The mother's song
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The mother's song |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1918 |
| length | 63 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alwin Neuss |
| script |
Julius Sternheim based on his own template |
| production | Erich Pommer |
| camera | Carl Hoffmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Das Lied der Mutter is a German silent film melodrama from 1918 by and with Alwin Neuss . Toni Tetzlaff can be seen in the title role of the mother , Lil Dagover at her side played her first leading role here.
action
When the famous singer Vera Rasmussen returned to her apartment one evening from a concert and wanted to check on her sleeping child Friedel, she noticed that a man she did not know had entered. But Kurt Werner is not a simple burglar, but a tragic existence in a mental emergency. Werner read about Vera's appearance in the concert hall, but couldn't afford a ticket. Since her repertoire also includes a song that Kurt's mother used to sing for him in his youth, he asks the artist to perform it again exclusively for him. Vera fulfills this request. In the end, the grown man begins to cry uncontrollably. Vera is so moved by his emotion that she begins to fall in love with the stranger, especially since Kurt tells Vera about his difficult fate: his father died early and his mother became everything. Both lives were difficult, there wasn’t enough money back and forth, and certainly not enough for Kurt's aspired studies.
Kurt and Vera get married, the marriage is happy for seven years. But then Vera can no longer perform publicly as a singer due to an insidious illness and soon looks death in the eye. Little Friedel has meanwhile become a beautiful young woman. She fell in love with the young assessor Grunow, the son of a bank co-owner. When he asks for her hand, however, she doubts, because in truth Kurt had always belonged to her heart. But this holds back. Depressed by this emotional uncertainty, Friedel rushes out of the house one day and is about to throw her life away. From her hospital room, Vera sees her daughter running away and sends Kurt after to fetch her back. In fact, he can save his stepdaughter from the planned suicide: When both return, Vera is dying. In her last breath, the former singer recognizes the emotional ties between daughter Friedel and her husband Kurt. She gives her blessing for this union, and while the two kneel before her on their deathbed, she places her hand on both heads in a blessing.
Production notes
The mother's song happened in November 1918 and opened in theaters immediately afterwards. At that time, the four-stroke had a length of 1305 meters.
criticism
“The song of Julius Sternheim's mother is a beautiful feature film that combines a poetic subject with atmospheric images and creates a deep effect through the delicately tinted presentation. Only three people stand in the action, but fill it in with great artistry. Alwin Neuss is also in charge of the direction, which stylishly frames the plot. Carl Hoffmann's photography shows clear and beautiful images. "