Robert Wiene

Wiene worked between 1873 and 1938 across film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and director and 1 further recorded occupations. This article rests on 2 published texts and 14 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Robert Wiene • Born — 27 April 1873 • Birthplace — Breslau, Silesia, German Empire • Died — 17 July 1938 • Place of death — Paris, France • Relatives — Conrad Wiene (brother) • Occupation — * Film director • screenwriter • producer • Years Active — 1913–1938

Robert Wiene was born in Breslau, in the German Province of Silesia (now the city of Wrocław in Poland), as the elder son of the successful theatre actor Karl Wiene. His younger brother Conrad also became an actor. Wiene spent his childhood in various cities throughout Central and Western Europe, including Vienna, Stuttgart, Dresden and Prague. Prior to his directing career, Wiene had studied law at the University of Berlin and, from 1895, at the University of Vienna. He practiced law in Weimar until 1908, when he moved back to Vienna to manage a theatre company. During this time, he also acted, in small parts on the stage.

• Illustration — The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) His first involvement with film was in 1912, writing and (possibly) directing Die Waffen der Jugend. In 1919, he co-founded with Heinz Hanus the Filmbund (Film Union), a professional association of Austrian filmmakers and one of the first organizations of its kind in Europe. His most memorable feature films are the horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Raskolnikow (1923), an adaptation of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, both of which had a deep influence on the German cinema of that time.

Four months after the Nazis took power, Wiene's latest film, Taifun, was banned on 3 May 1933. A Hungarian film company had been inviting German directors to come to Budapest to make films in simultaneous German/Hungarian versions, and given his uncertain career prospects under the new German regime Wiene took up that offer in September to direct "One Night in Venice" (1934). Wiene went later to London, and finally to Paris where together with Jean Cocteau he tried to produce a sound remake of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Wiene never returned to Germany, although the reason is unclear. Although one German obituary identified him as a Jew, he had identified himself as a Protestant in Viennese university and residence records from 1894 through 1925. In addition, Wiene had adapted from a novel and directed the 1923 silent religious film I.N.R.I., depicting in a conventional way the events preceding the crucifixion of Christ. Wiene died in Paris ten days before the end of production of a spy film, Ultimatum, after having suffered from cancer. The film was finished by Wiene's friend Robert Siodmak.

Only about 20 of the more than 90 movies in which Robert Wiene collaborated still exist:

• 1912 Die Waffen der Jugend (The Weapons of Youth) {probably co-director of Friedrich Müller} • 1914 Er rechts, sie links (He Right, She Left) • 1915 Die Konservenbraut (The Canned Bride) • 1915 Der springende Hirsch oder Die Diebe von Günsterburg (The Leaping Stag) (directed together with Walter Turszinsky) • 1916 Höhen und Tiefen (Highs and Lows) {Short film} • 1916 Frau Eva (Mrs. Eva) • 1916 Der Liebesbrief der Königin (The Queen's Love Letter) • 1916 Der Sekretär der Königin (The Queen's Secretary) • 1916 Das wandernde Licht (The Wandering Light) • 1916 Die Räuberbraut (The Robber Bride) • 1916 Der Mann im Spiegel (The Man in the Mirror) • 1916 Lehmanns Brautfahrt (Lehmann's Honeymoon) • 1917 Das Leben ein Traum (Life Is a Dream) • 1917 Der standhafte Benjamin (Steadfast Benjamin) • 1917 Veilchen Nr. 4 (Violet no. 4) {probably director} • 1917 Furcht (Fear) • 1920 Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) • 1920 Die drei Tänze der Mary Wilford (The Three Dances of Mary Wilford) • 1920 Genuine (Genuine) • 1920 Die Nacht der Königin Isabeau (The Night of Queen Isabeau) • 1920 Der Schrecken im Hause Ardon (Panic in the House of Ardon) • 1921 Die Rache einer Frau (A Woman's Revenge) • 1922 Die höllische Macht (The Infernal Power) • 1923 Raskolnikow (Raskolnikow) • 1923 Der Puppenmacher von Kiang-Ning (The Doll Maker of Kiang-Ning) • 1923 I.N.R.I. (I.N.R.I.) • 1924 Orlac's Hände (The Hands of Orlac) • 1924 Pension Groonen (Boarding House Groonen) • 1925 Der Leibgardist (= Der Gardeoffizier) (The Guardsman) • 1926 Der Rosenkavalier (Der Rosenkavalier) • 1926 Die Königin vom Moulin Rouge (The Queen of Moulin Rouge) • 1927 Die Geliebte (The Mistress) • 1927 Die berühmte Frau (The Famous Woman) • 1928 Die Frau auf der Folter (The Woman on the Rack) • 1928 Leontines Ehemänner (Leontine's Husbands) • 1928 Die grosse Abenteuerin (The Great Adventuress) • 1928 Unfug der Liebe (Folly of Love) • 1930 Der Andere (The Other) • 1930 Le procureur Hallers (The Prosecutor Hallers) • 1931 Nuits de Venise (co-director Pierre Billon) • 1931 Der Liebesexpress (The Love Express) • 1931 Panik in Chicago (Panic in Chicago) • 1933 Polizeiakte 909 (= Taifun) (Typhoon) • 1934 Eine Nacht in Venedig (One Night in Venice) • 1938 Ultimatum (Ultimatum) (finished after his death by Robert Siodmak)

Robert Wiene was born on 27 April 1873 in Wrocław. Wiene held the nationality of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Wiene worked as film director, screenwriter, film producer and actor, and the authority record catalogues a further 2 occupations under the same name, among them director and dramaturge. Wiene worked in German. Wiene died on 17 July 1938 in Paris. Wiene is buried at Cimetière parisien de Bagneux.

Wiene worked for the screen, as film director, screenwriter and film producer. 45 films survive in the institutional catalogues, spanning 1913 to 1938. Among them are The Weapons of Youth (1913), Frau Eva (1914), Der springende Hirsch oder Die Diebe von Günstersburg (1915), He This Way, She That Way (1915), The Canned Bride (1915) and Lehmann's Honeymoon (1916). The whole run is set out in the catalogue below.