The witch's song
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The witch's song |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1919 |
| length | approx. 71.77 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Eugene Burg |
| script | Eugene Burg |
| production |
Viggo Larsen Wanda Treumann |
| occupation | |
| |
Das Hexenlied is a German silent film drama from 1919 with Wanda Treumann in the leading role. The material is based on the novel The Elixirs of the Devil (1815/16) by ETA Hoffmann .
action
The old gypsy Sybilla lives with her granddaughter Toschka, whose mother was once burned at the stake as a witch, in a lonely hut. One day marauding rioters track them down and bring them to a vein court. The leader of the gang, Landsknecht Rothenburg, takes a liking to the young woman and later sets her free again. Toschka settles in the forest, where she meets Rothenburg's son Gottfried. The mob in the area had long since branded the young gypsy as a witch and ruthlessly persecuted the young innocence. Toschka is thrown into dungeon because she is accused of having bewitched the children of a poor woman whom she once offered water. Toschka is mercilessly tortured there in prison in order to snatch a confession from her that would convict her of witchcraft.
Rothenburg stands up for the battered, but this circumstance only leads to the fact that the masses now accuse them of having also bewitched father and son. Toschka is thus completely exposed to the verdict of the Vote Court. The judgment of shame continues the tradition of “burning witches” that was committed on her mother and grandmother, who also ended up at the stake. Toschka is also said to die in a flame. Standing at the stake, the dying gypsy sings once more the song, condemned as a “witch's song”, with which she once lured Gottfried in the forest. The Landsknecht son, locked away by his father in the face of the terrible judgment, is able to free himself and rushes to the pyre - but he comes too late. The flames have long embraced Toshka's body. Thereupon the young man also throws himself on the burning pile of wood to die with his lover. The old Landsknecht Rothenburg collapses in the face of this tragedy. Only now is the hatred of the drooling mob satisfied.
Production notes
The witch's song passed film censorship in early September 1919 and was premiered on September 6, 1919 in the Prinzesstheater in Berlin. The length of the five-act act was 1595 or 1460 meters, depending on the cut.
The film structures were created by August Rinaldi .
criticism
“A cultural-historical film in five parts, Das Hexenlied, is a powerful piece of equipment. (...) The content is the blackest of the Middle Ages - and yet more contemporary than almost any other! The death of Rosa Luxemburg is also a piece of the Middle Ages and very identical to the burning of witches. (...) Wanda Treumann, as Toschka, has warm accents for the innocently persecuted gypsy - the execution at the stake is sensational. "