Brigitte Helm

Acting

Brigitte Helm

Born March 17, 1906 · Berlin, Germany

Died June 11, 1996 · aged 90

Brigitte Helm (17 March 1906 – 11 June 1996) was a German actress, best-remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double, the Maschinenmensch, in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis. Description above from the Wikipedia article Brigitte Helm, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

MetropolisMetropolis · 1927
Metropolis
8.11927
MovieDramaScience Fiction
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
L'ArgentL'Argent · 1928
L'Argent
7.01928
MovieDrama
Adapted from the novel L'Argent by Émile Zola, the film portrays the world of banking and the stock market in Paris in the 1920s.
Die schönen Tage von AranjuezDie schönen Tage von Aranjuez · 1933
Die schönen Tage von Aranjuez
7.01933
MovieComedy
As a gang of classy jewel thieves hop from one European country to another, an engineer rescues a woman from their clutches.
The Countess of Monte CristoThe Countess of Monte Cristo · 1932
The Countess of Monte Cristo
6.41932
MovieComedy
The two aspiring actresses Jeanette and Mimi are waiting for their big chance. But the real breakthrough is slow in coming. Jeanette especially desperately needs a big success, since her friend, the journalist Stephan, is about to lose his job. When the two have their chance to take a ride in a posh car during a shooting, Jeanette slams on the throttle and the two friends take off. Their aimless journey takes them to a fashionable winter sports’ hotel, where Jeanette reserves a name under “The Countess of Monte Christo”. Everything’s going dandy; no one suspects a thing. That is, until two impostors, Rumowski and “The Baron” take residence in the same hotel.
The Singing CityThe Singing City · 1930
The Singing City
6.31930
MovieRomanceMusic
A tourist guide in Naples is taken on by a Viennese woman impressed by his singing, and who regards him as her protege. This film was released as a German version and English Version known as "The City of Song". Brigitte Helm once portrays a beautiful femme fatale who displays her affection and lust for her tourist guide which is paralleled with the main bodied theme of the early romanticist songs played throughout.
In the Employ of the Secret ServiceIn the Employ of the Secret Service · 1931
In the Employ of the Secret Service
8.01931
MovieDrama
During WWI a German agent receives an order to find out when the Russian army will carry out its expected attack against the German lines.
Goodbye Beautiful DaysGoodbye Beautiful Days · 1933
Goodbye Beautiful Days
7.01933
MovieComedy
After she has abused the confidence of the young engineer Pierre Lavernay, the beautiful thief Olga, who has fallen in love with him, wants to break with her criminal past. Unfortunately, by the awkwardness of her former accomplices, Olga is extradited to the police and, sadly, her young lover turns back to Paris.
Vers l'abîmeVers l'abîme · 1934
Vers l'abîme
10.01934
Movie
The dramatic story of a military attaché, in a European embassy who will sign a fake check, in order to recover important secret documents that have been stolen from him.

Filmography

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A Daughter Of DestinyA Daughter Of Destiny · 1928
A Daughter Of Destiny
6.61928
MovieDramaFantasy
Hanns Heinz Ewers' grim science-fiction novel Alraune has already been filmed twice when this version was assembled in 1928. In another of his "mad doctor" roles, Paul Wegener plays Professor Brinken, sociopathic scientist who combines the genes of an executed murderer with those of a prostitute. The result is a beautiful young woman named Alraune (Brigitte Helm), who is incapable of feeling any real emotions -- least of all guilt or regret. Upon attaining adulthood, Alraune sets about to seduce and destroy every male who crosses her path. Ultimately, Professor Brinken is hoist on his own petard when he falls hopelessly in love with Alraune himself. Alraune was remade in 1930, with Brigitte Helm repeating her role, and again in 1951, with Hildegarde Knef as the "heroine" and Erich von Stroheim as her misguided mentor.

Alraune ten Brinken

The Wonderful Lies of Nina PetrovnaThe Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna · 1929
The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna
7.11929
MovieHistoryRomance
This silent-screen classic, like many others produced near the end of the silent era, was both a theatrical extravaganza boasting an original orchestral score and an item which languished in obscurity for many years. When Carlo Piccardi took what was left of the score by Maurice Jaubert and re-created it, the existing footage was restored and paired with a new orchestral performance which was shown in Paris in 1988. The film's story concerns the travails of a woman who has been living quite comfortably as the mistress of a colonel in the Tsar's army in Russia. However, she eventually encounters a penniless young lieutenant and falls madly in love with him, as he does with her. Despite her best intentions of remaining with the colonel, and his intention to avoid trouble with his fellow soldiers, they cannot forswear this relationship, and tragedy is the inevitable result. The title refers to a moving incident in the story, and translates as "the wonderful lie of Nina Petrovna."

Nina Petrowna

Queen of AtlantisQueen of Atlantis · 1932
Queen of Atlantis
6.41932
MovieFantasyScience Fiction
Two young officers, Saint-Avit and Morhange, get lost in the desert and find themselves prisoners of the beautiful Antinéa, queen of the city of Atlantis. Saint-Avit, blinded by his love for her, obeys her when she orders him to kill his comrade... With L’Atlantide, Pabst offers a psychoanalytic reading of Benoit’s novel, with a dominant female figure who enslaves her lovers before destroying them. The film’s fantasy dimension is disturbing, L’Atlantide bathes in a humid nightmare atmosphere, between the desperate search for a missing friend and the apparitions of an underworld lost in the desert. A long, discursive flashback suggests the Parisian origins of Antinéa, born from the marriage between Clémentine, a pretty, light-thighed French Cancan dancer, and an Arab prince seduced during a theatrical performance. But again, it's impossible to know whether these are the ramblings of an old alcoholic or the strange truth.

Antinea