The convict from Stambul
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The convict from Stambul |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1929 |
| length | approx. 102 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gustav Ucicky |
| script |
Franz Schulz Robert Liebmann based on motifs from the novel Das Fräulein und der Levantiner (1925) by Fedor von Zobeltitz |
| production | Günther Stapenhorst for UFA |
| music | Willy Schmidt-Gentner |
| camera | Karl Hasselmann |
| occupation | |
| |
The convict from Stambul is a German silent film from 1929 by Gustav Ucicky with Heinrich George in the title role.
action
The Levantine man Thomas Zezi was imprisoned for one and a half years for smuggling. Now he is released again and returns to his home. But there he finds that his old friend Manopulos has spread out in his apartment. To make matters worse, during Zezi's jail stay he also became the lover of Zezi's friend Jola, who has since run away. Beside himself with anger, the returnees threw the greasy Manopulos out of his four walls. Zezi is more aware than ever that something has to change in his life, that he has to say goodbye to his cherished habits. As a first consequence, the beefy ex-con decides to finally become an honest person and pursue a decent lifestyle. A little later, Zezi met the demure Hilde Wollwarth, a young, emaciated vacuum cleaner saleswoman who saves every penny from her mouth. For him it means exactly the chance he has been waiting for to change his life completely.
Zezi organizes falsified documents with the help of a lawyer in order to obtain a new identity and to be considered unmarried on paper. Now he can marry Hilde, with whom he suddenly fell in love. Zezi doesn't tell her anything about his dark past and his first marriage to the missing wife Jola, a woman with a highly dubious reputation, who he believes may not be alive anymore. But the angular advocate and Manopulos know that Jola has by no means left this world, and blackmail letters are written anonymously in order to financially cup the Zezi, who has become croesus through his activities as a bogus. He is now trying to break away from Jola with an early lightning divorce. But the other side ensures that Zezi cannot hide his double life from Hilde for long and gives her all the ugly details. This is how Hilde learns about her husband's past life, his prison life and ex Jola. Deeply shocked, she takes her own life by turning on the gas tap in her kitchen to protect her husband from the legal consequences of the bigamy that has been committed and all other hardships.
Production notes
The convict from Stambul was created in May and June 1929 in the UFA studio in Neubabelsberg . The six-stroke with a length of 2560 meters passed the film censorship on August 16, 1929 and was banned from youth. The world premiere took place on August 30, 1929 in Berlin's universe. The film received the rating “artistic”.
Jacques Rotmil designed the film structures executed by Heinz Fenchel , while Erich von Neusser took over the production management. Karl Hartl was an assistant director. Hans Karl Gottschalk and Paul Rischke worked as simple camera operators to head cameraman Karl Hasselmann .
Reviews
“Mr. Ucicky, a young, modern director who keeps himself wonderfully free from the outdated, often misplaced ambition of fades, visions, rotating images and contrast cuts, emphasizes his objectivity. (…) It is embarrassing that Heinrich George can no longer be removed from the cliché of good-natured brutality. The talents of Willi Forst, who has a discreet rogue joke, Paul Hörbiger, who is a classic of intoxicating scenes, and Betty Amanns, who gracefully keeps within their limits, appear more remarkable because they are capable of development. "
“The large number of first-class stage numbers suggests evil. After all, you are pleasantly disappointed. After a very clean manuscript (Franz Schulz), Ucicky created an effective film with noticeable skill. Fedor von Zobeltitz's novel "Das Fräulein und der Levanthiner" provided the material. The case of a double marriage and yet no contribution to the subject of bigamy. Without working out "enlightening tendencies" for a second, the author and Ucicky limit themselves to what is humanly interesting and the dramatic-motor element of their motifs. Heinrich George gives the figure of the Levanthin the vibrating verve of its originality, if he is not completely convincing, his slide can undoubtedly be called an interesting theatrical performance. (...) Ucicky's direction is a thoroughly clean and acceptable, if not original, work. The wonderful photograph was taken care of by Carl Hasselmann. "
“Here, too, the calculation based on the wishes of the audience was retained: a story of bigamy and suicide of a frightened little girl. That still works. The manufacturing apparatus works, reliably even in the more serious genre. Authors F. Schulz and R. Liebmann, cameraman K. Hasselmann, architects Rotmil and Fenchel, they prove reliability and usability. The prerequisite for every production itself is thus given. What speaks most in favor of the production manager is the acquisition of an as yet unspent director: Gustav Ucicky. A good cast strives for the film events. The star is Ruth Weyher, finally relaxed and relaxed. She has nothing tragic to play, and the difficult problem of her photography is surprisingly and happily solved by the otherwise excellent cameramen Hans R. Gottschalk and Paul Rischke. In any case, one believes this spirited lady is the existence of the revue and the double life. Her husband, Georg Alexander, is such a lovable idiot that we can finally understand his ignorance. "
“If this film is an advertisement for gas companies, because it shows how wonderfully the surroundings of someone poisoned by gas can be blurred, and that it takes barely half an hour to be permanently dead, in this respect the film is succeeded. But since I cannot get rid of the suspicion that it is a completely independent feature film ... unfortunately one is forced to criticize a few things, namely the illogical nature of the plot and secondly the boredom it exudes. (...) A film without a happy ending can have failed, namely if a happy ending would have been the logical consequence. The direction is a new man, Gustav Ucicky. Dignified and measured, without a personal touch. As a former convict, George sometimes shows his own face and immediate movements. Betty Amann on the other hand ... disappointed because she is partly too rigid, partly too flexible at the wrong moments. She was not at all made to portray the figures of inexperienced, middle-class girls. Excellent Willi Forst. "
“The film becomes a repetition of asphalt . The gas-free death is expanded intolerably visionary. The cameraman Karl Hasselmann is excellent, but he has to repeat himself. Gustav Ucicky's direction is clean and tasteful, but without any real, nerve-gripping talent. Betty Amann is paler than under Joe May . Only Heinrich George doesn't need a director, his vital, energetic, incredibly plastic slide type is autocratic. "
“The young director Ucicky, who impressed with Besserer Herr und Vererbte Triebe , shows his cinematic narrative talent, shows his sense for the pleasant and striking, for camera and player, for contrasts and changes and enhancements, but does not fully use the opportunities of large-scale production , does not quite show the visual power that was his own in his best films. (...) The smuggler Croesus is George, who here has freed himself from the empty theatrics of Manolescu . The vacuum cleaner saleswoman is Betty Aann, with delicate lines and delicate nature, but not yet completely film-proof and a little too tearful. In batch roles, the Hesterberg shines, nasty and biting, and Willi Forst, a cold-rigid doll with a smeary, perfumed coating "
Web links
- The convict from Stambul at filmportal.de
- The convict from Istanbul in the Internet Movie Database (English)