The Masked Ball (1917)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The masked ball |
| Original title | Álarcosbál |
| Country of production | Austria-Hungary |
| original language | Hungarian |
| Publishing year | 1917 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfréd Deésy |
| script | based on the opera of the same name by Giuseppe Verdi |
| production | “Star” Filmfabrik und Filmvertriebs AG Budapest-Vienna |
| camera | Karl Vass |
| occupation | |
| |
The Masked Ball is an Austro-Hungarian silent film filmed in Hungarian in 1917 with Bela Lugosi in a leading role.
action
Amalie is the beautiful wife of René, secretary to the governor of the island of Mondero. Both have a five year old child. In Oswalt, the island's naval commander, René has a competitor who not only envies the duke's favor, but also wants to steal his wife from him. But Amalie is not interested and rejects Oswalt. Deeply offended in his vanity, Oswalt vows to seek revenge on René and his wife. First Oswalt tries to make the Duke believe that Amalie loves him while he whispers to Amalie that the Duke is more interested in her than his due. In addition, Oswalt also has political plans. He teams up with some conspirators who have long wanted to get rid of the ducal governor, and becomes the head of this gang. Together, the scoundrels decide to murder the Duke at the upcoming masked ball after Oswalt's first attempt to murder the Duke while riding from behind had failed. René and his wife are also invited to the masked ball.
René learns of the impending conspiracy and warns his duke. In his arrogance, he does not believe in it and considers it a horror story. He even goes so far as to want to wear a conspicuous, gray domino with an easily visible black heart to the masked ball . Meanwhile, Oswalt continues his intrigues. In order to personally punish Amalie for her rejection, he persuades her to go to a fortune teller, because her child's life is in danger. In fact, the fortune teller advises Amalie to go to the chapel with the Forest Madonna at night to pray for the welfare of her offspring. In order to compromise her on the spot, Oswalt sends a letter to the Duke, in which it says that at a certain point in time a beautiful woman was waiting with the Forest Madonna who would beg for his love. As the island governor's personal secretary, René also sees the letter. He advises his boss not to go there, as he suspects a trap or an attempted assassination behind this letter. Driven by curiosity, the Duke nevertheless goes to the relevant place and wears a very conspicuous, white coat.
The Duke and Amalie meet in front of the Forest Madonna. The governor speaks to her about “her” letter, but she doesn't know anything. René still believes in a conspiracy and has secretly followed the duke. There he sees his boss and his wife. Before he can worry, the conspirators attack to kill the duke. René defends him bravely. The island governor escapes. But now René actually believes that his boss and Amalie are having an affair and that this could have been their secret meeting place, which the conspirators also know. Beside himself with anger and disappointment, René now changes sides and joins the conspirators. The lot to kill the Duke at the earliest opportunity falls on him. And that should arise at the masked ball. In fact, the governor and host intends to wear the domino in question with his heart on his chest. At the last minute, however, Amalie can persuade him to make a costume swap so that now someone else wears his domino. Without knowing anything, he exchanges the item of clothing for Oswalt's costume, just for fun. René storms out and shoots the man in the domino. It's Oswalt who sinks to the ground dead. René learns that he has wrongly suspected his wife of adultery and is pardoned by the duke. With a heavy heart, the governor renounces Amalie and transfers the couple to a new post far away from the island.
Production notes
The masked ball was created in Budapest in 1917, had a length of three acts and was performed in the Hungarian capital in 1918. In Germany, the film passed the film censorship in December 1917. Contrary to what is stated in filmportal.de, the film was not produced by the Berlin production company Saturn-Film GmbH, but only distributed abroad by them. The world premiere of The Masked Ball was likely to have taken place on November 5, 1917 in the Haydn Cinema in Vienna.
Bela Lugosi was still called Arisztid Olt back then. The buildings were designed by Stefan Lhotka , who was still known as Lhotka Szirontai in his homeland.
Reviews
“The plot is exciting and gripping. The performers put a lot of effort and care into making it a success. "
In Paimann's film lists you can read: “Material, game and photos are very good. Excellent scenery (for a fine audience). "
Individual evidence
- ↑ The masked ball in Paimann's film lists ( memento of the original from March 31, 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.
Web links
- The masked ball in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The masked ball at filmportal.de