The false prince (1927)

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Movie
Original title The wrong prince
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1927
length 110 minutes
Rod
Director Heinz Paul
script Hella Moja
Heinz Paul
production Lothar Stark
camera Gustave Preiss
occupation

and Maria Forescu , Herta Laurin , Trude Lehmann , Sophie Pagay , Lotte Stein , Lotte Spira , Siegfried Berisch , Carl Geppert , Willy Kaiser-Heyl , Hans Leibelt , Alfred Loretto , Edgar Pauly , Paul Rehkopf , Fritz Richard , Robert Scholz

The False Prince is a German adventure silent film from 1927 by Heinz Paul . The Lithuanian-Russian adventurer and impostor Harry Domela plays himself. The retold story reflects the late phase of his memoir The False Prince , published in the same year by Malik Verlag in Berlin . Reflects my life and my adventures , the content of which does not have to be true to the truth. The late teenager's political commitment to the political right ( Freikorps in the Baltic States) is left out in this “film biography”.

action

The plot briefly describes the difficult and poor young years at home, but focuses on Domela's life since his arrival in Germany and his assumption of various, false identities in the empire. After getting by with odd jobs, he occasionally acquires a title of nobility to help boost his business. Every now and then, Domela comes into conflict with the law and is put in prison. Harry Domela quickly realizes how much wearing a title means in Germany and that this - clothes make the man - could be extremely beneficial to his career. He is now called "von Liven" and has a completely made up vita. He receives support from a real German nobleman, Baron Korff, who believes that in “these difficult times” of the republic, the nobility must stand together.

In Heidelberg, Domela is already introducing himself as "Prince Liven" and is warmly welcomed in the appropriate circles. In Erfurt, the director of the best hotel on the square for Wilhelm Prince of Prussia , the eldest son of Wilhelm of Prussia . Harry Domela has now finally become a crook, swindler and impostor, for whom the German society has also made it very easy. He is courted, the supposed prince is invited to dinners and receptions and made into a darling of the haute volée. Soon, however, the state power Domela finds out. The fake prince was put out to be wanted and finally arrested in January 1927 when he was about to board the train heading for France. In the same month he is tried and convicted of imposture and fraud. Domela uses the seven-month prison sentence to write his memoirs, which sell well after his release and on which this film is based.

Production notes

The false prince was created in the early autumn of 1927 in the Jofa studios in Berlin. The film was censored on November 9, 1927 and, depending on the source, premiered on November 30, 1927 in the Emelka Palace or on December 1, 1927 in the Alhambra Cinema and the Schauburg (both Berlin). The film was 2,769 meters long, divided into seven acts, and was banned from young people.

Karl Machus designed the film structures.

criticism

In Vienna's Neue Freie Presse the following was to be read in the edition of November 8, 1927: “The trumpeting of the shoemaker-captain von Köpenick of the monarchy by the war-uprooted young Kurlander“ prince ”of the republic, this stegreifulk in the present market of vanity and narrow-mindedness , was overwhelmingly comical satire. So may she also delight other circles through the mediation of the silver canvas. It really isn't against morality. The film is visibly willing and therefore reluctant to preserve them. His "Prince" episodes are even surpassed in terms of drastic and piquantism, which have become known from newspaper reports and books. The main focus is of course on the person of Domela. The director lets him play nicely in all scenes, including those of the prehistory (Domela's sad past). So you have enough opportunity to research your intelligent face and bright eyes. The traces of savored misery are still there. (...). ... the strong and natural ability to express, the almost graceful freedom of movement and gesture that this unlucky man possesses are astonishing and indicate a talent that does not even suggest that the young person stood in front of the crankcase for the first time is. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "The False Prince". In:  Neue Freie Presse , November 8, 1927, p. 9 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp

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