Harry Piel was kind of a Doug Fairbanks or Harry Houdini figure in German cinema, starring in a series of action-adventure spectacles showcasing his derring-do and fearless stuntwork. But first he was a writer-director, although an unusually dynamic one. He was nicknamed "the dynamite-director" because of the profusion of explosions in his movies. His acting career began when he got bored with remaining off-camera, and simply promoted himself to star. Not many of his films survive: many perished in a WWII air raid. One that can still be seen is his circus mystery, Was ist Los im Zirkus Beely? (1927), in which Harry is falsely accused of murder and must uncover chicanery at a huge circus—not a traveling one, a permanent one, a mighty big top of stone. Piel gets a lot of exciting use out of this edifice, rather like the way Buster Keaton would exploit the structural qualities...
- 4/26/2017
- MUBI
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