Robert Herlth

Biography

Influential German art director, the son of a brewer. Herlth studied at the Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin. Between 1916 and 1918, he designed his first theatrical sets during wartime army service in Vilnius, collaborating with the set designer Hermann Warm. From 1922, he worked in tandem with Walter Röhrig on some of the most seminal motion pictures made by Ufa. He put into being at once elaborate and massive baroque sets for stage and screen, as well as the distorted, expressionist visions of directors like Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau. Herlth also excelled at creating the simpler sets required for the more intimate and naturalistic Kammerspielfilms. His best work in both categories is well exemplified by The Last Laugh (1924), Faust (1923), Congress Dances (1931) and Amphitryon (1935). The partnership with Roehrig ended in 1936 and Herlth began to work on more commercial properties. After the war, he alternated routine entertainments (Das doppelte Lottchen (1950), Im Weissen Rössl (1952) with the occasional masterpiece (Film Without a Name (1948)). For his work on the two-part adaptation of The Buddenbrooks (1959) he was awarded the German Film Award (Bundesfilmpreis) in 1959.