''Circus Renz'' (german: Zirkus Renz) is a 1943 German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Arthur Maria Rabenalt Arthur Maria Rabenalt (25 June 1905 – 26 February 1993) was an Austrian film director, writer, and author. He directed more than 90 films between 1934 and 1978. His 1958 film ''That Won't Keep a Sailor Down'' was entered into the 1st Moscow I ...

and starring

René Deltgen Renatus Heinrich Deltgen born 30 April 1909 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; died 29 January 1979 in Cologne, West Germany) was a Luxembourgian stage and film actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance ...

Paul Klinger Paul Karl Heinrich Klinksik (14 June 1907, Essen – 14 November 1971, Munich) was a German stage and film actor who also worked in radio drama and soundtrack dubbing. Family life His father, a civil engineer, was Karl Heinrich Klinksik; his moth ...

and

Angelika Hauff Angelika Hauff (1922–1983) was an Austrian stage and film actress. She worked prolifically as a film actress in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War appearing in the lead roles in several successful films that included ''The Marriag ...

. It is a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

film, made as a deliberately escapist release at a time when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was starting to turn against Germany and its allies. The film takes its title from the real

Circus Renz Circus Renz was a German circus company. It was established in 1842 in Berlin by Ernst Jakob Renz (1815–1892) as ''Circus Olympic'' and existed until 1897. The company had several stationary buildings in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Breslau and Vi ...

and is loosely based on the career of its founder

Ernst Renz Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975- ...

. It premiered at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

UFA-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 19 ...

in September 1943. It was a major commercial success. It was made partly at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

. The film's 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 ...

Ernst H. Albrecht Ernst H. Albrecht (1906–1982) was a German art director. He worked on the sets of over eighty films during his career. He was employed mainly in Germany, but also worked on the Austrian film ''The Blue Star of the South'' in 1951.Fritsche p.241 ...

Location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for exam ...

took place around Breslau in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

Cast

as Ernst Renz *

as Harms *

as Bettina Althoff *

Alice Treff Alice Martha Treff (4 June 1906 – 8 February 2003) was a German film actress. She appeared in more than 120 films between 1932 and 2001. She was born and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * '' Peter Voss, Thief of Millions'' ...

as Frau von Grunau *

Fritz Odemar Fritz Odemar (13 January 1890 – 6 June 1955) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1927 and 1955. He was born in Hannover, Germany and died in Munich, Germany. Odemar's father was the actor Fritz Odemar Sr. (K ...

as Herr von Grunau *

Herbert Hübner Herbert Hübner (6 February 1889 – 27 January 1972) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1921 and 1966. He was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) and died in Munich, Germany. Selected fil ...

as Circus Master Déjean *

Willi Rose Wilhelm Bernhard Max Rose (4 February 1902 – 16 June 1978) was a German actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1936 to 1978. Selected filmography References External links * 1902 births 1978 deaths German male fi ...

as Schwenz *

Ernst Waldow Ernst Waldow (22 August 1893 – 5 June 1964) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 160 films during his career. Selected filmography * ''Rübezahl's Wedding'' (1916) * '' Sin of a Beautiful Woman'' (1929) *''The Green Domino'' (1935 ...

as Polizeirat Bastian *

Werner Pledath Werner Pledath (26 April 1898 – 6 December 1965) was a German actor who appeared in many films during a lengthy career. He generally played supporting roles such as in '' Five from the Jazz Band'' (1932).Youngkin p.465 Pledath specialized in pla ...

as The King *

Rudolf Schündler Rudolf Ernst Paul Schündler (17 April 1906, in Leipzig – 12 December 1988, in Munich) was a German actor and director. He played "Karl" in ''The Exorcist'' (1973). After finishing the film ''The Nasty Girl'', Schündler died of a heart attack ...

as Litfaß *

Gunnar Möller Gunnar Möller (1 July 1928 – 16 May 2017) was a German television and film actor. He appeared in over 160 film and television productions between 1940 and 2016. He was most successful as a leading man in German cinema of the 1950s, especially w ...

as Willi, baker's boy * Charlotte Schultz as Gräfin Ziegenreuth *

Lotte Spira Lotte Spira (; 24 April 1883 – 17 December 1943) was a German stage and film actress. She appeared in supporting roles in around seventy films. She was married to the Austrian actor Fritz Spira in 1905. In 1934 she divorced her Jewish husband ...

as Frau Bastian *

Gerhard Dammann Gerhard Dammann (30 March 1883 – 21 February 1946) was a German film actor. Selected filmography * '' The Man in the Cellar'' (1914) * ''Under the Lantern'' (1928) * '' Eva in Silk'' (1928) * '' Lemke's Widow'' (1928) * ''When the Mother and ...

as Konstabler Klemke * Adolf Fischer as Artist *

Walter Steinweg Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

as Artist *

Hildegard Grethe Hildegard is a female name derived from the Old High German ''hild'' ('war' or 'battle') and ''gard'' ('enclosure' or 'yard'), and means 'battle enclosure'. Variant spellings include: Hildegarde; the Polish, Portuguese, Slovene and Spanish Hildeg ...

as Gräfin Geiersberg * Kurt Hagen as Dostler, Kammerherr *

Hanns Waschatko Hanns is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Hanns Blaschke (1896–1971), Austrian politician *Hanns Bolz (1885–1918), German expressionist and cubist painter * Hanns Brandstätter (born 1949), Austrian fencer *Hanns Braun (18 ...

as Adjutant *

Eduard Wenck Eduard Model Accessories is a Czech manufacturer of plastic models and finescale model accessories. Formed in 1989 in the city of Most, Eduard began in a rented cellar as a manufacturer of photoetched brass model components. Following the succ ...

as Torschreiber * Klaus Pohl as Stefan - Bärenführer *

Hermann Pfeiffer ''Leutnant'' Hermann Pfeiffer (24 July 1890 – 20 May 1917) IC was a German World War I flying ace credited with eleven aerial victories.The Aerodrome website http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/pfeiffer.php Retrieved on 15 April 2010. Wor ...

as Schwiemel

References

Bibliography

* Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. ''The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books, 2009. * Moeller, Felix. ''The Film Minister: Goebbels and the Cinema in the Third Reich''. Edition Axel Menges, 2000.

External links

* 1940s historical drama films German historical drama films Films of Nazi Germany Films directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt Circus films Films set in the 1840s Films set in the 1850s German black-and-white films Terra Film films 1940s German-language films Films shot at Babelsberg Studios Films set in Berlin 1940s German films {{1940s-Germany-film-stub