The fist of fate (1917)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The fist of fate |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1917 |
| length | about 80 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alwin Neuss |
| script | Paul Otto |
| production | Erich Pommer |
| camera | Carl Hoffmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Die Faust des Schicksals is a German silent film drama by and with Alwin Neuss .
action
The story shows a melodramatic plot that begins in a circus setting. One day during a performance there, Bob the clown rescues a young woman who accidentally got into the tiger cage. When he wanted to escort the young woman, very gallant, home to her apartment, she suddenly disappeared. A little later there is a surprising reunion when she stands in his apartment in the middle of the night and blinds him with a flickering lantern. Marfa, that's the name of the fruit, “works” as a burglar and unintentionally ended up with her rescuer. She was just about to rummage through his desk looking for valuables. She tells the good-natured Bob a heartbreaking story about the evil foster father Zoalla, who is already waiting for her outside and forcing the young woman to go on a prey tour night after night. Bob lets Zoalla into his apartment and reads him the riot act. He'll let him get away this time, if he would promise him, Bob, to leave Marfa alone from now on.
The two young people fall in love, marry, and Marfa eventually becomes the mother of a daughter named Carmen. It doesn't take long before Bob catches his wife in red-handed kisses in the circus dressing room, a regular at the circus, the fine Mr. van der Stuift. Bob rushes home and discovers hot love letters that van der Stuift had sent to his Marfa. Then he confronts the rival in his four walls and wounds him with an aimed shot. Bob returns to his home where there is a violent scene with Marfa. Then he turns himself in to the police. After serving his sentence, Bob does not return to Marfa, but hires out as a coal worker. As luck would have it, one day Bob would see Marfa again, and he went to her apartment to at least see his child, little Carmen, again. But again the eponymous fist of fate strikes: Marfa just laughs at him scornfully and tells her ex-husband that she no longer wants to have anything to do with an ex-con and that he will never see Carmen again. Bob then concentrated entirely on working at the circus, where he returned ruefully and made a great career.
Years have passed and the voice of the blood calls again. One day Bob decides to go to the van der Stuifts villa so that he can see Carmen again. Here Bob learns that van der Stuift and Carmen have left Marfa and both have gone abroad. Bitter and disappointed, the clown retreats to a small town. When circus people were passing by there one day, he learned that this troupe had to leave one of its members terminally ill. Bob wants to take care of this grieving woman, so he recognizes Marfa in her! Hanging on the last legs, his ex tells him where van der Stuift is. Again there is a confrontation between Bob and van der Stuift, who explains to the biological father that the meanwhile grown-up Carmen will soon marry the son of the chamber president. In order not to obstruct her future, as there would be no marriage, should one learn that Carmen's biological father is an ex-convict, Bob renounces his dearest wish to see Carmen again. He returns to the circus and as a clown wants to at least put a smile on the face of other people.
Production notes
The Fist of Fate was made in the Eiko-Film-Atelier in Berlin-Marienfelde , had four nudes at 1652 meters and passed the film censorship in July 1917. The premiere took place on August 23, 1917 in Berlin's Marble House .
criticism
“It is a shocking human fate that reveals itself to us in the magnificent film 'Die Faust des Schicksals' ... and lets us vibrate all the strings of our soul in compassion and sympathy. The hero's tragic fate touches the heart all the more as it is in stark contradiction to his position in life. (...) As gripping as the subject is the play of the person wearing the main role, Alwin Neuss, whose art is incontestable and well-tried. His achievements as a director should also be praised. Everything in this film is meticulously carried out down to the smallest detail and arranged with artistic taste. "