The dangerous age

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Movie
Original title The dangerous age
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1927
length approx. 103 minutes
Rod
Director Eugene Illés
script Bobby E. Lüthge based
on the novel of the same name (1910) by Karin Michaëlis
production Eugen Illés
Alex Wolff for Illés-Film, Berlin
camera Johannes Mannling
occupation

The Dangerous Age is a German silent film drama from 1927 directed by Eugen Illés with Asta Nielsen in the lead role. The film is based on the book of the same name by Karin Michaëlis .

action

As in many of her late silent films, Asta Nielsen embodied a lady of advanced age who is characterized by loneliness and age-related insecurity and who has the feeling that life has passed her by. Elsie Lindtner has had a quiet marriage with the respected university professor Richard Lindtner for almost two decades. But she feels an inner emptiness, the fear that this should have been all. She longs for a way out of the beaten track, looking for a meaning for the remaining years of her life, for a new life kick. And she is terribly afraid of aging. One day she meets a much younger student of her husband, the student Jürgen Malthe. She sees everything in him that she longs for: youth, freshness and adventure! For them it becomes a template for a new life.

And so Elsie Lindtner, the woman at a dangerous age, when you think you can't lose too much anymore, takes on the risk: the risk of an affair. The young man is good for her, he is like a fountain of youth, even if Elsie had always disapproved of this little kind of escape of her various contemporaries to younger men, this somewhat absurd temporary love affair. Elsie's panic at the end of the gate means: To dare to make another attempt at love happiness before it's finally too late. Since Jürgen is also on fire for her, this risk seems justified to her, but Elsie soon has to admit that youth alone is no guarantee for feelings of happiness. Rather, it turns out that the age difference between the two temporary lovers and the related consequences are too serious for a lasting relationship to be built on. Although Elsie pushes him back, Jürgen does not give up in his efforts to make love. Both get together again, but it is only when Elsie observes Jürgen's fellow student Magda Rothe's enthusiastic love for the young man that she knows for sure: her relationship with Jürgen will have no future. At the latest when the first rush of love has passed, the illusion of new happiness in old age will burst like a soap bubble.

Elsie is leaving for good, away from Jürgen, away from the belief in a new beginning that will make her old age forgotten, and away from her old life too. She retires as a hermit in her house by the sea. Until one day her ex-husband appears and she realizes in his behavior how much love there is still in him. He shakes hands with her in every way, is loyal and loving, and Elsie admits that it was a gross mistake to have disregarded this old familiarity and cherished habit of an adventurous flirt for the sake of the sake of an adventurous flirt and finally thrown it away. Professor Lindtner has long since forgiven his wife, and Elsie is grateful to him for wanting to bring her back to him under these circumstances. Elsie, the woman of dangerous age, now knows what she has in her godly husband and is returning to his life.

Production notes

The Dangerous Age came about in early autumn 1927 and was Asta Nielsen's last silent film. The film was censored on October 24, 1927, was banned from young people and premiered on November 17, 1927 in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo . The Danish premiere was on January 17, 1928, the Austrian on June 22, 1928. The film had six acts and was 2,598 meters long.

Reviews

In the Österreichische Film-Zeitung of April 21, 1928, you could read about The Dangerous Age on page 26: “An interesting, captivating film, which has the great attraction that the characters of the extremely successful book have gained life and become human to step. The excellent presentation of all those playing naturally increases the impact of the current material. "

Paimann's Filmlisten stated : “A subject that bears testimony to the artistic level of its accusation, the psychological conflicts of which are usually very cleverly reworked visually or replaced by similar ones. Asta Nielsen owes nothing to her role, but perhaps goes a little too far in the self-denial that has often been evident in her lately. Paudler has once again a grateful job, as all men are very well done. Finally, there is a soignant direction, as well as clean presentation and photography. - Overall qualification: above average. "

Vienna's Neue Freie Presse wrote: “For the film adaptation of this book, which once stirred up so much dust, aroused so much contradiction and ultimately found so much truth and confessed it with brave frankness, great skill is now called upon, exclusively proven strength Meeting led. [...] Asta Nielsen, that is the leitmotif in minor - dark, serious, fateful. Most beautiful, most impressive in the grand presentation of socially fashionable elegance. [...] Lucie Höflich's fat cook is a drastic Buffo act. Walter Rilla, an excellent adolescent opponent of the femme de quarante ans, makes many strange things understandable. [...] The loving attention of the director to illustrative details, such as in the theater dressing room, is very fine. The whole film is an interesting thing, captivating because of the extraordinarily lively presentation, the polemics of the subject and its skillful use in film technology. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. "The Dangerous Age". In:  Österreichische Film-Zeitung , April 21, 1928, p. 31 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / fil
  2. The dangerous age ( memento of the original from March 11, 2016 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. In: Paimann's film lists @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / old.filmarchiv.at
  3. "The Dangerous Age". In:  Neue Freie Presse , June 23, 1928, p. 9 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp