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Heinrich Piel (12 July 1892 – 27 March 1963), known professionally as Harry Piel, was a prolific German actor, film director, screenwriter, and film producer who was involved in over 150 films. Piel became a director in 1912, turning out such box-office successes as ''Mann Gegen Mann'' (1928), '' Achtung! - Auto-Diebe!'' (1930) and ''Artisten'' (1935). His last directorial effort was 1953's ''Gesprengte Gitter (Elephant Fury'', a.k.a. ''Panic''), which he also produced, wrote, and starred.


Early life

After attending elementary school in Benrath and High School in Derendorf, Piel became a
cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...
in 1909 on a sailing ship, the ''Grand Duchess Elizabeth''. In 1911, however, he finished his cadet hood and moved to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
in 1912 where he created the "Art Film Publishing House Company" and made, as a director, screenwriter and producer, his first feature ''Black Blood'' (1912) with Curt Goetz in the lead role. Further films followed, based on adventure and action.


Career

Piel received the nickname "the dynamite director" because of his penchant for including explosion sequences in his films. These were authentic: Piel had befriended a demolition engineer who was often commissioned to dynamite bridges and other condemned structures slated for demolition. The engineer notified Piel of these assignments in advance: Piel filmed the explosions, then inserted the footage into his films. In 1915, Piel became bored with just standing behind the camera and he started to act. The first film with him as a leading actor, ', was a science fiction adventure, where he had to deal with robots. ', 1916 included for the first time scenes with wild animals, which he had partly trained himself and which he used later in other films. This was followed by a number of films between 1918 and 1919, in which he played the detective " Joe Deebs" eight times and with the film ''To the Large Unknown Quantity'' (1919) began to be credited by the name "Harry Peel" internationally. In 1930 he directed the comedy ''Him or Me'' (1930), and many successful adventure films were to follow, such as ''Shade of the Underworld'' (1931), ''Johnny Steals Europe'' (1932), ''The Ship Without a Port'', ''The Call of the Jungle'' (1935) and ''His Best Friend'' (1937). In 1933 Harry Piel became a patron member of the SS and also joined the NSDAP. This, however, did not avert difficulties with the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
s, and his film ''Panik'' (1943) was banned for its all too realistic air attacks. It depicted a German hero who traps wild animals in Africa for German zoos. At the film's climax, an air-raid on a German city frees the zoo animals from their cages; when they run loose in the streets, the people are terrified and only the heroic trapper can recapture the beasts. During World War II, this film was suppressed by
Reich ( ; ) is a German word whose meaning is analogous to the English word " realm". The terms and are respectively used in German in reference to empires and kingdoms. In English usage, the term " Reich" often refers to Nazi Germany, also ca ...
censors who did not want the German people to believe that Germany was in danger from aerial bombardments. In the final stages of World War II, Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...
included Piel on the ''Gottbegnadeten'' list, a 36-page list of artists considered crucial to Nazi culture. Seventy-two negatives of his films, nearly all his silent film, were destroyed in an air attack. After the collapse of the Third Reich, Harry Piel, who had been a sustaining member of the SS, and had at first concealed this, was sentenced to six months detention and five years professional disqualification. After his denazification, he founded "Ariel Film" in 1950 in Hamburg with which he had only moderate success. After ''Gesprengte Gitter'' (''Elephant Fury'', 1953), Piel withdrew from filmmaking. He died in 1963.


Filmography

*'' Dämone der Tiefe'' (1912) *'' Der Börsenkönig'' (1912) *'' Nachtschatten'' (1913) *'' Der schwarze Pierrot'' (1913) *'' Der grüne Teufel'' (1913) *'' Im Leben verspielt'' (1913) *'' Menschen und Masken'' (1913) *'' Seelenadel'' (1913) *'' Erblich belastet?'' (1913) *'' Harakiri'' (1913) *'' Menschen und Masken'' (1913) *'' Die Millionenmine'' (1913) *'' Die braune Bestie'' (1914) *'' Der geheimnisvolle Nachtschatten'' (1914) *'' Das Teufelsauge'' (1914) *'' Das geheimnisvolle Zeichen'' (1914) *'' Das Abenteuer eines Journalisten'' (1914) *'' Der schwarze Husar'' (1915) *'' Der Bär von Baskerville'' (1915) *'' Manya, die Türkin'' (1915) *'' Im Banne der Vergangenheit'' (1915) *'' Das Geheimnis von D. 14'' (1915) *'' Police Nr. 1111'' (1915) *'' Das verschwundene Los'' (1915) *'' Das lebende Rätsel'' (1916) *'' Unter heißer Zone'' (1916) *'' Das geheimnisvolle Telephon'' (1916) *'' Zur Strecke gebracht'' (1917) *'' Der Sultan von Johore'' (1917) *'' Der weiße Schrecken'' (1917) *'' Um eine Million'' (1917) *'' Der stumme Zeuge'' (1917) *'' Sein Todfeind'' (1917) *'' Das amerikanische Duell'' (1918) * '' The Rat'' (1918)) *'' Das rollende Hotel'' (1918) *'' Diplomaten'' (1918) *'' Die närrische Fabrik'' (1918) *'' Das Auge des Götzen'' (1919) * '' The Muff'' (1919) *'' Der blaue Drachen'' (1919) *'' Der rätselhafte Klub'' (1919) *'' Der grosse Coup'' (1919) *''Über den Wolken'' (1919) *'' Die Geheimnisse des Zirkus Barré'' (1920) * '' The Air Pirates'' (1920) * '' The Flying Car'' (1920) *'' Der Verächter des Todes'' (1920) *'' Das Gefängnis auf dem Meeresgrund'' (1920) *'' Der Reiter ohne Kopf'' (1921) *'' Dier Fürst der Berge'' (1921) *'' The Lost House'' (1922) *'' Das schwarze Kuvert'' (1922) *''
Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...
'' (1923) *''
The Last Battle ''The Last Battle'' is a portal fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis, published by The Bodley Head in 1956. It was the seventh and final novel in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). Like the other novels in the series, ...
'' (1923) *'' Abenteuer einer Nacht'' (1923) * '' The Fake Emir'' (1924) * '' A Dangerous Game'' (1924) * '' Dangerous Clues'' (1924) * '' The Man Without Nerves'' (1924) * ''
Swifter Than Death ''Swifter Than Death'' (German: ''Schneller als der Tod'', French: ''Face à la mort'') is a 1925 French-Germany silent film, silent action film directed by Gérard Bourgeois and Harry Piel and starring Piel, Dary Holm, Denise Legeay and José Dav ...
'' (1925) * '' Zigano'' (1925) *'' Adventure on the Night Express'' (1925) *'' The Black Pierrot'' (1926) * '' Eyes Open, Harry!'' (1926), also known as „Sechs Wochen unter Apachen" *'' What's Going On at the Beely Circus?'' (1926) * '' His Greatest Bluff'' (1927) * '' Night of Mystery'' (1927) *'' Panic'' (1928) * '' Man Against Man'' (1928) * '' His Strongest Weapon'' (1928) * '' Taxi at Midnight'' (1929) * '' Men Without Work'' (1929) * '' His Best Friend'' (1929) *'' Menschen im Feuer'' (1930) *'' Achtung! - Auto-Diebe!'' (1930) * '' Him or Me'' (1930) * '' Shadows of the Underworld'' (1931) * '' Bobby Gets Going'' (1931) * '' Johnny Steals Europe'' (1932) * ''
Secret Agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...
'' (1932) * '' Ship Without a Harbour'' (1932) * '' Jumping Into the Abyss'' (1933) *'' The Black Forest Girl'' (1933, producer) * '' The World Without a Mask'' (1934) *'' Master of the World'' (1934) *'' Artisten'' (1935) * '' The Call of the Jungle'' (1936) * '' Ninety Minute Stopover'' (1936) * '' His Best Friend'' (1937) *'' Wie einst im Mai'' (1938) * '' The Impossible Mister Pitt'' (1938) * '' Men, Animals and Sensations'' (1938) * '' The Big Number'' (1943, screenplay) *'' The Man in the Saddle'' (1945) * '' The Tiger Akbar'' (1951) *'' Elephant Fury'' (1953)


References

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External links

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Photographs and bibliography


Düsseldorf Europa Palast Cinema showing "Der Dschungel ruft" (1935) {{DEFAULTSORT:Piel, Harry 1892 births 1963 deaths German male silent film actors German male film actors Film people from Düsseldorf Male actors from Düsseldorf Förderndes Mitglied der SS Nazi Party members 20th-century German male actors