Saturday, November 6, 2021

My Maria

Brigitte Helm appeared in over 30 films, and yet, her first picture, Metropolis, has been, and always will be, what she is best remembered for.

I'm not sure if it's because the character(s) of Maria/Maschinenmensch are just that enduring, or if it's because all of the fact that all of her films were made in Germany, and aside from Metropolis, very few of them have been seen outside of her native country.

The films communist theme has never resonated with me in the least, but it's groundbreaking special effects and often striking visuals, as well as it's early influence on the science fiction genre, do.

Like a lot of actors and actresses from here era, she made a lot of films in a relatively short amount of time, 37 in eight years to be exact (she would also appear in a short film, which was her final film, many years later). Unlike a lot of other performers from her era though, she wasn't enamored with acting (most of which stemmed from dealing with Fritz Lang during the making of Metropolis), and was able to leave the film industry on her own terms. After retiring in 1935, she married a Jewish industrialist, and if you know your German history, you'll not be surprised to hear that this didn't sit well with the ruling Nazi party. Ultimately, she and her husband moved to Switzerland, where they had a couple of children and led out the rest of their lives [Please note that this is just the Cliff's notes version of her career/life. Things were considerably more complicated, and for those interested, a lot more detailed information can be found elsewhere]

I myself have only seen a handful of her films, but even so, those have been enough to warrant my acquiring a small collection (if it could even be called that) of her cards over the last few years or so. I will never attempt to collect all of her cards, but do have a small want list of particular items that I'd like to get at some point -- one of which I was able to do so just in the last couple of months.

Given how many were made, there are very few German tobacco cards that can actually be considered "rare", this 1936 Aurelia Sultan Filmsterne definitely isn't one of them, and yet, it's still taken me a few years to find a decent copy. Between price, condition, and just seeing it before someone else buys it, I have had no luck in trying to find one. It hasn't helped too that they usually come up from a German seller, and once you factor in the shipping charge, it just isn't cost effective to buy it -- or at least it isn't for me. A few months ago though, a seller that I've bought from on more than one occasion (who is located in the U.S.) , and would highly recommend, bwcards, added a bunch of these to their store, and for less than $2 (that's including tax and free shipping) I was finally able to get one.

Like a lot of German tobacco sets, these were made by more than one company. I know that set was made by at least one other company, but beyond that I don't know anything else. I'm not trying to build any tobacco card "rainbows", so I will not be trying to find copies from any of the other products, one is enough. It's interesting to note too the photos for this set came from the famous German postcard/photograph producer, Ross Verlag, one of who's photos I just led off my previous post with. 


Some of you said last weekend that you'd be up for some non-sport card posts, well, it looks like I'm going to put that sentiment to the test this week, as this will be the first of three consecutive non-sport posts, all planned for the upcoming week. If I can actually finish the other two, these alone will equal my blogging output for the last three months. I'm still looking to regain some blogging rhythm, and am hoping that these will do the trick.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, look at this guy...

I almost stepped on this fellow (eastern box turtle) while raking leaves yesterday, he was that well camouflaged amongst the buildup. He was a nice guy, and I would've liked to spend more time with him, but he was not in a very safe location, so I moved him to what was hopefully a better spot. If I'm lucky, we'll meet again someday :)

18 comments:

  1. I know it's a big deal, but I haven't seen it.

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    1. I don't think it's as big of a deal as it used to be, but still might be worth seeing at least once if you ever get the chance.

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  2. I just know it as the inspiration for C-3PO

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    1. George Lucas took bits and pieces from a lot of things to create Star Wars, Metropolis being one of them.

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  3. Very informative post. I love sci-fi movies but still have not gotten around to seeing "Metropolis". I should probably look for it on TCM.

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    1. If you watch things online, I'm sure that there's plenty of places that it can be found.

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  4. I can definitely see the influence on the original McQuarrie painting of C-3PO. I haven't seen the movie though.

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    1. I haven't seen the painting that you're referring to, but will go look for it when I'm done here.

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  5. I watched Metropolis years ago, late one night on TCM. Normally silent films aren't for me but this one had my attention from the opening scene. Hope to see it again one day. Brigitte was mesmerizing in her performance. Can't believe you nabbed this card at that price. It's beautiful!

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    1. I saw it on AMC (before they ran commercials) for the first time when I was around 12 or 13, and have only seen it once since. Twice was probably enough though.

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  6. Oh nice. I grabbed batch of Garbatys last year and while I didn't get them specifically for Helm I was very pleased to have a handful of her cards in there. https://njwv.wordpress.com/2020/05/11/1934-garbaty-moderne-schonheitsgalerie/

    This Aurelia Sultan Filmsterne set looks very similar to the Garbtys too. Sounds like I might need to add it to my list of things to search on occasion.

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    1. Thanks again for the link, I followed it, read the post, and left a comment :)

      I couldn't remember their name while working on the post, but Garbaty and Aurelia shared the same designs in 1936. I want to say that they did so in '34 as well, but without looking, am not 100% certain of that.

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  7. Heard of Metropolis, but never watched it. I can definitely see the C-3PO resemblance. Hope you and the turtle cross paths again one day.

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    1. I hope so too. Funny thing is, I met up with another fellow just two days later, and to my surprise, he was even more friendly! It's so tempting to want to keep them in some sort of enclosure, but I just can't do that to somebody. It's not natural.

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  8. congrats on your pick-up! it blows my mind that any card - sports or non-sports - from the 1930s has survived, especially one in europe that had to live through world war 2.

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    1. It is pretty amazing when you stop and think about it. I'm sure that there were plenty that were destroyed at the time, but even so, most German tobacco cards from that era still exist in numbers that exceed the amount of people that currently want them.

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  9. I have a similar experience to Julie's above. Was flipping through the channels one night, stopped to watch Metropolis for what I thought would be a few minutes, but ended up watching the entire thing. Nice-looking tobacco card for your collection, Jon! Your patience was rewarded.

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    1. The story itself isn't overly great, but the film as a whole is definitely capable of grabbing someone and not letting go until it's over.

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