austrian black-and-white films Rediscovered Austrian films Silent crime comedy films 1920s German-language films {{Austria-film-stub