Funny Characters, Murderers, and Gigolos: A Critical Review of Willi Forst’s Acting Career in Silent Films

This article investigates the early acting career of Austrian film director Willi Forst. One of the masters of German-language cinema of all times, Forst successfully played in numerous silent film productions during the 1920s, first in his hometown Vienna and later in Berlin, where, with the coming of sound, Forst rapidly ascended to stardom at the beginning of the 1930s, following the enormous success of a number of musical comedy films in which he played the protagonist under the direction of Géza von Bolvary. In contrast to the increasing interest that scholars have devoted in recent years to Forst’s work as a film director, only scant consideration has been given thus far to Forst’s career as an actor. With the goal of contributing to a better understanding of Forst’s body of work and shedding light on a little-studied aspect of the Austrian cineaste’s career, the current article focuses specifically on Forst’s work as an actor in silent cinema, critically reviewing the Austrian and German film productions in which Forst appeared during the 1920s.