Set of two scene stills for the movie, “Address Unknown” (1944)
Extent and Medium
.1: Height: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Width: 10.125 inches (25.718 cm)
.2: Height: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Width: 10.125 inches (25.718 cm)
Creator(s)
- Columbia Pictures Corporation (Distributor)
- Address Unknown, Inc. (Production Company)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
Biographical History
The Cinema Judaica Collection consists of more than 1,200 objects relating to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical subjects, from 1923 to 2000, from the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The collection was amassed by film memorabilia collector Ken Sutak, to document Holocaust-and Jewish-themed movies of the World War II era and the postwar years. The collection includes posters, lobby and photo cards, scene stills, pressbooks, trade ads, programs, magazines, books, VHS tapes, DVDS, and 78 rpm records. Sutak organized these materials into two groups, “Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939–1949” and “Cinema Judaica: The Epic Cycle, 1950–1972” and, in conjunction with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (now the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York), organized exhibitions on these two themes in 2007 and 2008. Sutak subsequently authored companion books with the same titles.
Archival History
The scene stills were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur
Scope and Content
Pair of scene stills for the American feature film, “Address Unknown,” released in the United States on June 1, 1944. Scene stills are photographs taken on or off the set of a motion picture and are then used as marketing and advertising tools. The film was based on the 1938 novella of the same name in “Story” magazine by Kressmann Taylor (penname for Katherine Taylor), and it was nominated for the Academy Awards for Art Direction and Music in 1944. The film tells the story of two German business partners in the United States, whose friendship and families are destroyed when one of them returns to Germany, and succumbs to the Nazi regime and its propaganda. When the businessman in Germany turns his back on the woman who is both his Jewish partner’s daughter and his own son’s fiancée, leading to her death, he begins receiving a series of incriminating letters from the U.S. The original novella became so popular that a shortened version of it was reprinted in “Reader’s Digest” in 1939, printed in hardcover in 1940, and was reissued in the late 20th century as an international bestseller. This object is one of more than 1,200 objects in the Cinema Judaica Collection of materials related to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical themes.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Copyright status is unknown.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
.1 Sepia-toned photographic scene still from the movie, "Address Unknown," with a white border on all four sides. The scene depicts an interior room featuring a large, ornate, carved and inlaid table with a metal tray, crystal wine glasses, and decanters. Behind the table, and centered within an arched window, is a bald man in a black suit and tie, holding a small piece of white paper above the table. Opposite him, in the right foreground of the image, are two men in suits. The man on the right has a moustache and is shown in right profile. He is looking sideways at the man to his left, who faces the bald man, with his back to the viewer and slightly out of focus. In the bottom margin are the cast and film credits printed in black ink. On the back of the photograph, are a price and a year, handwritten in pencil, and a purple handstamp with the film’s title in Spanish. The edges of the photograph have small stains and tears, and there are multiple pinholes in each corner. Left to right: Ernest Golm as Franz, Carl Esmond as Baron von Friesche, Paul Lukas as Martin Schulz .2 Sepia-toned photographic scene still from the movie, "Address Unknown," with a white border on all four sides. The scene depicts the outside of a storefront and features a richly dressed woman with a fur stole standing in front of a large, modernist painting. To the left, a man in a dark coat, gloves, and hat is propping up the painting from behind, and the front of a vehicle is partially visible along the left edge. The woman is smiling and looking at a heavyset man on the right, who is wearing a light-colored suit and flat-topped hat with brim. He holds a pile of envelopes in his hands and is carrying a large leather satchel, possibly for mail. In the background, a man in a dark suit is standing in the doorway of the storefront, which has horizontal blinds across the large windows and appears ornately decorated. A white number appears in the lower right corner of the photograph, and in the bottom margin, the film credits and cast are printed in black and sepia ink. The edges of the photograph have small stains and tears, especially along the right side. Left to right: Unidentified, Mary Young as Mrs. Delaney, Morris Carnovsky as Max Eisenstein, Emory Parnell as Postman
.1 back, left, handwritten, pencil : 4 99 .1 back, top left, printed, ink, black : 1992 .1 back, center, stamped, purple ink : Domicilio DesconocidO [Address Unknown]
People
- Taylor, Kathrine Kressmann.
- Van Eyck, Peter, 1911-1969.
- Carnovsky, Morris.
- Stevens, K. T., 1919-1994.
- Esmond, Carl, 1904-2004.
- Lukas, Paul, 1894-1971.
Subjects
- History in motion pictures.
- Revenge in motion pictures.
- National socialism in motion pictures.
- Antisemitism in motion pictures.
- Film adaptations.
- Germany.
- Political violence in motion pictures.
- Germans in motion pictures.
- Argentina.
- United States.
- Immigrants in motion pictures.
- Jewish women in motion pictures.
Genre
- Film stills.
- Object
- Photographs