The Shylock of Krakow
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Shylock of Krakow |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1913 |
| length | 47 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carl Wilhelm |
| script | Felix Salten |
| production | Paul Davidson for PAGU, Berlin |
| music |
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Jacques Fromental Halévy Giuseppe Verdi Johann Schulz |
| occupation | |
| |
The Shylock of Krakow is a German feature film from 1913. Directed by Carl Wilhelm played Rudolph Schildkraut the title role. Felix Salten wrote the script .
action
The story is partially based on William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and takes place in Galicia at the beginning of the 20th century.
The money lender Isaak Levi leads the life of a godly Jew in Krakow. He respects Jewish customs and laws and educates his two daughters Rahel and Miriam in this spirit. It hits him all the harder when one of the two daughters enters into a relationship with a man who does not at all correspond to the wishes of a pious Jew. The father-daughter relationship threatens to break up when the daughter makes off with her lover, whom Isaac has lent money.
Isaac sees this as a tremendously difficult test of his faith and traditions and begins to quarrel with God and the world. Over the years he becomes hard-hearted and cold, and his anger at life is felt at his customers too. A lot of time has passed before the daughter realizes what she has done to her deeply believing father with her decision and asks his forgiveness. On his deathbed, the daughter who was once lost and has now returned home is reconciled with the embittered father.
Production notes
The Shylock of Krakow was filmed in the Union studio in Berlin-Tempelhof and had a length of 1284 meters on four acts. The external shoots took place in Krakow , then Austria-Hungary . The film passed the censorship on October 14, 1913 and ran two days later at Berlin's Friedrichstrasse UT.
The Shylock of Krakow is considered the first film by the acclaimed theater mime Schildkraut. Hermann Warm created one of his first film structures here.
The pieces of music originally used are predominantly taken from classical composers. “Hebrew Melodies”, “Fantasy About the Jewess”, “Polish Song”, “Rondo capriccioso”, “Serenade” and “Troubadour (Miserere)” were played.
The film is now considered lost.
reception
In Ost und West , the illustrated monthly magazine about modern Judaism, Arno Nadel wrote :
“ If too much boasted about the cosiness of the Jewish home in 'Behind Walls', it happens twice as bad (...) in the film piece 'The Shylock of Krakow'. Outwardly, the fable is constructed to show, firstly, everything imaginable that has to do with pious Jewish life (Friday evening, the Feast of Atonement, funeral, etc.) and, secondly, to give Schildkraut the opportunity to engage in all kinds of arts and antics. But this great actor is so strong that he actually penetrates everywhere with his tragic pathos. How he gasps down a flight of stairs in choking distress, how he fights with God, tearing himself apart, how he takes revenge on his enemies, how he comes from the churchyard, frozen in gray pain, these are all unforgettable things that must be experienced and for the sake of which one already neglects the 'author's film'. (...) the most poignant picture is Schildkraut falling down the stairs after his daughter escapes. He will not find her anymore, he knows that, a villain to whom he lent money has stolen his child, he knows that too - in his face you can read the powerlessness and the horror of a wildly moved, immeasurable people. "
Vienna's Neue Freie Presse reported in its issue of December 21, 1913: The exciting film drama with its true-to-life milieu descriptions and its poignant scenes has in Rudolf Schildkraut, who plays Shylock with mimic mastery, and in the ladies Lia Rosen and Käthe (sic!) Honorary performers found who put the cinema on a high artistic level.
Another extensive review collection was published in the Kinematographische Rundschau on November 2, 1913.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Shylock of Krakow. In: Neue Freie Presse , December 21, 1913, p. 39 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Cinematographic Review . Austrian National Library. November 2, 1913. Retrieved February 18, 2019.