The girl shepherd
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The girl shepherd |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1919 |
| length | approx. 83 (1919), approx. 73 (today) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Grune |
| script | Karl Grune Beate Schach based on the novel of the same name (1914) by Egon Erwin Kisch |
| production | Artist film, Berlin |
| camera | Felix Xaver |
| occupation | |
| |
The girl shepherd is a German silent film from 1919 by Karl Grune . The script by Grune and Beate Schach is based on the novel of the same name by Egon Erwin Kisch .
action
Inspector Karl Duschnitz is taking part in a trip on an excursion steamer when the ship's boiler explodes. Panic breaks out and the passengers jump overboard. The criminal investigation officer is saved from death by the fisherman Chrapot and brought to his home. The detective wakes up in his bed. Chrapot returns to the scene of the accident. His wife uses this time, draws the curtains and goes to bed with Duschnitz. A few weeks later, the fisherman's wife reappears at the inspector's police office. She says she is pregnant by him, and her husband has already been informed of this fact. Duschnitz offers to help the future mother of his child financially. The condition, however, is that the child must never find out who the true father is.
Years go by. The Kampa Island in Prague is a popular youth club. The young people who want to leave their fives in this idyllic spot include the boys “the sharp Adalbert”, “the black Toni” and “the dashing Jarda”. They are joined by the almost half-grown women Louise Heil, Emmy Dworak and their sister Betka. Jaroslav, so "dashing Jarda", and Betka are in a relationship, while Louise is secretly in love with Jarda. Later, Jarda and Adalbert meet in a dark pub, a veritable dive bar. There Adalbert has set up his 'control center', from there he sends the girls who go to buy for him on the line: He earns his living as a pimp. One of the prostitutes is Emmy. Adalbert wants to train the somewhat naive Jarda in this "profession"; he too should become a pimp, since this job promises a lot of money with little work, as he says. Then Adalbert also claims that in reality all girls would like to do this job. In this way Adalbert wants to influence Jarda so that he also wins his girlfriend Betka into prostitution. Betka has already been approached by Adalbert in this regard and is not even averse. Since Jarda does not say "no" despite considerable reservations, this girl now also begins to work as a whore.
The following afternoon, Betka meets her first suitor in a shabby dump. Jarda doesn't want to believe that it has come to this. He wants to get his girlfriend out of there, but the doorman of the cheap hotel does not allow him access. Jarda is completely confused now. Disgusted and glowing with jealousy, he walks aimlessly through the streets of Prague. Meanwhile, Commissioner Duschnitz has an appointment with a lawyer and tells him that he has been pressured for years by the mother of his illegitimate child, the fruit of a “quick number” on the fishing boat. It soon turns out that Jarda is actually the now grown-up child from this short-term relationship. Louise Heil's family is now broke, you can't even buy the bare essentials to eat. Louise goes to her youth crush Jarda in the hope that he can help her. But Jarda as a new pimp has become so unscrupulous as to lure her into prostitution too. He lures the innocent girl with the prospect of soon being relieved of all financial worries.
Adalbert persuades Jarda to get a second job. He should work as a temporary waiter in a variety theater. There the beginner gets to know the dancer Illonka and begins to hang around with her in her dressing room. Illonka gives him a cigarette case, then the two of them arrange to meet for the following evening. Betka is meanwhile going shopping and filling Jarda's wallet. Meanwhile, Commissioner Duschnitz intends to end the hustle and bustle of the Kampa hooligans. He sees the core of the moral depravity in the young people who have made their way there. The latest crime reported to the police is the theft of a valuable cigarette case. Meanwhile, Jarda has a serious, self-inflicted problem on her neck. Due to his uncontrolled sexual contacts, the doctor examining him found a sexually transmitted disease , presumably syphilis . The police are then told by an informant that Jarda must be the thief of the cigarette case. The thief is arrested in the demolished meeting of the youth group. In the area, Duschnitz experienced a huge surprise: He saw his son Jarda for the first time and had to discover that his own flesh and blood had become a really shabby subject.
This leads to a direct confrontation between father and son. Jarda accuses Showernitz of being responsible for sinking so deeply and becoming a pimp. After all, he, Duschnitz, was never present as a father. When Jarda tries to get violent towards the inspector, he is taken to a mental institution without further ado. After a while, Jarda's venereal disease is over and he is allowed to go back to freedom. But now he's all alone. His mother turns away from him as does his old clique, consisting of pimps and young hookers. The half-world crooks believe that he is now active as a police spy. Faithful Louise is the only one he has left and gives Jarda a room in her apartment. The young man vows to get better and resolves to start a new life. He believes that he has received the necessary money for this new beginning from his father, Duschnitz. His plan is to leave Prague with Louise and go abroad. But the commissioner has other plans. He believes that Jarda can only go through a change of heart the hard way and therefore wants to put him in a reformatory. Jarda freaks out completely. Once more disappointed with Duschnitz, who had failed as a father, he broke into his house the following evening in order to get some money. The inspector caught him. There is a scuffle in which Jarda pulls out a knife and Karl Duschnitz stabs. Jarda is now in a trance, completely desperate. He no longer wants to live with the guilt of being a parricide and decides to kill himself. Louise, on the other hand, does not want to go on living without Jarda and joins him. Both plunge into the Vltava .
Production notes
The girl shepherd , a common name for a pimp at the time, was made in August 1919 at several locations in Prague ( Kampa Island , Old Town, on the Vltava River) and was Karl Green's first film director. In this film taboos of the time such as prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases are discussed. As early as September 1919, Grunes' directorial debut, which was later banned from young people, was premiered. The girl shepherd was 1,704 meters long, spread over six acts. The version currently stored in the film archive of the Federal Archives is 1511 meters long.
Karl Grune also designed the buildings that were carried out by August Rinaldi . Green co-author Beate Schach was his future wife, the ex-wife of Max Schach . The Girl Shepherd , published in 1914, was Egon Erwin Kisch's only novel .