Café Elektric

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Movie
Original title Café Elektric - When a woman loses her way
Café Elektric - The love exchange
Country of production Austria
original language German
Publishing year 1927
length 7 acts, 2395 m, after censorship 2054 m, at 22 fps 80 minutes
Rod
Director Gustav Ucicky
script Jacques Bachrach , Felix Fischer
production Sascha movie
music Gerhard Gruber 2008
camera Hans Androschin
occupation

Café Elektric is the title of an Austrian silent film drama that Gustav Ucicky realized in 1927 based on a script that Jacques Bachrach wrote based on the play "Die Liebesbörse" by Felix Fischer . Marlene Dietrich played her first leading role in this film. In addition to her, producer Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky chose the still young Willi Forst as the male lead. The premiere took place on November 25, 1927 in Vienna.

The film, of which only an incomplete copy exists, was restored by the Filmarchiv Austria in 1978 and broadcast on television in 1996. However, the end of the film is considered lost. The music was rewritten in 2008 by the Austrian silent film pianist Gerhard Gruber .

action

The Café Elektric is the meeting point of the half-world of Vienna. Erni Göttlinger, the daughter of a building contractor, gets involved with the seedy Ferdl, their relationship fails. The second pair of films consists of the engineer Max Stöger, who was once employed by the building contractor, but who has now become unemployed, and the girl Hansi, whom he brings from the demi-world of Café Elektric. After some inevitable misunderstandings, he not only finds work again, but there is also a happy ending with Hansi.

background

The film was a production by Sascha Film-Industrie AG in Vienna. Karl Hartl was in charge of production and also assisted the director. Architect Artur Berger created the film structures, and Hans Androschin drew the photographs . Südfilm AG Berlin was responsible for the distribution for Germany.

“Café Elektric” was in the tradition of the so-called “moral films”. The two subtitles “When a woman loses her way” and “The love exchange” also pointed in this direction. Originally it was supposed to be called “Prostitution”, but this was prevented by the censorship to which the film was presented three times before it was approved for Germany.

The film was called “Prostitution. Irrwege der Liebe ”first appeared on January 23, 1928, before the censorship in Berlin with a length of 7 files equal to 2395 m and was immediately banned under No. B.17 969. Even after heavy cuts that shortened it to 2054 m and two further attempts on February 3 and 13, 1928

"Prostitution. Irrwege der Liebe ”, Berlin Film Inspectorate, February 3, 1928, 7 files 2054 m, censorship no. B. 18 070, prohibition.

"Prostitution. Irrwege der Liebe ”, Film-Oberprüfstelle, February 13, 1928, 7 files 2054 m, censorship no. O.00150, prohibition.

the censorship agency stuck to its decision, which it justified as follows:

"Male and female viewers are dulled and stimulated in their moral feelings by this portrayal of easy and successful acquisition of material and sexual advantages, which is tantamount to a demoralizing effect." (Berlin February 13, 1928, Film-Oberprüfstelle Berlin No. 150)

The first performance for Austria took place on November 25, 1927 in Vienna. The film premiered in Berlin on March 22, 1928 in the Emelka Palace.

The aim of the film was to show "how easy it is in our time to stray from the right path and how neglected upbringing can destroy a whole life." But it should also teach "that it is possible for a person who has sunk through no fault of their own to find their way back from the dark to the light through pure love." The educational intentions claimed in the opening credits of the film were not meant seriously, however, as the "sensation" was of bare female legs and extended kissing scenes in the foreground.

Vienna in the 1920s is not portrayed realistically in the film - 1927 was the year of the Palace of Justice fire , the social disputes of that year known as the “July Revolt” were not reflected in the film - but the actors made believable characters, above all Willi Forst whose heyday only began with the sound film. Marlene Dietrich, at the mercy of the pimp Ferdl, did not convince everyone with her physical charms. It was only able to develop its unique charisma in Josef von Sternberg's sound films .

Reviews

  • Film review after the world premiere in: Lichtbild-Bühne , March 23, 1928, and a picture of the Süd-Film AG advertisement “A gripping image with a magnificent display” from: Lichtbild-Bühne , March 21, 1928
  • Film review by Georg Herzberg for the screening in the Emelka-Palast, Berlin, on March 22, 1928 (Source: DIF)

Republication

The “Edition Der Standard” Vienna released the film with the music by Gerhard Gruber on October 3, 2008 on DVD (third part of the edition, number 105).

Web links

Illustrations

literature

  • Francesco Bono: Willi Forst: a film critical portrait . Publisher ET + K, Ed. Text + Criticism, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86916-054-2 , pp. 82, 95, 299, 337.
  • Charlotte Chandler: Marlene - Marlene Dietrich, A Personal Biography . Verlag Simon and Schuster, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4391-8835-4 , pp. 55-56.
  • Robert von Dassanowsky: Austrian Cinema. A history. McFarland Verlag, 2005, ISBN 0-7864-3733-2 , p. 39.
  • Walter Fritz: The Austrian feature films of the silent film era 1907–1930 . Vienna 1967.
  • Hans Schmid: Nazi virus in the film (= TELEPOLIS). Heise Zeitschriften Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-936931-81-5 .
  • Willem Strank, Claus Tieber: Jazz in Film. Contributions to the history and theory of an intermedia phenomenon . LIT Verlag, Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-50614-6 , p. 14 note 1.
  • Alfred Polgar: Marlene - picture of a famous contemporary . Edited by Ulrich Weinzierl. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-552-05721-0 .
  • Friedrich von Zglinicki: The way of the film. History of cinematography and its predecessors . Rembrandt Verlag, Berlin 1956, pp. 554-555.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ With this title there was already a film in 1919 whose main title was "Princess Tatiana"; Carl Wilhelm shot it for the company Internationaler Film-Vertrieb Deitz & Co (Berlin) based on a script by Hans Gaus , cf. filmportal.de and GECD # 31835
  2. ↑ cf. Advertisement by Südfilm AG ( Memento of the original dated December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and the announcement and review of “Café Electric” (1927) in: Lichtbild-Bühne , March 20, 1928: “The advertising for this Austrian film, which only passed German censorship on its third attempt, is already quite sensational; the earlier title "prostitution" is highlighted and emphasized how often it has been banned. " @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / stummfilm-fan.beepworld.de
  3. ↑ cf. filmportal.de
  4. ↑ cf. filmportal.de
  5. ↑ Kino am Kurfürstendamm, cf. berlin.de
  6. ↑ cf. stummfilm.at
  7. ↑ “Nina Vanna as Hansi neither stimulates nor even upsets us. Marlene Dietrich more undemanding, at least the latter. If she had better not bare her muscular shoulders. On the other hand, the critic of the Lichtbild-Bühne found on 23 March 1928.