§ 14 BGB

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Movie
Original title § 14 BGB / § 14 BGB
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1915
length approx. 76 minutes
Rod
Director Paul von Woringen
script Paul von Woringen
production German Mutoskop- u. Biographer, Berlin
occupation

§ 14 BGB is a German silent film drama from 1915 by Paul von Woringen .

action

The young entrepreneur Heinrich Vollmer, who has only recently been married, has to travel overseas for urgent business. Shortly before, his wife explains to him that she will never break away from him, whatever may come and will even follow him into death. Vollmer's business activities bring him a high profit, which he deposits with a lawyer there. Then he went inland and stayed in a hotel, which collapsed overhead. Although he survived and was pulled out of the rubble, he lost his memory in the process. Since no documents were found at Vollmer, the now nameless man was taken to a sanatorium. The money found with him, however, is invested in profitable securities. Years have passed and Vollmer's grieving wife no longer believes in the return of her lost husband. And so she has him pronounced dead after the deadline set by law.

With Richard Belling, an old childhood friend, the widow learns to love a man again. They both get married and have a son, Hans. When, after another twenty years, the lawyer who had Vollmer's money in custody in the distance, dies, things get rolling. Sanatorium director Mendoza consequently concludes from the attorney's documents accessible to him that his clients must be his mysterious permanent guest. Mendoza speaks to him as Vollmer, and the memory gradually returns. Vollmer realizes that he is now a very wealthy man due to the various financial investments and returns home on the next ship.

But everything has changed there. Deeply disappointed that his wife did not keep her promise and waited forever for him, Vollmer decides to take revenge. He identifies the easily seductive son Hans as the greatest weak point in his ex-wife's new family. Vollmer gets him to make a lot of money with gambling and women and the young man, who soon has high debts, to commit a theft from himself in order to be able to pay off this debt. Hans' mother begs the stranger to refrain from reporting. The stranger reveals himself to be her ex-husband Heinrich, who had once been given up. When she sinks sobbing at his feet, he realizes the tragic and very human dimension of her actions. Heinrich Vollmer forgives her and uses a revolver to free his ex from the man, i.e. himself, who is no longer part of her life today.

Production notes

Section 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB) was shot at the beginning of 1915 in the Mutoskop film studio in Berlin-Lankwitz . The four-act act passed film censorship in March 1915 and premiered in the marble house that same month . In the Austrian version, the film was around 1400 meters long.

At the time of shooting, Lothar Müthel , who was almost 19 years old , presumably made his film debut here.

According to § 14 BGB a missing person could be declared dead after ten years.

criticism

"This film work, which is particularly remarkable for its abundant psychological moments and its strong dramatic effect, is excellently presented."

- Cinematographic review of August 22, 1915. p. 54

Miscellaneous

Gustav Ucicky filmed a similar plot in 1932 with Mensch ohne Namen .

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