The junk dealer from Prague
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The junk dealer from Prague |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1916 |
| length | 65 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Walter Schmidthässler |
| script | Robert Reinert |
| production | German Bioscop, Berlin |
| occupation | |
| |
The Trödler von Prag is a German silent film from 1916 directed by Walter Schmidthässler . Arthur Bergen and Thea Sandten are cast in the leading roles.
action
In the Jewish ghetto in Prague . The second-hand dealer Simon and his daughter Judith sell antiques. They are assisted by the assistant David, who moves to the golden city every day to collect antiquities that may be sold. While Judith is kindled in secret love for him, David only has eyes for Leontine, who for him means the big, wide world and promises a life in luxury. His love for this “grande dame” blinds him to everything else: David neglects his work and on top of that doesn't notice how much Leontine plays with him. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that she pushes him back at the moment when a man of the world in the person of the baron approaches her. Then she describes David in front of everyone present as an intrusive guy and watches calmly when the nobleman hits him with the riding whip. At some point the young helper realizes that he won't have a chance with this upper class lady and finally shows himself ready to marry the patient Judith.
Simon's greatest treasure, which he keeps hidden in a shed, is a sparkler. Whoever lights it gets whatever wish he has got granted, but he dies the moment the candle burns down. The message behind it is: It only brings happiness to the wise, but misery and ruin to the foolish. By chance David finds out what the candle is about. He wants to give it a try and wants to sell an El Greco at a high price. And indeed: his wish will be fulfilled. It follows request upon request, and everything has to do with money and a splendid life beyond the ghetto, in the big, sophisticated city. David soon leads a secret double life: Here as a good husband at the side of his Judith, there a life in luxury among people he would like to see as his own: the top ten thousand. At one of the elegant soirées that David attends, he meets Leontine again, and the old passion for her is immediately rekindled. He kisses the woman in front of everyone present, whereupon Nemesis, in the form of the baron, challenges him to a duel.
David's obsession with Leontine leads to the fact that he lights the candle again and now wishes that Leontine would beg for his love and that the baron's right fencing arm would be cut off by him in the upcoming duel. And so it happens. Leontine crawls up to David, but full of arrogance he turns her out of his town house. The baron loses his right arm in the degenduell as desired. Leontine leaves her future husband without arms and rushes to David, who is overjoyed. Nor does she leave him when David reveals his secret to her. But when one day David's only child at home in the ghetto fell seriously ill and his wife Judith and her father had long since given up all hope, David lit the pitiful remnant of the already badly burned candle and managed to get his child back to health. But he himself has to pay for this sacrifice with his own life and dies in the arms of his beloved Leontine.
Production notes
The junk dealer from Prague was created in the winter of 1915/16 in the Bioscop studios in Neubabelsberg . The film was censored in February 1916 and premiered the following month in Berlin's Tauentzienpalast . The four-act film was 1,338 meters long. The version shown in Austria was around 1450 meters long.
classification
The considerable success that Deutsche Bioscop had achieved in 1915 with the first Golem film and which was to make a great national and international impression, prompted the same production company to produce further fantastic fabrics. Der Flödler von Prag followed the film And Knowledge Is Death , which was made immediately before in the autumn of 1915, in which the same team (director Schmidthässler, leading actors Bergen and Sandten) was involved.
criticism
“A very beautiful film, the captivating, mystical plot of which is very well executed, both theatrically and scenically. It is particularly noteworthy that the film takes place at the scene of the action, in old Prague, which offered the director plenty of painterly motifs, which, viewed happily, increase the effect of this film considerably and, in combination with a remarkable type drawing, give the events a warm color . "
Paimann's film lists summed up: "The material is fantastic, the scenery, photos and games are very good".
Web links
- The junk dealer from Prague at The German Early Cinema Database
- The junk dealer from Prague at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cinematographische Rundschau of February 15, 1916, p. 87
- ↑ Der Trödler von Prag ( Memento of the original from March 25, 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. In: Paimann's film lists
