The Rio women's refuge
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Rio women's refuge |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1927 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hans Steinhoff |
| script | Bobby E. Lüthge |
| production | Georg Jacoby |
| camera | Franz Planner |
| occupation | |
| |
The Rio Women's Refuge is a German silent film from 1927 that deals with the trafficking of girls. Directed by Hans Steinhoff , Ernst Deutsch and Albert Steinrück played the leading roles. The literary film adaptation is based on the novel Plüsch und Plümowski by Norbert Jacques .
action
Plüsch and Plümowski are two equally sinister and villainous characters and yet antipodes through and through. The wealthy Plümowski is vastly superior to the less successful plush in his criminal business. Plüsch tries desperately to become just as successful as Plümowski, who feels cheated out of his merit. Everything is fermenting in him, he thirsts for revenge. One day Plüsch finds out that Plümowski leads a double life. In the life known to plush, Plümowski presents himself as a serious, unmarried Hamburg merchant Schröder, who, however, in reality regularly supplies “fresh goods” from overseas to Ilona Schwarz-Lopez's brothel, the “Rio women's shelter”. In the other life he is a staid husband who lives with his wife and daughter in a small town far from sin. Plümowski's daughter Kordula desperately wants to become a dancer, but her father strictly forbids that. He already knows why, as many young women were abused as prostitutes and shipped to Rio de Janeiro with the promise of being able to perform there as a dancer in a reputable establishment.
In fact, Madame Schwarz-Lopez lures young German women with advertisements that promise those interested in training at their alleged dance academy. Kordula, Plüsch suspects, must be Plümowski's greatest weak point, and what could hit the hated opponent more than if you send your daughter to the next batch of “fresh women's goods” to South America? Plüsch therefore arranges a "chance" meeting with the strictly educated but all the more adventurous Kordula and encourages her to finally dare to try something new. By the way, Plüsch Schwarz-Lopez, whom he knows from earlier, offers a particularly interesting girl, Kordula, as “fresh meat”. So Kordula secretly sets out for Rio with a friend, the somewhat naive Polish ballet devin Josefa, and a confidante of Ilona Schwarz-Lopez, a certain Mr. Verloost, who knows nothing about his boss's true business. On the way to South America, the companion takes care of Plümowski's daughter, and the two grow closer. Ilona, who is also present, very much displeases Verloost's approach to her “goods”, and so she lets him in on her real business model. The brothel boss threatens to destroy him if he doesn't keep his mouth shut.
This in turn is shocked, but does not show it. Verloost has long since fallen in love with Kordula and informs the ship's captain of what has been brought to his attention so that he can inform the police in Rio in advance. Kordula also inaugurates Verloost, and once she arrives in Rio, she promises him to play the game to convict Mrs. Schwarz-Lopez of trafficking in girls and to put an end to the trade. Arrived in the Brazilian port city, Kordula goes on board with her puffmother, while Verloost discusses the upcoming raid with the police. As soon as she arrives at the brothel, Kordula can only resist the intrusive advances of her first customer with difficulty, when the police burst into the building and arrest everyone. The puff mother evades her punishment and takes poison. Meanwhile, Plüsch confronts Plümowski with a sneer that his Kordula has already had her first night as a hooker in Rio behind her. Beside himself with anger over what Plush has hatched in his sick brain, Plümowski strangles his counterpart in a fit of frenzy. Then he goes mad. In Rio, however, Verloost and Kordula found each other as a couple.
Production notes
The women's refuge in Rio was built in June and July 1927 with the working title Plüsch und Plümowsky in the UFA Atelier in Berlin and in Wohltorf near Hamburg (exterior shots). Due to massive violence and rape scenes, the film had to be submitted to the censorship test several times and had to undergo a few cuts. However, as the film's chilling character towards trafficking in girls was certainly appreciated, the Rio Women's Refuge was premiered on September 15, 1927 in the Haydn Cinema in Vienna one day later in the Tauentzienpalast in Berlin .
The film structures were designed by Hans Sohnle and Otto Erdmann . Producer Georg Jacoby also took over the production management, Bruno Lopinski the recording management.
The film cost 132,255.68 Reichsmarks.
In the United States, the film was released in a sound version in 1930 under the distribution title Girls For Sale .
Director Steinhoff replied that he would give himself up to such a colportage with the following reply. He found that “people who approach such a film with the corners of their mouth pulled down and the words half-apologetic because they feel too good for it should rather leave the work. Even a Heidelberg or Rhine film must be made with love and artistic seriousness; a director must stand up for it with his whole personality, otherwise these films are unbearable. "
In 1949/50 a German remake was made under the title Export in Blond . Directed by Eugen York .
criticism
“The unnamed manuscript writer works profusely with poison, insanity, double life and nobility. Hans Steinhoff's brisk directing and the generally above average performances of the actors Ernst Deutsch, Albert Steinrück, Susi Vernon, Hans Stüwe and Vivian Gibson led to success. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “Compared to other girl trafficking films, with the exception of the scenes set in a brothel in Rio de Janeiro, the kitsch was pretty much avoided, apart from the visual kidnapping story, the amusing counterplay of two sophisticated crooks was offered. The direction worked in the same way, is continuously continuous, the presentation carefully, the presentation and photography clean. "
Web links
- The shelter of Rio in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The women's refuge in Rio at filmportal.de
- The women's refuge in Rio in bundesarchiv.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Film-Kurier of August 6, 1927
- ^ The women's refuge in Rio ( Memento of March 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Paimann's Filmlisten, No. 598 of September 23, 1927. Accessed on September 12, 2019.
