Die Königsloge
Cast & Crew
Bryan Foy
Alexander Moissi
Camilla Horn
Lew Hearn
Elsa Ersi
Egon Brecher
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1810, Edmund Kean, the famous British actor, is at the peak of his career when he falls in love with the Countess Toeroek, wife of the Hungarian ambassador. However, the Prince of Wales, Kean's friend and patron, is also pursuing the countess. Alice Doren, a wealthy young English girl who is being forced by her guardian to marry the impoverished Lord Melvill, solely to acquire his title, becomes romantically interested in Kean, and a false rumor is spread that she and Kean have eloped to America. Later, at a dinner party given by the ambassador and his wife, Kean pointedly relates a story about how an actor, who wanted the wife of a prominent person to visit him, told her that a certain theater box had a door leading backstage to his dressing room and thus a rendezvous was arranged. The countess takes the hint and promises to visit Kean. After he rescues Alice from the clutches of Lord Melvill, Kean promises to help her to become an actress and arranges for her to appear as "Ophelia" to his "Hamlet" in a benefit performance of scenes from his most famous plays. Just before the performance, the countess visits Kean's dressing room, but she has to leave hurriedly when her husband and the Prince of Wales are announced, and forgets her fan. The count recognizes it and takes it with him. In a private audience, the prince forbids Kean to see the countess again. Kean becomes very angry and slightly demented, to the extent that his portrayal of "Hamlet" is a disaster. He mumbles, forgets his lines, and has to be prompted, then finally rushes down to the footlights and wildly denounces the prince, seated in the royal box, as being a false, perfidious friend. As a result, the prince withdraws his patronage and banishes the actor from London. As bailiffs remove Kean's furniture for non-payment of debts, the countess asks to have some letters returned. Kean informs her that her husband has found her fan in his dressing room. However, the prince arrives with a duplicate of the fan, which he gives to her, and they leave together. Even Alice abandons Kean, preferring to continue her theatrical career in London. Ten years later, Kean, now a shabby, bent old man, encounters a young actor who has no knowledge of the great actor.
Director
Bryan Foy
Cast
Alexander Moissi
Camilla Horn
Lew Hearn
Elsa Ersi
Egon Brecher
William F. Schoeller
Leni Stengel
Carlos Zizold
Greta Meyer
William Gade
Siegfried Rumann
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
It is the first foreign-language talkie to be made in the U.S.
This film is believed lost. Please check your attic.
Notes
Die Königsloge, which was reviewed under its English-language title The Royal Box, was shot in Vitaphone's New York studio and was the first American-made, foreign-language feature to be released in Germany. In 1914, the Selig Polyscope Co. copyrighted a four-reel version of Coghlan's play. Alexander Moissi, who played Edmund Kean, was Italian by birth, but had spent many years playing major roles in Max Reinhardt's legendary theater company in Germany. According to the New York Times review, the lounge of the Fifth Avenue Playhouse, where the film opened in New York, "has been turned into a tiny replica of a German beer garden and patrons are served with near-beer and pretzels." This film marked the screen debut of Siegfried Rumann, who was later known as Sig Ruman.
