As is well known, by 1927, cinema had reached the peak of its technical and artistic development. Until very recently, it was impossible to verify whether 1927’s Das Recht zu leben, one of the first works by young director Robert Wohlmuth and an Austro-German co-production, also represented this high point of cinema, since the film was considered lost.
Das Recht zu leben was identified in the Gosfil’mofond collections in 2023. Before that, it had been stored for years under its German distribution title Das Recht der Mutter [The mother’s right]. The film became one of the most significant findings in the Russian national film archive in the past few years for two reasons: first, because the great majority of films shot in the 1920s and preserved by the archive had already been identified; second, because this full-length film seemingly survives almost in its entirety. Based on an idea by Friedrich Koslowsky, written by Rosa Wachtel (both of whom were possibly from the Russian Empire) and shot on location in Wien and at the Vita-Atelier studios in Rosenhügel for the indoor sequences, Das Recht zu leben was widely advertised in the Austrian press both during its production and upon its release. The picture was made at a time when Austria prioritised the distribution of Austrian or Austro-German productions (i.e., through the Kiko Film company).
It is a skillfully crafted, tender social drama: the story of a mother who, due to extreme poverty and unemployment, is forced to give up her child to be raised by a wealthy family. In this female-led film two high- calibre German stars of the time, Maly Delschaft and Erna Morena, are in the leading roles, while Walter Slezak plays a secondary character.

Tamara Shvediuk