''Fridericus Rex'' (German: ''Fridericus Rex - 1. Teil: Sturm und Drang'') is a 1922 German silent

historical film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...

directed by

Arzén von Cserépy Arzén von Cserépy (1881–1958) was a Hungarian screenwriter, film producer and director who was based in Germany. He ran his own production company Cserépy-Film until it was merged into the larger UFA empire. von Cserépy became associat ...

and starring

Otto Gebühr Otto Gebühr (29 May 1877 – 13 March 1954) was a German theatre and film actor, who appeared in 102 films released between 1917 and 1954. He is noted for his performance as the Prussian king Frederick the Great in numerous films. Early lif ...

Albert Steinrück Albert Steinrück (20 May 1872 – 10 February 1929) was a German stage and film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1910 and 1929. He starred in the 1923 film '' The Treasure'', which was directed by Georg W ...

and

Gertrud de Lalsky Gertrud de Lalsky (27 January 1878 in Danzig – 16 September 1958 in Berlin) was a German actress. Selected filmography * '' Catherine the Great'' (1920) * ''Hypnosis'' (1920) * '' Fridericus Rex'' (1922) * '' The Island of Tears'' (1923) * '' ...

. It portrays the life of the eighteenth century monarch

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

. Immensely popular, it was followed by three sequels and launched the

Prussian film Prussian films were a cycle of historical films made in Germany during the Weimar (1918–1933) and Nazi (1933–1945) eras noted for their general glorification of Prussian history and its military. The films are set during the eighteenth and ni ...

as a major German genre during the

Weimar era The German Reich, commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic,, was a historical period of Germany from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also re ...

.Schulte-Sasse p.93 The film's sets were designed by the art directors

Hans Dreier Hans Dreier (August 21, 1885 – October 24, 1966) was a German motion picture art director. He was Paramount Pictures' supervising art director from 1927 until his retirement in 1950, when he was succeeded by Hal Pereira. Hans Dreier was born ...

and Ernö Metzner. The film was shot at the

Johannisthal Studios The Johannisthal Studios were film studios located in the Berlin area of Johannisthal. Founded in 1920 on the site of a former airfield, they were a centre of production during the Weimar and Nazi eras. Nearly four hundred films were made at Joh ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

Location filming In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

took place at the

Charlottenburg Palace Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough. The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during ...

and other sites around historic

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 square ...

Cast

as Friedrich *

as Friedrich Wilhelm I *

as Sophie Dorothee * Charlotte Schultz as

Wilhelmine The Wilhelmine Period () comprises the period of German history between 1890 and 1918, embracing the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II in the German Empire from the resignation of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck until the end of World War I and Wilhelm's a ...

Erna Morena Erna Morena (born Ernestine Maria Fuchs, 24 April 1885 – 20 July 1962) was a German film actress, film producer, and screenwriter of the silent era. She appeared in 104 films between 1913 and 1951. Biography Ernestine Maria Fuchs was born int ...

as Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Bevern * Lilly Flohr as Frau von Morien *

Eduard von Winterstein Eduard Clemens Franz Anna Freiherr von Wangenheim (1 August 1871 – 22 July 1961), known as Eduard von Winterstein, was an Austrian-German film actor who appeared in over one hundred fifty German films during the silent and sound eras. He was ...

as Leopold Fürst von Anhalt-Dessau *

Bruno Decarli Bruno Decarli (15 March 1877 – 31 March 1950) was a German stage and film actor. Born Bruno Alfred Franz Eduard Schmidt in Dresden, he began his career as a stage actor, later appearing in films. He died in Tiverton, United Kingdom at age 73. ...

as Minister Grumbkow *

Eugen Burg Eugen Burg (6 January 1871 – 17 April 1944) was a German actor. His daughter was Hansi Burg. Burg was a close friend of the actor Hans Albers. Burg was born Eugen Hirschburg into a Jewish family, but later converted to Protestantism. He was ba ...

* Theodor Burghardt as General Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz *

Joseph Klein Joseph Klein (1886 - ?) was an American machinist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who served one term as a Socialist member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Background Klein was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1886, and received his educatio ...

Adolf Klein Adolf Klein (15 August 1847 – 11 March 1931) was an Austrian actor and theatre director. Klein appeared in around sixty films, mainly during the silent era. He appeared in a number of the epics made by the German film industry during the ea ...

* Friedrich Kayßler as Count Finkenstein * Rolf Prasch * Franz Groß * Emil Heß as Minister August Friedrich Von Boden *

Marie von Bülow Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...

* Albert Patry as Müller * Lili Alexandra as Doris Ritter * Wilhelm Prager as Kantor Ritter *

Antonie Jaeckel Antonie Jaeckel (5 September 1876 – 26 December 1960) was a German actress. Selected filmography * '' Madeleine'' (1919) * '' Fridericus Rex'' (1922) * ''The Unknown Tomorrow'' (1923) * ''Cock of the Roost'' (1925) * '' If Only It Weren't Love'' ...

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 ...

Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine Prince Charles Alexander Emanuel of Lorraine (french: Charles Alexandre Emanuel, Prince de Lorraine; german: Karl Alexander von Lothringen und Bar; 12 December 1712 in Lunéville – 4 July 1780 in Tervuren) was a Lorraine-born Austrian general ...

Trude Hesterberg Trude Hesterberg (2 May 1892 – 31 August 1967) was a German film actress. She appeared in 89 films between 1917 and 1964. Selected filmography * ''The Rosentopf Case'' (1918) * '' The Story of a Maid'' (1921) * '' Fridericus Rex'' (1922) ...

as Madame de Pompadour *

Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film '' Jud ...

as Count Kaunitz * Maria Orska as

Barberina Campanini Barbara Campanini, known as ''La Barbarina'', (27 September 1719 – 7 June 1799) was a famous Italian ballerina, one of the most important ballet dancers of the 18th century. Life Barbara Campanini was born in Parma. Many biographies say she wa ...

Agnes Straub Agnes Josephine Straub (2 April 1890 – 8 July 1941) was a German film actress. Biography Agnes Josephine Straub was born on 2 April 1890 in Munich. She made her stage debut in Dachau at the age of 13. She began attending acting lessons and, in ...

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

* Robert Sortch-Pla as

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

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 ...

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

References

Bibliography

* Linda Schulte-Sasse. ''Entertaining the Third Reich: Illusions of Wholeness in Nazi Cinema''. Duke University Press, 1996.

External links

* 1922 films 1920s historical films German historical films German epic films Films of the Weimar Republic Films directed by Arzén von Cserépy German silent feature films German black-and-white films Prussian films Films set in the 1720s Films set in the 1730s Films set in the 1740s Films set in the 1750s UFA GmbH films Films shot at Johannisthal Studios Films shot in Berlin Cultural depictions of Frederick the Great Silent adventure films 1920s German films {{Germany-silent-film-stub