King Fu's yellow house
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | King Fu's yellow house |
| Country of production |
Germany France |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1931 |
| length | about 87 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Grune |
| script |
Rudolf Katscher Egon Eis based on the play The Yellow House of Rio by Josef M. Velter |
| production | Emelka Weekly Show GmbH, Berlin; Pathé-Nathan Cinéma, Paris |
| music |
Friedrich Hollaender Rolf Marbot Roman Ludwig Chmehl Werner Schmidt-Boelcke |
| camera | Werner Brandes |
| cut | Wolfgang Loë-Bagier |
| occupation | |
and as King-Fus accomplices: Louis Ralph , Jaro Fürth , Andrews Engelmann | |
The Yellow House of King-Fu is a German crime film directed by Karl Grune from 1931.
action
A mysterious murderer is up to mischief in the city and several women have already fallen victim to him. Many clues point to a certain King-Fu, who the police are now feverishly looking for. At the same time, a small theater company, which is financially pretty bad because of the sluggish ticket sales, is giving a guest performance on site. The director of the small group is therefore delighted when a certain Cyrill Scalpa offers him a piece that is guaranteed to cause a sensation and fill the coffers due to its topicality. The focus of the plot is namely the scary serial murder of women. Scalpa desperately wants to play the leading role, but with this wish comes up against determined resistance from the actor Smell, who is used to always being in the spotlight himself. But it's not just professional competition that makes him rebel. Smell knows that Scalpa and his stage partner Anita, a dancer, know each other from before, and he now sees Scalpa as an opponent in private.
Scalpa has a "glorious" idea to prove to Smell that he can keep up with acting. One evening he “kidnaps” Anita in the mask of King-Fu and insinuates that her life is now in great danger. Smell also falls into the hands of the King-Fu after he was lured into a house by Scalpa, overwhelmed and tied up. Then he watches as Anita has to dance in front of King-Fu and then, he is led to believe, drinks a poisoned tea. Smell cries out in horror. Scalpa then pulls down his King Fu mask and laughs at the frightened fellow actor as if to say: "Well, am I a good actor now?"
This gruesome scene is so popular with the theater director that it is immediately inserted into the Scalpa play. But before the author can now fear the theater audience as King-Fu, he is overwhelmed by the accomplices of the real criminal king in his dressing room. The real King-Fu now steps on the stage while everyone involved believes that Scalpa is playing there. Since the real King-Fu has a reputation to defend, he tries coram publico to murder Anita on stage during the performance. But Anita is the only one who realizes that she is not facing Scalpa and acts quickly. She gives her colleague Carlotta a sign, who then calls the police. When state power arrives, King-Fu's people have managed to shut down the lights so their boss can escape, with Anita as his kidnap victim. He reaches his domicile, the eponymous yellow house, and wants to end his murderous act on Anita. When he is bending over the young woman to turn her neck, the pursuers storm the yellow house and arrest the gang.
Production notes
The yellow house of King-Fu was Grune's only sound film director in Germany and was made in the Pathé studios of Joinville (near Paris) in the winter of 1930/31 . Originally the movie was supposed to be called The Yellow House of Rio . But since a film called Der Weg nach Rio , Manfred Noa's last production, had already started in mid-January 1931 , the production company decided to change its name to Germany. In Austria, the thriller actually started on August 7, 1931 under the original title The Yellow House of Rio . The French version, which was created at the same time, also had the original title translated into the local language: La maison jaune de Rio . Of the original cast, only the multilingual actors Paul Graetz and Andrews Engelman played here . With Robert Péguy, a French dialogue director was assigned to Grune, who was ignorant of French.
The yellow house of King-Fu passed film censorship on February 25, 1931 and was banned from youth. The first performance of the original version took place on April 16, 1931 in the Berlin Capitol. The length of the eight-stroke engine was 2392 meters. The French version had already started four weeks earlier, on March 31, 1931, in the Max Linder cinema in Paris.
The buildings come from Hans Sohnle and Otto Erdmann . The lyrics to the songs were written by Fritz Rotter . One of the four composers, Werner Schmidt-Boelcke , was also the musical director,
Songs
The following songs were played:
- Today I just dance for you (Music: Schmidt-Boelcke and Marbot / Text: Rotter)
- I've been missing my heart for 24 hours (Music: Hollaender / Text: Rotter)
- Monsieur, help yourself (Music: Hollaender / Text: Rotter)
The titles were published by Alrobi-Musikverlag, Berlin.
criticism
Paimann's film lists summed up: "It is difficult to say whether the director who tried other subjects [failed] with the book or with him. In any case, Grune tried in vain to create the atmosphere necessary for this musty crime story with unusual ideas, lighting effects and original settings The actors were just as unable to differentiate between bluff figures and real figures, just as the direction was unable to bring stage romance and reality differently. The result: partly confusion, partly overemphasis, involuntary laughter successes. The photography is pictorially effective, scenes a little flat, the sound good . ... a passable medium film. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ The yellow house of Rio ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been 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
