Fragment from "Der Balletterzherzog: Ein Wiener Spiel von Tanz und Liebe" (1927)

One of the must fun and frustrating experiences working in archives is trying to identify mystery films, or film fragments. Features cut up for toy projectors, saved from an odd reel, or mishandled by a previous owner can leave an archivist or historian scratching their head. I've had a fair number of this, but mystery films are common both and and out of the archives. My friend Josh from England, recently acquired this 40 second nitrate fragment and was able to identify it as from Der Balleterherzog: Ein Weiner Spiel von Tanz und Liebe (English translation: The Ballet Duke: A Vienna Game of Dance and Love; Austria, 1927). The Kodak edge code is dated 1925, so is print likely used an older stock.

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Finding this fasinating, I did a little digging, and here are some of my findings:

The film was recently restored by the Austrian Film Archive, from a print with English inter-titles.

 Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be streamable currently and hasn't gotten a physical home video release, though it has been screened at several German-language film festivals in the last year.

The Viennale Festival gives the following synopsis in English:

The ageing archduke Sixtus prefers spending his time at ballet rehearsals. The young dancers are far more interesting than state affairs. He is a figure of fun at court already and it only gets worse when he falls in love with one of the women, who is also his adjutant’s object of desire. Carmen Cartellieri slips into the role of Madame Spalanzoni, a hysterical prima ballerina confronted with the loss of her royal patronage. (Kristina Hoch)

 

Original German Language Poster

 The film's English release name seems to be The Prince and the Dancer but other places give it the English title of Virtue, below are the film's stats:

Length: 87min

Format: 35mm, silent

Director: Max Neufeld

Story: Max Neufeld, H. W. Czech,  Jacques Bachrach 

Cinematography/Camera: Hans Theyer, Hans Heinz Theyer (Assistent)  

Furnishing (set design?): Hans Ledersteger, Franz Meschkan

Producer: Hugo-Engel-Film (Alois Weil) 

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Cast:

Werner Pittschau (Count Hohenstein)

Albert Paulig (Arch-Duke Sixtus)

Richard Waldemar (Ballet Master)

Carmen Cartellieri (Madame Spalanzoni)

Dina Gralla (Gustl Sonnleithner)

Eugen Günther (Lord von Bücklingen)

[No Photo]

Mizzi Griebl (Frau Sonnleithner)

Anna Kallina (Princess Annunziata)

The Let's Cee Festival gives the following information on Carmen Cartellieri:

Carmen Cartellieri (1891-1953) was an Austrian actress and producer. At first, she was a devoted housewife living by her husband’s side in the Hungarian province. As Italian actresses the likes of Francesca Bertini and Lyda Borelli were the epitome of silver screen stardom at the time, she believed to have been born in Milan. In 1918, despite having no prior artistic experience, Cartellieri was introduced to the world of film in Budapest. Director Cornelius Hintner, who had met Cartellieri by pure happenstance, was later to become her sponsor. She only played in his Hungarian productions at first, but at the end of 1919, in light of the political revolution, she relocated together with her husband and Hintner to Vienna. Under the pseudonym Carmen Teschen, she made her Austrian debut in Hintner’s 1919 Film Anjula. She was the star of Austrian silent film and played in many leading roles, but only for a couple of years, as even before the introduction of sound film, her career ended just as abruptly as it had begun. In Max Neufeld’s Virtue, she portrays a slightly hysteric and diva-like prima ballerina, who has to witness how her aging sponsor, Achduke Sixtus, falls in love with a younger ballerina, who has also caught the eye of her sponsor’s aide.

Maybe someone could match up actors to faces in Josh's fragment, but without seeing the film myself, I wouldn't want to make a declarative.

 Additional sources referenced:

Photos (Wikicommons unless otherwise stated)

"Different Women: The First Lesbian Film in Film History," Hans Scheugl

 Stummfilm.at provided a fuller list of credits.

Photos of Richard Waldemar and Eugen Günther sourced from their respective biography entries at cyranos.ch

Photo of Carmen Cartellieri sourced from her biographical entry at the Women Film Pioneer Project.

Character identification detailed sourced from the film's IMDB profile.

Original film poster sourced from the film entry at filmaffinity.com.