Billian/Rhomberg short

[mulholand]

Does anyone know of a Hans Billian short called "Die Wirtin von der Lahn"? I have a trailer of it on a third-generation tape with drop-outs. Still, it looks great..

Patricia Rhomberg stars as the pretty proprietress of an inn of ill repute where staff and patrons indulge in all sorts of sexual activities (in the kitchen, on a pool table and so forth). A monk enters and wants to know what kind of sinners nest he has stepped into. Rhomberg shows him her "bushy paradise" and he rises "like a Gothic cathedral". Several Billian regulars of the time flashes by. The trailer presents the film as Tabu production nr. 83 and is dubbed in English. No English title is given.

The only reference to this film that I know of is to be found in an interview with Billian, made by the German cult film magazine Splatting Image, where Billian mentions the film as an example of loops he made with Rhomberg. While there's still time, someone should talk to Billian again. For one, a complete, or as complete as possible, Billian filmography, including loops and shorts, should be made available. (He might also be able to share some fond memories of Melitta Berger.)

If anyone owns this gem, I would be very interested in trading. E-mail me. (Despite the title, this has nothing to do with the soft Frantz Antel film with the same name.)

[DavidS]

I do have a recollection of seeing this film about 25 years ago. I have only the vaguest memory of it. I would be surprised indeed if it was made as a loop. I am sure there is a full version somewhere. I believe Billian was born in Breslau in 1921, so he is getting on now, if he is still alive.

[ArchiPoeta]

the very interesting interview with Hans Billian with S Image took place in 1996 ... he did some remarkable comments about his work which can be very useful for his record as director at EGAFD.

but i have nothing heard about H B after this interview where he did some remarks about his actual plans in the mid 90?s.

what i found interesting too : his work as loop director in scandinavia but he told no details.

greetings AP

[ArchiPoeta]

link to the Billian Interview in "Splatting Image" ... german language:

http://www.splatting-image.com/Intervie ... llian.html



there are other interviews there which can be interesting for EGAFD

with D?Amato, Borowczyk etc.

[mulholand]

I know it's quite a task, but it would be wonderful if someone would ever translate that Billian interview into English - my grammmar school German leaves a lot to be desired.

DavidS indicates that "Die Wirtin von der Lahn" might be more than a loop/short. In the aforementioned interview, Billian says the following, in reference to whether Rhomberg was in any of his shorts:

Hat die Frau Rhomberg auch in Kurzfilmen von Ihnen mitgespielt?

Ja, in einigen. In DIE WIRTIN VON DER LAHN war sie dabei, in HEXY L'AMOUR, in VENUS IN SEIDE war sie in einer Episode dabei ...in SANIT?TSGEFREITER NEUMANN...

translates into (sorry if it's a tad crude):

Has Ms Rhomberg been in any of your short films?

Yes, in a couple. She was in DIE WIRTIN VON DER LAHN, in HEXY L'AMOUR, she was in an episode of VENUS IN SEIDE ...in SANIT?TSGEFREITER NEUMANN...

[DavidS]

That's interesting. I was wrong in my assumption that all Billian's loops were excerpts from longer films. I do confess Paricia Rhomberg was never my favourite actress. Nevertheless, I know she was very highly regarded. My German is not good enough to follow the Billian interview. The goggle translation facility only seems to work for the first page, unless someone knows the trick of getting it to work for the whole article.

[ArchiPoeta]

"DavidS indicates that "Die Wirtin von der Lahn" might be more than a loop/short. ..."
Interview: " ....in SANIT?TSGEFREITER NEUMANN...
Ist der nicht von J?rgen Enz?
Nein, das war der lange. Meiner ist ein Kurzfilm von etwa 20 Minuten L?nge"


Billian does not tell about a long hardcore version of "Die Wirtin .." but he does make a difference between his short "Sanit?tsgefreiter .. " ( 20 minutes) and a cinema movie directed by J?rgen Enz.

as i remember Mutzenbacher, Lahn Wirtin, Sanit?tsgefreiter etc. were popular themes for softcore movies or simple fun movies in Germany?s 70?s.

Billian tells too that he always (?) directed double versions ( soft + hard) of his long movies.

[beutelwolf]

ArchiPoeta wrote:


> as i remember Mutzenbacher, Lahn Wirtin, Sanit?tsgefreiter
> etc. were popular themes for softcore movies or simple fun
> movies in Germany?s 70?s.

Yes, but apart from Mutzenbacher, they are based on popular literature with unknown authorship; the movies came later. Bonifatius Kiesewetter also fits into that mould.
Mutzenbacher is based on a book by Felix Santen (incidentally, the author of "Bambi"); the softporn version also preceded Billian's hard version.