The Schimmelreiter (1984)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Pale Rider |
| Country of production | GDR Poland |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1984 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Klaus Gendries |
| script | Klaus Gendries Gerhard Rentzsch (scenario) Bernd Schirmer (dramaturgy) |
| production | Helga Lüdde for GDR television ; Halina Kawecka for Telewizja Polska |
| music | Jürgen Corner |
| camera | Jerzy Stawicki |
| cut | Karola Mittelstädt |
| occupation | |
| |
The Schimmelreiter , Polish title Jeździec na siwym koniu , is a German-Polish literary film adaptation by Klaus Gendries from 1984 . It is based on the novel of the same name by Theodor Storm .
action
A man comes riding over the dike in bad weather and suddenly thinks he has seen a ghost rider. In the inn the man reports what he thought he saw. An old man sits down by him and tells him the story of this rider, which happened more than 100 years ago:
Hauke Haien becomes the new small servant at the old dikemaster Volkerts. Hauke can read, write and arithmetic and, because of his skills, draws the hostility of the long-time servant Ole Peters. Ole had firmly expected to marry Volkert's daughter Elke one day and thus become Volkert's new dikemaster after his death. Now he sees the 24-year-old Hauke as a competitor and spreads rumors among the superstitious villagers about Hauke, who is supposedly in league with the devil.
In coordination with Elke, Hauke writes the reports to the chief dichgrave, which Volkerts only has to sign. The next time Volkerts is called to the dichgrave, he receives praise for the excellent reports of the last time. The Oberdeichgraf announces that he will appear at a planned festival. Here he takes part in a game in which the winner is who can throw a ball the farthest. In the end there is a duel between Ole and Hauke, which Hauke wins. Ole spreads again that the fight was wrong. As a prize, Hauke could dance with a girl of his choice, but he fears that his dancing skills will embarrass the Elke he admires. Instead he takes her for a walk and tells her that he will be leaving because his father is dying. He hands her a letter in which, among other things, he confesses his love for her, which, due to the difference in class, would never be returned. Elke, however, loves him too and has already secretly bought rings in town. On the dike she becomes engaged to Hauke, even if both keep their relationship a secret from old Volkerts.
Volkerts dies unexpectedly one morning. Elke asks the head dikemaster to appoint Hauke as the new dikemaster. In recent years he himself has done the work that apparently came from Volkerts. Although he is young, he is experienced enough. As soon as the year of mourning is over, Elke Hauke will marry, so that he will be the legal dikemaster due to the land ownership. Hauke Haien becomes the new dikemaster. The people in the village are rumbling again. Elke becomes pregnant and almost dies in childbed. The midwife gives up Elke because Hauke doesn't believe in God enough. Elke still survives, which Hauke sees as a good sign.
Hauke hires a new servant in 14-year-old Iven. Together with Ole and Vollina's servant, Iven often walks along the beach and one day believes that he will see the ghost of a gray horse on the Jevershallig. He drives to the Hallig and finds only a horse skeleton there. Nevertheless, Oles Knecht claims that the ghost horse was standing directly behind Iven on the Hallig. When Hauke appears a little later with an emaciated white horse that he bought from a traveling dealer, Iven flees to his father in a panic.
Despite resistance from Ole, Hauke was able to push through his plan to build a new, flatter, rising dike, especially since the village elder is also behind Hauke. He again incurs the anger of the villagers when he breaks the custom of burying “something living” in the new dike and saves the dog intended for this from suffocation. While the dike is being built, the old midwife Trin sees a vision of a great misfortune approaching the residents. In fact, some time later a thunderstorm starts and soon a storm surge is imminent. In order to relieve the old dike, Ole instructs his men to break through the new dike. Hauke brings the men to their senses, but shortly afterwards sees how the old dike breaks. He goes to the site of the accident and a little later recognizes his wife and son in the flood area, who are approaching in a carriage. He wants to warn them, but is pulled down on his white horse by the masses of water. The flood also kills Elke and Hauke's child.
The old man finishes his story about Hauke Haien and the mysterious Schimmelreiter. The visitor thanks and rides on along the dike.
production
The Schimmelreiter was shot on the Baltic Sea (GDR and Poland), in Klockenhagen and in Stralsund . The costumes created Margitta Hinrichs and Doris Haussmann , the Filmbauten come from Janusz Dvornik and Albert Kuchnia and Tadeusz Kosarewicz and tungsten guest . The film premiered on GDR television on December 26, 1984 and was shown for the first time in West Germany on September 7, 1985 in Husum . Icestorm released it on DVD in 2010 as part of the DDR TV Archive series .
After On the gray beach, on the gray sea (1979), Der Schimmelreiter was Klaus Gendries' second adaptation of Theodor Storm.
criticism
"It is the only film that takes up Storm's frame technique and tries to translate the memory motif, which is so important for Storm's narrative art, into film language," says the Theodor Storm Society in relation to the various Schimmelreiter films.
Web links
- The Ghost Rider in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Schimmelreiter at filmportal.de