Rebus-Film No. 1

Rebus Film Nr. 1

Germany

1925

15 Min

Black and White

1.33:1

Silent

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
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An “extra” shown in two parts at the movie theater, before and after a feature: part one gives the clues to six words in a crossword puzzle, part two gives the answers. In addition to the visual clues, which are clips of a party, an Asian country, a European city, table games, winter, and bullfighting, there are montages of street scenes and spinning objects. A simple cartoon character, Mr. Rebus, walks the audience through the clues, and title cards encourage the participation of the theatergoers. —IMDb

Director

Paul Leni

Paul Leni was born in 1885 in Stuttgart and died in 1929 in Hollywood. After training as a draftsman at an ornamental ironworks, he studied at the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts, followed by work designing film posters and stage sets. He worked in film from 1913 onwards, making his debut as a director with “Das Tagebuch des Dr. Hart” in 1916. After the First World War, he designed the sets for Leopold Jessner’s melodrama “Backstairs” (1921). In 1924, he directed the episodic film “Waxworks” (“Das Wachsfigurenkabinett”). In the years that followed, he worked primarily as a set designer for various producers.

From 1926 onwards, he arranged several stage shows in New York, and designed numerous crime thrillers for the Hollywood producer Carl Laemmle, causing a sensation with his ingenious lighting and visual effects. His other films include: “Dornroeschen” (1917), “Die platonische Ehe” (1918), “Prince Cuckoo” (“Prinz Kuckuck”, 1919), “The Genoa Conspiracy” (“Die Verschwoerung zu Genua”… read more