The judge (1917)

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Movie
Original title The judge
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1917
length approx. 69 minutes
Rod
Director NN
script Hans Land
production Oskar Messter
occupation

Der Richter is a German silent film from 1917. The screenplay by Hans Land is based on his novel of the same name.

action

The court assessor van Liers is engaged to Lisa Redern. One day through him the girl met Eduard Dekker, who immediately understood how to win the young woman over. Only a few days later, she runs away with her new lover, leaving mother and ex-groom both shocked and perplexed. But Eduard turns out to be a dissolute fellow. The once talented artist quickly sinks down into the gutter and hangs around in ugly pubs. Lisa is left alone with grief and worry. Before she dies in this social misery, she gives birth to another child, a daughter of the same name. Dekker, in turn, runs a sailors tavern in the lowest category.

Years have passed and the lonely van Liers has become an unyielding judge out of sheer bitterness, who shows the harshness and severity of his office with his judgments. One day Liers met a young girl who reminded him strongly of his once apostate love Lisa. He secretly follows her and ends up in the dive bar Dekkers, who is her drunk and neglected father. She lives there in appalling circumstances. Liers soon succumbs to the charm and seduction of the lovely young maiden and begins to neglect his office and duties. The morally strict judge himself now experiences a decline and almost becomes a criminal through this girl. Horrified by his own moral decline, the judge judges himself and shoots himself.

Production notes

The judge was shot in the Messter studio in Berlin's Blücherstraße 32, passed film censorship in November 1917 and was premiered that same month in the Mozart Hall. The length of the four-act act was, depending on the version, 1428 or 1248 meters.

The then 40-year-old Otto Fee ( Fridericus Rex ) possibly made his debut here in front of the camera and embodied a role that was highly unusual in his film career: that of a conscientious seducer.

criticism

“Hans Land, the author of the text, created a psychologically well-thought-out personality in the main character, who plays Bruno Decarli. (...) Bruno Decarli plays excellently in this materially very interesting film, his partner Lisa [sic!] Salten also offered a remarkable performance. Bruno [sic!] Fee characterizes your father, the decrepit artist and seducer, extremely well. The photography is also flawless. "

- Neue Kino-Rundschau of February 23, 1918. P. 66 f.

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