Walther Rilla or Walter Rilla ~ This is a genuine Lloyd Cigarette card from 1936. Card #27 from the Bunte Filmbilder series. This example has some very light wear to the gilt edge of the card: VF

Walther Rilla was born on 22 August 1894 in Neunkirchen/Saar but moved frequently, because of his father's government position with the railway. Walther became a journalist and theatre critic in Berlin. In an emergency, Rilla performed in place of Rudolf Forster who was ill and began a long career as an actor. In 1922 he had his first silent movie role in Hanneles Himmelfahrt.

Rilla found the Nazi regime repugnant. Beginning in the early-1930s he worked in some British films as well as those in his native Germany. In 1937, however, he left Germany for England and eventually became an English citizen. He wrote and produced for the BBC from 1937 to 1945. He also made a number of films in Britain, typically cast as a 'bad guy' with a heavy foreign accent.

After the Second World War, he lived and worked in Germany occasionally. In the 1960s he wrote and directed for German television. Walther Rilla died on 22 November 1980. He is buried in the cemetery at Oberaufdorf/Chiemgau. Some of his films are listed below.

• Abdul the Damned (1935)
• Dangerous Cargo (1940)
• Adventures of Tartu (1943)
• Candlelight in Algeria (1944)
• Lisbon Story (1946)
• Golden Salamander (1950)
• The Gamma People (1956)

This lot consists of a genuine German cigarette premium issued between about 1930 and 1937. In general, German cigarette cards and premiums make an interesting and inexpensive addition to any collection. The Nazi government of Germany opposed smoking and eventually put an end to cigarette cards. As a result, the native German card collecting hobby never developed to the extent of that in Britain or the United States. As a result, most German premiums and cards cost only a fraction of what might be expected from their American and British cousins.

Large photos are shown smaller than actual size while small ones are generally enlarged to as much as twice their original size. Almost all photos and cards are scanned through protective sleeves or pages which tends to cut the clarity a bit. Enlarged defects tend to look worse than they actually are.