Trivia

Ernst Reicher created the figure of detective Sutart Webbs in 1914 and launched with it a very successful film serial which was reflected in thirty movies till 1926. With these movies Ernst Reicher established the genre of detective movies which found a string of imitators.

From 1919 Ernst Reicher appeared in other roles than his detective and impersonated king Ahasver in the monumental movie "Das Buch Esther" at his wife Stella Harf's side.

He wrote, directed and starred in two films: Das Werk in February 1913, and Die Statue in 1914, which was banned by the Berlin police censor until 1919.

After three Stuart-Webbs movies Joe May and Ernst Reicher fell out with the Continental-Kunstfilm Gmbh and founded without further ado their own company with the short and to the point name "Sutart Webbs Film Company". But also Joe May and Ernst Reicher fell out with themselves. Ernst Reicher could successful continue the serial because he was the creator of the figure, Joe May established a new detective figure called Joe Deebs.

With the rise of the Nazis was the career of the Jew Ernst Reicher was sealed finally.

The once celebrated darling of the public had to escape to Prague where he got no opportunity to work. Forgotten by the public he died at the age of only 50.

With the sound film era the older Ernst Reicher got only smaller parts.

The actor Ernst Reicher began to play for different theaters from 1909.

Ernst Reicher sustained a serious accident at the beginning of the 20's that resulted in an fracture of the spine and skull. Because the convalescence proceeded with difficulty he wasn't able to play in movies in the next few years.

When he met the still unknown Joe May, it meant the begin of an impressive film career for both of them.

At Continental-Kunstfilm's studios Ernst Reicher acted, wrote scripts and directed films from 1912 to 1918.

He was found dead in a Prague hotel room, "in a small, narrow room, in a street that was far from the stage of fame.

His last, tiny role in the 1936 French-language remake of The Golem was cut out of the final version.

His father was the actor Emanuel Reicher, born in Galicia, then part of the Kingdom of Austria. Emanuel married firstly the opera singer Hedwig Reicher-Kindermann [de] (15 July 1853 - 2 June 1883): their son was the actor Frank Reicher. After Hediwg's death he married Stella Harf: their children were Hedwiga Reicher, Ernst, and Elly (b. Berlin 1893), who all worked as actors.

After the seizure of power in 1933 by the National Socialists, Reicher emigrated to Prague, where he fell into oblivion.

On 1 April 1919, he moved the headquarters of his film company to Munich. His most elaborate production was The Book of Esther (1919) in which he also starred.

From March to May 1914 he wrote and starred in the first three of the 'Stuart Webbs' detective films, a popular detective series directed by Joe May for Continental in which he played a gentleman detective modelled on Sherlock Holmes: Die geheimnisvolle Villa; Der Mann im Keller; and Der Spuk im Haus des Professors. For more than a decade from 1914, Reicher continued to write and star as Stuart Webbs, and was closely identified with the part. It was not until 1918 that Reicher turned to other topics.

At the beginning of the twenties he suffered a serious car accident, in which he suffered a vertebral and fractured skull. Only from 1926 he appeared again on the screen, but he could no longer build on previous successes.

When World War I broke out, Joe May split with up Reicher to make his own Joe Deebs detective motion pictures.