During the period of the so-called mature silent film, from WW I until the National Socialists came to power, German cinema was one of the leading film producers in the world. German film achieved this position thanks to masterpieces from the Expressionist phase and Kammerspiel, as well as commercial films such as melodramas, comedies, adventure and, most of all, criminal films. Along with Fritz Lang, the author most responsible for the popular acclaim of these urban adventures was the actor, director, screenwriter and producer Harry Piel (1892-1963).


Piel made his film debut in 1912 France where he was training to become an air stuntman and acrobat. His career advanced in Germany after 1919 when he landed his first main role. During the 1920s, he acted in many adventure and action films, for which he himself wrote screenplays. Due to their big success, he also started to produce his films. However, he was best known as an actor specializing in the role of a detective. He was always impeccably dressed, in a tailcoat and top hat, playing a gentleman who was irresistible to the ladies. In most of these films, he had to solve some mysterious murder case, seducing some vulnerable beauty on the way. He was able to show his acrobatic capabilities in these films and performed all of the dangerous stunts himself. His specialty was scenes with dangerous wild animals. Because of this daring streak, Piel gained a reputation as being the “German Douglas Fairbanks“, who at the time was the most popular action hero on film. Nevertheless, careful viewers of his films will note that elements of Piel’s films managed to sneak outside the borders of his country; his influence is clear in the most spectacular scenes of Hitchcock, James Bond, and earlier films by Oktavijan Miletić.


Piel’s downward slide began with the appearance of sound film, and he completely retired from film in early 1960s. However, in the meantime something happened that almost completely obliterated him from film history: during the bombing of WWII, nearly all the negatives of his silent films were destroyed - all seventy-two of them! However, since Piel was a huge star, many experts joined the project of finding and restoring his films. In this way, his film What's Going On at Beely Circus? (Was ist los im Zirkus Beely?, 1926)was found in the film archive in Bologna where it had been placed by the Italian Cinematheque in Milan. This film required lots of work and effort - toning had to be refreshed, original text needed to be identified, and the speed had to be adjusted for modern film projectors. Now, thanks to the Goethe Institute, the Croatian audience has a chance to see this outstanding film and gain insight into this almost forgotten period of film history.
(Ante Peterlić)