Der Millionenonkel
R: Hubert Marischka. B: Alexander Girardi (titles), Ernst Marischka, Hubert Marischka. D: Alexander Girardi, Hubert Marischka, Hilde Radney, Marietta Weber, Leo Fall, Alexander Kolowrat. Music: Robert Stolz. P: Sascha-Film (Alexander Kolowrat). AUS 1913

“1912 gibt es bereits mehr als 100 Kinos in Wien. In diesem Jahr gründet der begeisterte Autorennfahrer und Lebemann Graf Alexander ‘Sascha’ Joseph Kolowrat-Krakowsky die Sascha-Filmfabrik. Um die astronomische Gage von 25 000 Kronen engagiert er den betagten Wiener Operettenstar Alexander Girardi, der als Der Millionenonkel (1913) 30 Rollen seiner Schauspielkarriere in einem einzigen Stummfilm darstellt. Burgschauspielern allerdings bleibt es bis 1916 verboten, in Filmen mitzuwirken.”
Christian Reichhold: 100 x Österreich: Film. Amalthea Signum Verlag 2018. o.S.

“In his accomplished performance Girardi gives the best of stage technique. However, Der Millionenonkel is particularly significant for exploring the possibilities of  cinematography.  The film is no longer based on depicting set scenes; space and perspective are cut loose from theatrical antecedents. The point of view is mobile and the framing ranges from long shot to close up. On several occasions cross-cutting is used to indicate concurrent actions in different places. Shots of telephone conversations, for example, alternate between the two participants. The film attempts to establish narrative continuity by showing segmented actions. But the selection of shots do not always make sense visually. (…) Nonetheless, Der Millionenonkel introduces techniques that acknowledge film as an art form with tis own possibilities. Fast paced, ful of fun and with reminders of familiar songs in the intertexts, the film was a great success.”
Willy Riemer: Literature and Austrian Cinema Culture at the Turn of the Centuries. In: Ernst Grabovszki, James N. Hardin (ed.): Literature in Vienna at the Turn of the Centuries: Continuities and Discontinuities Around 1900 and 2000. Camden House 2003, p. 179-204, here p. 189

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