The Living Corpse (1929)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The living corpse Живой труп (Schiwoi Trup) |
| Country of production | Germany , Soviet Union |
| original language |
German Russian |
| Publishing year | 1929 |
| length | 120 or 135 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Fedor Ozep |
| script |
Boris Gusman Anatoli Marienhof based on the play by Leo Tolstoy |
| production |
Willi Munzenberg for Prometheus Film , Berlin Meschrabpom Film , Moscow Country Film , Berlin |
| music | Werner Schmidt-Boelcke |
| camera |
Anatoly Golownja Piel Jutzi |
| cut | Fedor Ozep Vsevolod Pudovkin |
| occupation | |
| |
The living corpse , (in the USSR Живой труп; alternative title: The marriage law ), is a German-Soviet drama directed by Fedor Ozep, shot in 1928 . The well-known Soviet director Vsevolod Pudovkin was hired for the main role of this silent film adaptation of the play of the same name by Leo Tolstoy .
action
At the center of the action is the Russian Fyodor Protasov, whose marriage to his wife Lisa is largely at an end. Since the Russian Orthodox Church does not tolerate divorce, one day he fakes his suicide to clear the way for his wife for her lover Viktor Karenin. While he begins to lead a life of illegality and underground, which despite a new lover means no real happiness for him, this decisive step towards the apparent death that has made him the "living corpse" brings no real happiness.
Because one day it turns out that Fyodor is still alive and that Lisa is guilty of bigamy as a result. She is charged and threatens to be tried and sentenced for her "offense", which is actually Fjodor's. Protasov, who never wanted to let it get that far, decides to make a final sacrifice: he now completes the pretended deed and actually kills himself by shooting himself.
Production notes
The living corpse , which was also shown under the title The Marriage Act , was created in 1928 in cooperation between the German production company Prometheus Film of the communist publisher Willi Munzenberg and the state-Soviet Meschrabpom -Film (Moscow) in Berlin . The main actor Pudovkin and a few supporting actors, including the later famous director Boris Barnet , the cameraman Anatoly Golovna and the two film architects, were contributed by the Soviet side . However, the majority of those involved in this film came from Germany. Shortly before, director Ozep had emigrated to Germany from Moscow .
The premiere of the film, which had passed the censorship on December 29, 1928, took place on February 14, 1929 in the Berlin Capitol . In the USSR, The Living Corpse was first shown on March 26, 1929. In the same year Ozep's production started in Finland, Japan and Portugal. In Hollywood in the same year 1929, the shooting of a separate version under the title "Redemption" began. In Germany this film was also shown under The Living Corpse .
Reviews
Reclam's film guide wrote:
“Protassov's figure has been upgraded compared to the literary model; he appears here as a restless loner who is cast out by society because he does not want to join its hypocritical game. The director Pudowkin, who had to cope with his greatest task as an actor, made the nervous restlessness of this person compellingly clear. For Fedor Ozep this film was the highlight of his career. "
Jerzy Toeplitz said: To Pudowkins
“Fedya Protasov's interpretation was particularly striking because of the economical and simple, but therefore all the more suggestive gestures and facial expressions. The advantage of this Tolstoy film was the unobtrusively precise and clear disclosure of the social content of the dramatic original. "
In the edition of April 13, 1929 in the Österreichische Film-Zeitung on page 26 you can read:
“And now this tragedy comes as a film - it has become a truly grandiose creation that leaves an effect that lasts long after it has been seen. What a direction the film has! Fedor Ozep proves to be an artist of the greatest format in the way he conducts scenes. And what about W. Pudovkin? Here we get to know the incomparable creator of "Storm over Asia" for the first time as an actor. And how does Pudovkin play! His Fedja Protassow and the direction of Fedor Ozep, they form an unheard of whole, from which one has the feeling that one is giving the other what is necessary to let this full chord of internalized art sound. "
The film data sheet of the Berlinale states about the film, which was shown again in a retrospective in 2012:
“Fyodor Ozep's film adaptation of the play by Lev Tolstoy is a prime example of the 'East-meets-West' attitude of the Meschrabpom-Film studio and its German production Prometheus. The classic melodrama about the divorce prevented by church and state is interwoven with the avant-garde montage cinema to form a social criticism of pre-revolutionary Russia. "
The Lexicon of International Films wrote:
“Classic silent film based on the drama of Tolstoy, reconstructed and musically reworked by ZDF and the Deutsche Kinemathek Foundation; an early example of a European co-production, which is more than a film-historical event, especially due to the extraordinary performance of the actors. When the film came out, it was viewed as a Bolshevik attack on the institution of marriage. "
Web links
- The Living Corpse in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The living corpse at filmportal.de