The dog with the monocle
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The dog with the monocle |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1916 |
| length | approx. 65 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Felix Basch |
| script | Curt Goetz |
| production | David Oliver |
| occupation | |
| |
The dog with the monocle is a German silent detective film from 1916 with Max Landa in the leading role.
action
The criminalist Dr. In the morning Nemo reads in the newspaper that the night before there had been a fire on a property in an abandoned house on Alte Chaussee. There is also a report of a strange scream that was heard during the extinguishing work. Nemo rushes to the property and finds only a dog collar that is dated “1911”. Nemo takes it to the police station, where it is discovered that the dog belonging to it once belonged to a student named Peter Petersen. According to police records, he was found in his apartment on April 30, 1911 with an injury to the back of his head. The man was considered dead, but when the police appeared, the "corpse" suddenly disappeared. When he asked, the landlady Petersens told Nemo that the same Petersen owned a dog, but had not brought it home from an excursion eight days before his alleged death. Obviously the dog was sold because Nemo's police contact determined the new dog owner in the inn "Zur Einsamkeit" in Oberdorf. Then there is also a letter allegedly written by the missing person, which begins with the introduction "Dearest Rita".
The matter is becoming more and more mysterious, especially since Nemo discovered some scribbled words on the doors that remained intact in the fire, such as “white stag”, “red tiger”, “bloodhound” and “pale lily” while inspecting the scene again. Nemo rightly assumes that the abandoned house was last used by children to play Indian games. One of these children reveals to Nemo that the dog really belonged to the dancer Rita Valerie, apparently a gift from the dummy. The child says that it carried out the animal on behalf of Rita. Apparently the mutt perished in the fire. Nemo decides to visit the dancer. In order to come into contact with her more easily, Nemo decides to bring a cute little terrier with a funny, circular spot around the eye that looks like a monocle and to give it to the young woman as a replacement. Once there, he discovers a photo of Petersen in Rita's apartment, who does not have a beard as usual in this picture. Nemo examines the back of the photo and sees the date from the photo lab “5. June 1912 ”, more than a year after the presumed death of Peter Petersen.
The following evening Nemo attended a performance with Rita, who gave a performance of her excessive dance art as a "blue flower". When leaving the box, the detective sees a man walking past him whose face looks somehow familiar, but which he cannot immediately identify. The next day, Dr. Nemo wrote a short note in the newspaper that the dancer Rita Valerie had collapsed after her performance at the Olymp Theater. Despite medical help, her life could no longer have been saved. Nemo immediately goes to Rita's apartment, where the body of the dead is said to have been taken. To his great surprise, the detective learns from the maid who is present that Rita's corpse has suddenly also disappeared. Gradually, Nemo now assumes that they are playing a huge trick on him and the police. He doesn't believe in Rita's death, and he soon remembers where he had already seen the person walking by in the theater: in the photo in Rita's apartment. The stranger was none other than Peter Petersen, who was resurrected from the dead! When asked whether anything has changed in the apartment since the “corpse” of her mistress disappeared, the maid replied that a peasant costume has been missing since then.
Driven by a sixth sense, Dr. Nemo to the tranquil mountain village of Oberdorf, where he actually meets Petersen and Rita in a camouflaged farmer's outfit at the “Zur Einsamkeit” inn. Unmasked by Nemo, Petersen agrees to tell the background to this mysterious story: Petersen once guaranteed a friend for the sum of 80,000 marks. The "friend" soon ran away, and since Petersen only had 50,000 marks in equity, he suddenly owed 30,000 marks overnight. When Petersen, fortunately for him, won 20,000 marks in the lottery, he decided to keep this amount a secret from his creditors. But he found out about the profit and put Petersen on the thumbscrews. In his anger about this, Petersen began to get very drunk on the same day and fell so unhappy that he hit the back of the head and passed out. The doctor who was called confirmed his death in the presence of the landlady. At the moment when both of them were absent, Petersen left to start a new life as an officially “dead person” with the 20,000 marks. He stayed here at the inn and informed his lover Rita. She now used the same trick and played her own death in the Olymp Theater.
The story could actually end here. But no sooner has Peter Petersen finished his explanation than a man rushes into the inn and asks about Petersen. When he saw him, he told the astonished young man that he had been looking for him for a long time in order to send him good news: Petersen's friend, whose guarantee he had once taken on, had long wanted to repay him the guaranteed amount, only they couldn't find him, Petersen, because he had disappeared some time ago. Now all problems dissolve with pleasure: none of those believed dead is really dead, and Peter Petersen is suddenly rid of all his financial worries, which he got into through no fault of his own.
Production notes
The dog with the monocle passed film censorship in October 1916 and was premiered a little later, but possibly not until the beginning of 1917. The three-acter had a length of about 1350 meters. The premiere for Austria-Hungary was scheduled for January 12, 1917.
Reviews
"The original, quite witty plot of this detective drama, which is gaining interest through Max Landa's participation as Doctor Nemo, is both exciting and entertaining."
Paimann's film lists summed up: "The material is pretty good, the game, photos and scenery are very good."
Individual evidence
- ↑ The dog with the monocle in Paimann's film lists ( Memento of the original from August 16, 2016 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.
