Gustav Diessl

Acting

Gustav Diessl

Born — Died

1899-12-30 — 1948-03-20

Place of birth

Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]

Known for

Acting

Credits

57 titles

Gustav Diessl was an Austrian artist, film and stage actor. He studied art, painting and sculpture in Vienna. From 1921 he worked in Berlin as an actor for G.W. Pabst in his silent film, "Abgründe" (1928). In 1929 he played in The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929) ("The White Hell of Pitz Palu"). After that he became famous in USA, but returned to Germany after making only one film in Hollywood. He also played in Italian films. After a short-lived first marriage, he cohabited with Camilla Horn for a couple of years, but in 1938 he married opera star Maria Cebotari, with who he had two sons; one of them lives today in England and the other one in New Zealand. Gustav Diessl died, much too young,i…

Known for

Pandora's Box poster
7.4

The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.

Pandora's Box

1929

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse poster
7.6

After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor's preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse's notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor's whereabouts, and capture him for good.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

1933

Westfront 1918 poster
6.6

A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.

Westfront 1918

1930

Mountain Man poster
10.0

The mountain guide Jakob is a controversial figure. His supposed father dies and leaves behind a great heritage to the people. In the town they consider Jakob a bastard, because his parents were not married, which means that without a testament, the lands in which he lives do not belong to him. But the testament indicates that the inheritance corresponds him under a single condition, he must be the first person to climb the east face of Monte Verità. French version of Die weisse majestat, shot the year before in German with the same script in the Eiger/Jungfrau region but with different actors and by a different director.

Mountain Man

1934

Queen of Atlantis poster
6.4

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.

Queen of Atlantis

1932

The White Hell of Pitz Palu poster
7.0

Dr. Johannes Krafft climbs a 12,000-foot mountain over and over again to search for his wife, who was lost on their honeymoon. Another couple makes the dangerous climb with him.

The White Hell of Pitz Palu

1929

Film credits

1940s · 15 titles

Kolberg poster
6.1

During Napoleon's victorious campaign in Germany, the city of Kolberg gets isolated from the retreating Prussian forces. The population of Kolberg refuses to capitulate and organizes the resistance against the French army, which immediately submits the city to massive bombardments.

Kolberg

1945

Senza cielo poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Senza cielo

1940

The Appeal to Conscience poster
7.0

Ten years ago, the "Andree case" was seemingly solved. Now criminal investigator Husfeld is to reopen it, as doubts have arisen about the guilt of Helga Andree, who was convicted at the time. She is said to have pushed her former rival, the singer Elinor Gyldenborg, off the roof garden and killed her. Husfeld seeks advice from his friend, the writer Volkmar Hollberg. He turns the case into a radio play, which is broadcast on the radio under the title The Jump from the Roof Garden. The broadcast brings back memories of the night of the crime for those present at the time...

The Appeal to Conscience

1949

The Fire Dance poster
7.0

A decadent noblewoman, whose stranded husband has dilapidated their whole fortune on gambling, tries to keep her daughter in school while hiding their state of poverty from her, by leading a double life as an exotic dancer.

The Fire Dance

1943

Calafuria poster
6.5

No synopsis available yet.

Calafuria

1943

The Trial poster
6.8

In 1882 a country girl disappears from a small Hungarian village. The inhabitants suggest that she was murdered by the Jews. Everything is done to accuse them before the trial. A study in stubbornness, racism and intolerance and how to fight against it.

The Trial

1948

La donna del peccato poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

La donna del peccato

1942

Il bravo di Venezia poster
9.0

Marco Fuser, an outlaw. returns to Venice after many years. His son who works in the studio of a celebrated painter is unaware of his father's history. Arrested by the Doge's men, Marco agrees to become a bravo in the service of the city's ruler and kill his enemies. He enjoys some success at this, until he finds he has been tasked with killing his son.

Il bravo di Venezia

1941

Nora poster
6.3

The film is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House. The film uses Ibsen's alternate ending where the unhappy couple are reconciled at the end

Nora

1944

Nebbie sul mare poster
9.0

A woman struggles to make a living after her husband is mistakenly presumed dead.

Nebbie sul mare

1944

The Star of Rio poster
6.5

Concha flies from his natal Rio to Germany to help his loved one, who has been caught after finding some diamonds in a mine already registered by a company. Amongst them is the impressive one which thanks to her will be known as The Star from Rio. She finds herself staying at the manager's home hired as a dancer to present the diamond at a fashion show. Then the lights go suddenly out.

The Star of Rio

1940

No artwork available
7.0

Music student Verena finds herself torn between two stepbrothers: the carefree Alexander, with whom she is pregnant, and the serious Clemens, who, continuing his father's work, is developing a new drug. Alexander has fallen into deep debt through a dubious business deal and is forced to rely on his brother's help, who sends him to America. Meanwhile, Clemens offers Verena his country house, where she gives birth. Clemens and Verena slowly grow closer. But then Alexander returns, having found honest work and wanting to be a good father to his child. However, when he realizes that Verena has fallen in love with his brother, he angrily drives off and is seriously injured in a car accident. He is saved by Clemens' new drug. The brothers reconcile, and Verena stays with Clemens.

Herz ohne Heimat

1940

Menschen im Sturm poster
5.5

No synopsis available yet.

Menschen im Sturm

1941

Clarissa poster
6.0

Clarissa is promoted to department head of Feerenbach's bank. He and bank clerk Lutz both love her. When she falls for Lutz she soon is led to believe that he only uses her to cover up his own illegal speculations with the bank's funds.

Clarissa

1941

The Comedians poster
6.3

Although she is known as a patron of the arts, a graceful duchess nevertheless refuses her nephew to marry an enterprising actress in this German melodrama starring Kathe Dorsch and silent screen legend Henny Porten. When Philine (Hilde Krahl), the troupe's ingénue, is rejected as proper marital material by the Duchess of Weissenfels (Porten), Karoline Neuber (Dorsch) creates such a furor that she is banished from the country. A performance at the court at St. Petersburg also ends in disaster for the unhappy actress and abandoned by all, Karoline dies a suicide.

The Comedians

1941

1930s · 31 titles

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse poster
7.6

After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor's preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse's notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor's whereabouts, and capture him for good.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

1933

Westfront 1918 poster
6.6

A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.

Westfront 1918

1930

Mountain Man poster
10.0

The mountain guide Jakob is a controversial figure. His supposed father dies and leaves behind a great heritage to the people. In the town they consider Jakob a bastard, because his parents were not married, which means that without a testament, the lands in which he lives do not belong to him. But the testament indicates that the inheritance corresponds him under a single condition, he must be the first person to climb the east face of Monte Verità. French version of Die weisse majestat, shot the year before in German with the same script in the Eiger/Jungfrau region but with different actors and by a different director.

Mountain Man

1934

Queen of Atlantis poster
6.4

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.

Queen of Atlantis

1932

The Herrgotts-Grenadiers poster
9.0

In the middle of the mountains around the Lötschental is a lonely village that is exposed to the forces of nature. A state of excitement arouses when an international mining company discover a gold vein and acquired mining rights.

The Herrgotts-Grenadiers

1932

Demon of the Himalayas poster
8.0

German film about a Himalayan expedition and the search for a mountain spirit, who guarded, according to the tradition of the locals, the peaks of high mountains. The long-lost and recently rediscovered and restored film is now a unique cinematic document because it is the first feature film that was shot directly in the Himalayas (up to 6400 m altitude). Hans Ertl even turned his Bell & Howell to the main summit of Sia Kangri, 7422m. Likewise, the film contains footage from India and Tibet, from a time long before the emergence of mass tourism. Some of the footage was later recycled in ‘Lost horizon’ (1937) by Frank Capra and in ‘Storm over Tibet’ (1952).

Demon of the Himalayas

1935

The Love of the Maharaja poster
7.0

At a hotel in San Remo, a maharaja living in exile thinks he sees the reincarnation of his dead wife in the pianist Mira and thinks the best way to deal with it is to hit up on the poor girl. Mira, however, has a thing for the violinist Stefan and doesn’t quite know how to deal with the maharaja’s insistence that she become his fiancée. In the end, Mira returns to Stefan and the maharaja returns to his country after his exile is lifted.

The Love of the Maharaja

1936

Strong Hearts in the Storm poster
9.0

On the eve of the Russian Revolution, a performance of "Tosca" is taking place at the opera house. The artists and staff are too engrossed in their work to notice the unrest in the streets. The leading roles are played by Marina Marta and René Areno, who are also lovers. However, Marina has another admirer in Captain Alexander von Harbin. When, during the final performance, the insurgent communists suddenly storm the opera house, Alexander seems to be Marina's last hope…

Strong Hearts in the Storm

1937

The Indian Tomb poster
6.2

After the events of Der Tiger von Eschnapur, Maharadscha Chandra is ready to execute his well-planned vengeance, in which German architect Peter Fürbringer, his fiancée Irene and his assistant will have to fight for their lives amidst a revolt fueled by traitor Prinz Ramigani.

The Indian Tomb

1938

No artwork available
8.0

A British industrialist offers a job to a German who kindly rescued him when they were pilots on opposite sides of the Great War, but his wife becomes attracted to the foreigner. Complications ensue.

Everything for a Woman

1935

The Tiger of Eschnapur poster
6.7

After a passionate affair in Paris, adventurer Sascha Demidoff can no longer forget Sitha, the beautiful Maharani of Eshanpur. He travels through the wilderness of India to the maharaja's palace, where Sitha still returns his passion. But when his connection to her becomes apparent, he finds himself exposed to the revenge of the deceived maharaja. It is only with Sitha's help that he narrowly escapes from a ravenous tiger in the predator courtyard and flees with her from the palace to Berlin. Meanwhile, the architect Fürbringer is waiting for a message from Eschnapur, where he has been promised the construction of several large buildings. However, Fürbringer's friend and first draughtsman Sperling returns from India without having achieved anything. When Fürbringer's fiancée, Irene Traven, discovers that the maharajah is in Berlin incognito, she gains access to him and manages to get the prince to award her fiancé the building contract...

The Tiger of Eschnapur

1938

Moscow Shanghai poster
8.0

Spanning the years between the Bolshevik Revolution and 1930, this Negri vehicle focuses on an exiled Russian noblewoman who has lost track of her daughter and of a young officer she pined for.Until she finds them both again and together.

Moscow Shanghai

1936

The Mistress of Atlantis poster
5.3

In this mythical fantasy, the evil queen of Atlantis lives in a magnificent palace, the halls of which are filled with the mummified remains of former lovers.

The Mistress of Atlantis

1932

King Fu's yellow house poster
7.0

When a criminal named King Fu who has terrorized a city substitutes himself for a stage actor who resembles him, the staff and spectators at that night's show think the actor is giving an unusually good performance.

King Fu's yellow house

1931

Kautschuk poster
10.0

About how the British broke the Brazilian monopoly on natural rubber. The storyline suggests a complex relation between adventure, military conquest and imperialism.

Kautschuk

1938

Nights in Port Said poster
7.5

The niece of a shady tavern-keeper of Port Said, surrounded by dangerous men who haunt the ports, meets a man whom she will love and with whom she flees.

Nights in Port Said

1932

Gilgi: One of Us poster
8.0

A young woman born illegitimately comes to terms with the challenge of getting married.

Gilgi: One of Us

1932

S.O.S. Iceberg poster
6.4

An expedition goes in search of a party lost in the Arctic a year earlier.

S.O.S. Iceberg

1933

Love Comes But Once poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Love Comes But Once

1930

Hans in Every Street poster
7.0

A bold crime caper about muckraking journalist Hans Steindecker, who happens to witness a spectacular murder. Shortly afterwards, he makes the acquaintance of Nelly who desperately wants to leave the country and asks for Steindecker′s assistance. Without giving a second thought, he agrees, and only after Nelly has disappeared does he realize that the young woman duped him.

Hans in Every Street

1930

White Majesty poster
6.7

The mountain guide Jakob is a controversial figure. His supposed father dies and leaves behind a great heritage to the people. In the town they consider Jakob a bastard, because his parents were not married, which means that without a testament, the lands in which he lives do not belong to him. But the testament indicates that the inheritance corresponds him under a single condition, he must be the first person to climb the east face of Monte Verità. There is a French version of the film, titled 'Un de la montagne', shot the year after with the same script but with different actors and by a different director.

White Majesty

1933

Teilnehmer antwortet nicht poster
5.8

No synopsis available yet.

Teilnehmer antwortet nicht

1932

No artwork available
7.0

Nora, the wife of the architect Heinz Ottendorf, feels neglected by her husband. He is getting more and more engrossed in his work, but Nora, apparently a stranger to hard work, suspects that the real reason for her husband's diverted attention must naturally be another woman. Robert, the cousin of Nora's friend Marianne, has long been in love with Nora and sees an opportunity to win her hand. Heinz, for all his distractions in his work and the phantom lover he doesn't have, isn't quite ready to let Nora go. While he may be married to his work, his work is a fickle mistress: he makes a career error and this leads to near financial ruin. He begs Nora to be patient with him. Marianne, who for her part is in love with Heinz, spins a web of deceit and intrigue, which leads to Robert taking a potshot at Heinz and then eventually causing Robert to kill himself.

I Refuse to Testify

1939

The Great Desire poster
7.7

A young woman leaves behind her job, home and family to try to make it in the movie business. Features cameos from about three dozen German film stars of the era.

The Great Desire

1930

Der grüne Kaiser poster
9.0

A pilot is suspected of murdering a fraudulent banker who vanished without a trace and is subsequently convicted. After his release, he tracks down the man he was accused of killing, who is living in Brazil under a different identity, and kills him in self-defense during a confrontation.

Der grüne Kaiser

1939

No artwork available
10.0

After a shady art collector is murdered, adept Dr. Sebastian Ott uncovers a massive organised fraud with fake paintings. His twin brother Ludwig is responsible, kidnaps him and locks him away in his house. He uses Otto's ID and 'replaces' him...

I Am Sebastian Ott

1939

Men Behind Bars poster
6.3

German-language version of "The Big House" (MGM, 1930), with Heinrich George in Wallace Beery's role, filmed by MGM parallel to the English-speaking version, at a time when good subtitles weren't yet in use.

Men Behind Bars

1931

Fortsetzung folgt poster
8.0

The writer Viktor Borg is always in arrears with his manuscripts, much to the annoyance of his publisher, editor and friend Otto. Without further ado, Otto announces the arrival of Viktor’s new murder mystery, which is to appear in the “Illustrierten Woche” in installments. When Viktor attends a magician’s performance with Otto, in which a woman in a glass box disappears, Viktor comes up with the idea for the first chapter of his mystery: In his novel, the woman stays disappeared and is the victim of a crime. During the magician’s performance the next evening, the young woman, Dolly Marlow, really does disappear and things progress exactly as Viktor described in his installments.

Fortsetzung folgt

1938

Morals at Midnight poster
10.0

Berlin, the center of pleasures and kingdom of small virtues. From all over Germany, young night owls come to burn themselves cheerfully in its lights, to drown in its champagne and fill its boxes and restaurants until dawn.

Morals at Midnight

1930

Shadows of the Past poster
6.3

After serving a prison sentence for no fault of her own, café violinist Helene seeks out her twin sister Betty, a famous revue star in Vienna engaged to a public prosecutor. During a sailing trip, Betty accidentally drowns. Helene, at first involuntarily, then consciously, assumes her sister’s identity. Blackmail by two criminals soon follows.

Shadows of the Past

1936

Roman einer Nacht poster
7.0

While in France, the daughter of Copenhagen's police chief meets a fascinating detective who is seeking a criminal professor.

Roman einer Nacht

1933

1920s · 11 titles

Pandora's Box poster
7.4

The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.

Pandora's Box

1929

The White Hell of Pitz Palu poster
7.0

Dr. Johannes Krafft climbs a 12,000-foot mountain over and over again to search for his wife, who was lost on their honeymoon. Another couple makes the dangerous climb with him.

The White Hell of Pitz Palu

1929

The Living Corpse poster
5.3

The central character of the play, Fedor Protasov, is tormented by the belief that his wife Liza has never really chosen between him and the more conventional Victor Karenin, a rival for her hand. He wants to kill himself, but doesn't have the nerve. Running away from his life, he first falls in with Gypsies, and into a sexual relationship with a Gypsy singer, Masha.

The Living Corpse

1929

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Sensations-Prozess

1928

Mutterliebe poster
10.0

After divorcing her husband Hans, who had started a relationship with another woman because of her infertility, Maria Immermann leaves their shared apartment and moves to Berlin.

Mutterliebe

1929

Three Around Edith poster
10.0

Notorious jewel thief Roger "Tiger" Brown sneaks into the trust of diamond dealer Thomas Morland. Not only does Morland's jewels appeal to him, but also his fiancée, Lady Edith Trent. But when Morland acquires the largest diamond in the world in Amsterdam, Brown decides against Edith and for the diamond, takes it and runs away.

Three Around Edith

1929

The Devious Path poster
7.2

Neglected by her husband, an ambitious lawyer, Irene seeks variety in Berlin's nightlife-- An evening of dancing, dolls, cocaine and immoral passion. Irene takes the "devious path" as she seeks to make her husband jealous.

The Devious Path

1928

No artwork available
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Der Mann, der nicht liebt

1929

No artwork available
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Vineta. Die versunkene Stadt

1923

Die Ehe poster
8.0

Marriage and sexuality is examined through the lens of screenwriter Dr. van de Velde, a Dutch gynocologist.

Die Ehe

1929

No artwork available
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Frauen am Abgrund

1929