The Bell (1917)

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Movie
Original title The bell
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1917
length approx. 59 minutes
Rod
Director Franz Hofer
script Franz Hofer based on Friedrich Schiller's Das Lied von der Glocke
production Isidor Fett , Karl Wiesel
camera Ernst Krohn
occupation

The bell is a German silent film melodrama from 1917 by Franz Hofer .

action

A bell caster stands at the casting furnace and keeps his journeymen to work. Then the old bell ringer steps in and tells those present how his life was going with the sound of the bell. For the first time he heard the sound of the bell at his own baptism. When his parents weren't there one day, he was given to the pastor, where he met his daughter Lena and was raised with her. On a Sunday, again with the carillon, the old bell ringer went out into the wide world to get to know the same. After his return, Lena has matured into a young woman, and it doesn't take long for both of them to get married again to the sound of the (wedding) bells.

Lena gives birth to two children, Heinz and a daughter, whom he names after his beloved wife, who dies a little later. Heinz becomes a talented organist and meets a young singer who first falls in love with his playing and then with him. The father doesn't like it at all when Heinz moves into the distance with this new woman. They become a happy couple, only the lack of reconciliation with the deeply bent bell ringer father stands in the way of perfect happiness. His daughter Lena has fallen in love with a teacher, but since the old man is afraid of losing her too, he does not consent to the marriage.

In the coming New Year's Eve, the bell ringer wants to exercise his office as every year and ring a bell at the turn of the year. Little does he know that at exactly the same time his heartbroken Lena and her beloved teacher want to commit suicide. The old man comes in on time and can prevent this misfortune. But then he falls seriously ill, and the prodigal son comes to the sick bed with his wife to look after his father with Lena. Finally, in August 1914, war breaks out and the enemy attacks the small town. Now the bell has to be rung to warn everyone, and again the old man hurries to the church tower. In the middle of the storm, a shell hits the nave and buries the bell ringer along with his two children and their partners. The bell ringer's last wish is that the next bell to ring should be a peace bell.

Production notes

The bell passed film censorship in September 1917 and was premiered in December of the same year in the Berlin Marble House . The four-act act was 1211 meters long.

criticism

"Die Glocke" is the title of a film game freely edited after Schiller's "Glocke", which is staged with excellent skill and taste. The somewhat sentimental act brings the life picture of an old bell ringer. The strikes of the bell accompanied the most important events of his life. It sounds joyful at his baptism, she shouts brightly on his wedding day, it sounds dull on the day on which he has to accompany his beloved wife to the grave and she weeps with him, since he is his children, and with them his last joy and hope looks destroyed. The staging of the film was done by Franz Hofer in an exemplary manner, the photography is excellent, the representation as well. Lia Ley played the double role of wife and daughter of the bell ringer in a delightfully loving and graceful manner. "

- Neue Kino-Rundschau of April 13, 1918. p. 8

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