Abysses (1910)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Abysses |
| Original title | Afgrunden |
 | |
| Country of production | Denmark |
| original language | Danish |
| Publishing year | 1910 |
| length | 38 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Urban Gad |
| script | Urban Gad |
| production |
Hjalmar Davidsen for Kosmorama |
| camera | Alfred Lind |
| occupation | |
| |
Abysses , even The Abyss is a Danish silent film by Urban Gad from the year 1910. It was the film debut of actress Asta Nielsen .
action
Magda Vang works as a piano teacher. By her fiance Knud Svane it is during the summer time in the rectory invited his parents and travels enjoys the holidays. Not far from the house, the "Cirkus Fortuna" settles down and the artist Rudolf Stern rides by immediately flirting with Magda. She persuades Knud to attend a circus performance, and he reluctantly agrees. After the performance, Magda stays longer, looks at the stables and is only brought back to his house by Knud with great difficulty. Rudolf, who follows the couple to the front door, is attacked by Knud. Later that night, Rudolf climbs into Magda's bedroom via a ladder. They both embrace passionately and Magda escapes with him. She leaves behind a farewell letter for Knud.
Magda goes to Copenhagen with Rudolf and moves into an artist pension. She is increasingly unhappy, especially since Rudolf brings strange women home. Knud finds her and persuades her to come with him. Although she has already packed her suitcase, Rudolf surprises her at the last second and beguiles her with his charm. She stays with him. A little later Rudolf and Magda appear with a variety act. In a highly erotic Apache dance, Magda catches Rudolf with a lasso, ties him up and dances tightly around him. The audience is enthusiastic, but behind the scenes there is an argument between Magda and a dancer with whom Rudolf has flirted. The argument between the two women shifts to the stage - a little later Rudolf and Magda are released.
You see them both again in a café where Magda earns money playing the piano, while Rudolf dines with friends. Knud appears in the café and recognizes Magda. He asks her to meet in a separate room. The conversation is interrupted by Rudolf and a scuffle ensues between the two men. Magda manages to lock Knud out. When Rudolf gets violent towards her, she stabs him in self-defense. She collapses over the corpse. A little later the police appear and lead them away.
production
Urban Gad and Asta Nielsen met around 1909 at the New Theater in Copenhagen . At the time he was working as an artistic advisor and stage designer and she mostly played small supporting roles in comedic pieces that did not meet her demands on the dramatic subject. Nielsen had already received a film offer from Thomas Peter Krag in 1909 , but rejected it out of concerns about the role. When the theater's offers for Gad and Nielsen did not materialize at the beginning of 1910, both of them came across the rejected offer Krags and Gad recognized the possibilities of the new medium of film.
“... on the same day he [Gad] sat down and wrote the film that would carry our names around the world. […] A few weeks later Gad handed me the manuscript for the film 'Abysses'. I was immediately hooked: at last I had the great dramatic task I had longed for. How did he recognize me and my abilities, and how did he suspect the dramatic potential of the film! "
Hjalmar Davidsen , a friend of Gad's who ran a small cinema in Copenhagen, took over the production costs of 8,000 kroner . Filming began in June 1910, the beginning of the summer break at the New Theater. The stage was set up in a former prison yard, with the sets mostly being provisional. There was a lack of artificial lighting, so that it always had to be turned according to the position of the sun. "The recordings took place under conditions that were unusually poor at the time," says Nielsen, looking back. Some scenes were filmed outside the prison yard in a tram (entrance scenes) and in Frederiksborg Park . All of the actors in the film were newcomers to the camera. Only cameraman Alfred Lind was already film-savvy. Due to the financially limited resources, the shooting was completed within eight days.
The film premiered on September 12, 1910 in Davidsen's Kosmorama in Copenhagen. The German premiere took place on December 3, 1910 in Düsseldorf . The film became a huge success worldwide. In the USA the film was only shown in a heavily censored version in 1912, which robbed the film of any statement. In the Swedish version, the erotic dance in particular was censored. "Everyone agreed that [with Afgrunden ] the artistic film was born and that a turning point in the history of film had occurred," said Asta Nielsen. As a result, Nielsen and Gad were brought to Germany by Bioscop in 1911, where they made 31 films for Paul Davidson's PAGU until 1916.
Today the film is “a milestone in film history”, which also “marked the beginning of the 'golden age' of Danish cinema in the 10s with its full-length erotic melodramas.” With her natural, economical play, Asta Nielsen said “at a decisive moment of film history [...] undoubtedly shaped the general idea of 'film art' more than some directors. "
literature
- Ilona Brennicke, Joe Hembus : Classics of the German silent film. 1910–1930 (= Goldmann 10212 Goldmann Magnum. Citadel Filmbücher ). Goldmann, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-442-10212-X , p. 36.
- Günter Helmes : "Lower the flag in front of her, because she is incomparable and unmatched." Approaches to Asta Nielsen, the first 'star' in film history . In: Yearbook on Culture and Literature of the Weimar Republic , Vol. 17, 2015/16, pp. 47–73.
Web links
- Chasms in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Asta Nielsen: The silent muse. (Memories) (= Henschel Taschenbuch 13). 1st edition of the paperback edition. Henschel, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-362-00596-9 , p. 108.
- ↑ Asta Nielsen: The silent muse. (Memories) (= Henschel Taschenbuch 13). 1st edition of the paperback edition. Henschel, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-362-00596-9 , p. 109.
- ↑ Asta Nielsen: The silent muse. (Memories) (= Henschel Taschenbuch 13). 1st edition of the paperback edition. Henschel, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-362-00596-9 , p. 110.
- ↑ Asta Nielsen: The silent muse. (Memories) (= Henschel Taschenbuch 13). 1st edition of the paperback edition. Henschel, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-362-00596-9 , p. 112.
- ↑ See movies.nytimes.com
- ↑ Asta Nielsen, quoted in after Ilona Brennicke, Joe Hembus: Classics of the German silent film. 1910-1930. 1983, p. 36.
- ↑ See edition-filmmuseum.com
- ^ Afgrunden. In: Dieter Krusche: Lexicon of the movies. From silent films to today . Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1977, p. 28.