Fear (1928)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Alternative fear : fear - a woman's weak hour |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1928 |
| Age rating | FSK b. E. Youth ban |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hans Steinhoff |
| script | Ernst B. Fey |
| production | Georg M. Jacoby |
| music |
Giuseppe Becce (cinema music) , Florian C. Reithner (2013) |
| camera | Karl Puth |
| occupation | |
| |
Angst (alternative title: The weak hour of a woman , title in Austria: The seduced ) is a German silent film from 1928 directed by Hans Steinhoff . The main roles are occupied by Elga Brink and Vivian Gibson as well as Gustav Fröhlich and Henry Edwards .
The script is based on Stefan Zweig 's novel of the same name .
action
Inge Duhan lives with her husband, the lawyer Erich Duhan, and their little daughter Susi in Berlin. Inge is a very attractive woman. She loves her husband and has always been loyal to him. The longer the marriage lasts, the more Inge feels neglected by her husband, who is absorbed in his job. This leads to the fact that he thinks he is indispensable and sends Inge on a vacation trip to the French Riviera alone. Although the young woman doesn't want to, she succumbs to the charm of the painter Francard on this occasion and begins a brief affair with him.
Back at home, Inge is soon blackmailed by an unknown woman who threatens to spark a scandal and tell her husband everything. Inge doesn't know what to do or what and wrestles with herself: does she tell her husband the truth herself or does she end her life and what will happen to the couple's daughter? Ultimately, Inges husband Erich confesses to her that it was he who put the unknown woman on her because he found out about their relationship. He says that you are now even, and so the couple reconciles again.
Production notes and background
The production company was Orplid-Film GmbH (Berlin). The buildings went to the account of Franz Schroedter . The film had a length of 8 acts, which corresponds to 2,642 meters; after making cuts, 2,631 meters remained. The restored version is 2,591 meters. This copy was made as part of a collaboration between the Film Archive of the Federal Archives , Berlin, and the University of the West of England , Bristol , within the framework of which, with partial support from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board, the preserved silent films by director Hans Steinhoff are being restored. The version used is based on three different copies, the one with German subtitles, then the one with English subtitles and finally the one with Russian subtitles. The three copies complemented each other and made one only 30 meters shorter than the German censorship version possible. The copy also contains an 11-meter-long sequence that was presumably removed by the German censors. The English copy, which turned out to be the best preserved, served as the source material, although it was far from the original. The German copy turned out to be incomplete and heavily used, but contained intertitles in very good condition, which were probably inserted in an earlier copy. Some subtitles were translated from English, whereby the Russian titles were also taken into account, as censorship cards or script documents were no longer available. The three copies found are around 20 to 30 percent shorter than those of the German premiere. The English and Russian copies also contain settings that differ from the German. Inge Duhan's mountain hike with the painter differs in all three versions. In the Russian version, for example, it is considerably longer than in the German or English. The Russian copy also contains indications that the Duhan couple separated at the end of the film, while in the other two versions the partners reconcile.
The film was subjected to a censorship test on August 7, 1928, and a “youth ban” was issued. Fear , which was partly published under the title Fear - The weak hour of a woman , had its premiere in Germany on August 16, 1928 in the Gloria-Palast in Leipzig in front of an invited audience, which celebrated the reopening of a converted cinema. On August 22nd, 1928, the film was shown in the Gloria-Palast in Berlin on the occasion of the international conference of movie theater owners, the most prestigious cinema in Berlin, which brought the film greater publicity and was not unimportant for international exploitation. At the same time the film was shown in other large film palaces in the province. In Austria, the film was first released in Vienna on June 14, 1929 under the title Die Verführte . The film opened in Ireland on June 28, 1929 under the title Fear , in Finland on November 3, 1929 under the title Uskoton , in Estonia on January 18, 1930 under the title Kui naine murrab truudust , and in Spain (Madrid) on October 21, 1931 under the title Silenciosa acusación . In the United Kingdom, the film was also under the title Fear alternativ Trade Show on September 4, 1928, in Poland under the title Strach .
Seeber Film Verlag (Klagenfurt) is the distributor of the digitally restored version.
Background to the film
After Hans Steinhoff drew attention to himself with the silent film Das Frauenhaus von Rio , which deals with the subject of girl trafficking, and the literary film Die Sandgräfin based on the novel by Gustav Frenssen , both of which were a success both financially and with the audience, he established with fear as "reliable support which 'concentrating on producing, Central films production company Orplid and cooperating with it Messtro-rental". The film uses Stefan Zweig's novella of the same name, which deals with the needs and motives of a Viennese lawyer’s wife, who is denied almost no wish, which leads to the fact that she enters into a relationship with a young pianist out of a whim and boredom. When she is blackmailed, she does not know how to deal with the situation.
Zweig's novella was first published in 1925 by Reclam-Verlag. The story , which was written before the First World War , had previously appeared in sequels from August 1922 in the film magazine Film-Kurier . The film historian Horst Claus stated: "The time of publication and the journal suggest that Zweig and his publisher initially saw the material as a possible template for one of the critically acclaimed chamber feature films". In the press at the time it was said that Orplid had prevailed after fierce competition with other film producers and had acquired the film rights. In the first two months of 1928, the film dramaturge Ernst B. Fey was then responsible for creating a script from Zweig's complex psychological study. The difficulty lay in the fact that the novella mainly reproduces the feelings and thoughts of the main character, which could now be exploited in a way that was suitable for the film. In a subplot, Fey then also invented a second pair, not included in Zweig's work, consisting of Dr. Born, a specialist in divorce, and Duhan's partner, and his wife Claire, who, unlike the Duhans, lead an open marriage, which includes a permissive lifestyle, including marital fidelity. This transformed “Zweig's psychologically nuanced portrait of a woman tossed to and fro by her feelings” into a film that seemed more suitable for a wide audience and their viewing habits.
Since the producer Jacoby was ill and one of the main actors was otherwise bound, filming was postponed until the end of April 1928. On May 13, 1928, filming began in the Berlin Grunewald Studios. At the beginning of June Steinhoff went to Cannes with the main actors Elga Brink and Gustav Fröhlich , where the exterior shots were supposed to be made, but this dragged on longer than planned because of the bad weather. Filming was finished in the second half of July.
Planning and production coincided with negotiations for the acquisition of Orpid and Messtro with British and Foreign Films, a British film company newly founded in London. For this reason, the film also starred the English actor Henry Edwards, who was particularly popular in England, and played the role of the lawyer Erich Duhan.
Difference from the novella
In Zweig's novella the main character is Irene Wagner and is harassed and blackmailed by a woman who accuses her of having stolen her lover Eduard from her. Her lover is not a painter, but a pianist whom she met at an evening party. The Wagners have two children, a girl (Helene) and a boy. In the original, Irene Wagner wants to kill herself with poison, but is stopped by her husband Fritz, a successful criminal defense attorney, who tells her that he has hired an unemployed actress to blackmail Irene into leaving her lover .
criticism
Although the film deviated greatly from Zweig's literary model, it was largely well received by the critics. The Reichsfilmblatt ruled on August 25, 1928: "With this fine intimate play, the German market has been enriched by a quality film that will hopefully also be able to completely win over the foreign market."
The magazine Der Film found on August 25, 1928: "A gaudy title for something very sublime, for something that has been resolved into cinematic events with fine discretion, strong empathy, and understanding of psychological conflicts."
In the photo stage of August 23, 1928 it was read that the film had been made with "artistic seriousness". It went on to say: "Beyond everything superficial, only striving for the human and artistic effect, all members have given their best, and so a film of level and psychological tension has emerged, which fully deserves the spontaneous applause ..."
The August 26, 1928 cinematographer enthused: “The confusion of a woman's feelings ... has been created with a delicacy that is not often seen in film. A chamber play that is reminiscent of the best works by Lubitsch and Cecil de Mille , but is by no means a copy, but reveals the director Hans Steinhoff once again as a master with an idiosyncratic talent. The game is completely geared towards the effect of the actors. "
The Vossische Zeitung of August 26, 1928 also praised the film: “Hans Steinhoff captures a piece of life… on the screen, without exaggerated sensations, without artificial problems. Because he shapes life as we see and experience it around us on a daily basis, our interest does not wane until the end, and we eagerly observe two very unequal married couples. A well-deserved success. "
The Silent Film Glossary was of the opinion: “Less psychology and instead more plot, more visual value, more entertainment: Hans Steinhoff's adaptation of Stefan Zweig's famous novella 'Angst' can be briefly described with this formula. [...] With 'Angst', Hans Steinhoff confirms the reputation he had acquired in the mid-20s as a director for cultivated entertainment films who worked quickly, reliably and cost-effectively. "
Web links
- Fear in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Fear at filmportal.de