Lilly Flohr: The first Western star of Romanian cinema
Lilly Flohr: The first Western star of Romanian cinema

Summary/Abstract: The paper retraces the life and career of Lilly Flohr, a Vienna-born actress who became a silent film star in Berlin, where she played in 31 films from 1918 to 1929. The article emphasises her unique encounter with Jean Mihail, an outstanding pioneer of Romanian cinema (then in its artisanal, pre-industrial phase). In 1927, the melodrama Lia, directed by Mihail and starring Flohr, was favourably received by the Romanian press and became a local box office hit. It is one of the very few preserved films from the silent era of Romanian cinema, thus documenting the first Western star playing in a local film. By researching the film press of the time in Germany and Romania, the paper reveals unknown facts about the popularity of the German-speaking actress and her activity in Romania, trying to assess the impact the first Western star of Romanian cinema had on the struggling local film scene.

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