The wedding of Valeni (1914)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The wedding of Valeni |
| Country of production | Austria-Hungary |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1914 |
| length | 83 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Jakob Fleck Carl Rudolf Friese |
| script |
Luise Kolm based on the drama of the same name by Ludwig Ganghofer and Marco Brociner |
| production |
Anton Kolm Luise Kolm Jakob Fleck for the Viennese art film industry |
| occupation | |
| |
The Wedding of Valeni is an Austro-Hungarian silent film drama by Jakob Fleck that was made in 1913 .
action
The story set in Romania was heralded as a "sensational drama in the gypsy and peasant milieu". The focus of the action is the little "gypsy girl" Sanda, orphaned at an early age, who one day is taken in by the rich landlord Notara in his house, where she grows up wealthy. Notara had always had a weakness for the wanderers and once also expressed an interest in Sanda's now deceased mother, the wife of the gypsy Baku. Since the classy beauty did not want to hear him, Notara had the young woman whipped by his servants when she was naked. The rich man forced her husband Baku to play the violin for this act of violence. Since then, there has been an insatiable hatred of the landowner in Baku. The aversion is mutual, because Notara also wants Baku to have the plague on his neck. Now Sanda, kidnapped from her father's care, lives on the estate of Notaras, who wants to make her a second Eliza Doolittle and educate her to be a grande dame. Not for unselfish reasons - rather, the rich man hopes for thanks and love from Sanda and, once she has grown up, also for her approval of a joint wedding.
Notara is not the only one who has kept an eye on the half-orphan. The underage Jonel, whose parents are as well-born as they are notoriously penniless and who now lives on the magnificent Notaras estate, is more than interested in the pretty girl. Sanda reciprocates, but one day they part ways when Jonel moves to the next university town to study. One day, when he returns home a fully qualified lawyer, Jonel is amazed that Sanda's wedding to Notara is imminent. Both of them immediately awaken the old feelings, which they seal with a gentle kiss. The third member of the group who would like to own Sanda is the hunchbacked creature Tschuku, a devious, mean fellow, a public prosecutor by profession and a friend of Notaras. So it is just right for this man that Jonel's impoverished father asked him, Tschuku, to look for a financially solvent bride for the young man in the best marriageable manner in order to reorganize his own family. One less competitor. Jonel complies with his parents' will and, very obedient son, agrees to a marriage with the chosen bride; also a little bit hoping to get Sanda out of my head this way.
The marriage with the raw and gambling addict notary takes place - quite to the misfortune of Sandas, who painfully realizes that "her" Jonel seems to get along very well with his new flame. An unloved husband on the neck who gets drunk without restraint on their wedding night, and a devious chuku who tries to seize the opportunity to finally get a chance in Sanda's bedchamber - the situation couldn't get any worse for Valeni's bride. So Sanda reaches for a bottle with morphine, which up to three drops should calm the nerves, but beyond that it brings death. When her unrestrained drunk husband staggered past and said that he had to swallow everything that exists in liquid form, he emptied the bottle and suddenly fell dead. Now Sanda also has a murder charge on her neck. Tschuku is willing to make concessions to Sanda, if she should finally show himself to be pleasing to him in matters of love. But she doesn't even think about it. Jonel, who is currently having problems with rebellious farmers who accuse him of having a weak interest group, is immediately ready to defend Sanda. In a brilliant speech in court, he almost dismantled his opponent Tschuku, when the deeply angry peasants storm the hall. An angry yanker points his gun at Jonel and fires a shot. But he meets Sanda of all people, who, as the last act of her unconditional love, threw herself in front of Jonel to protect him. One last kiss from her lover, then she is dead. The deeply shocked Chuku creeps away in the general commotion; a little later he is found dead on the steps of the courthouse.
Production notes
The wedding of Valeni was filmed in Romania in 1913 (exterior shots). The film was 1,520 meters long when it premiered, had three acts and a prologue and was premiered on January 30, 1914.
A year earlier (1912), Adolf Gärtner had shot a short film version of this subject in Germany under the same name.
Reviews
Wiens Neue Freie Presse reported on February 1, 1914: "The whole work is filled with powerful events that are born out of the wild passions of a passionate people. The strongest and most primordial instincts of humanity, love, hatred, lust for power and rebellion against hated coercion - in the form of a peasant revolt - move the characteristic characters who are the bearers of the plot. Where could the cinema have a more powerful drama, where more effective images can be found than in this work? And the film adaptation is very well done. (... ) The nature shots and the pictures of the wedding celebration are very beautiful and vivid, the wildly moving and picturesque the elevator of the revolting peasants and their penetration into the courtroom. These and other scenes, most of which were shot in Romania, the scene of the action, looking for their own kind. All in all, the work of young Austrian film art is a great honor.
“This play has long since disappeared from the schedules of the big city stages - undeservedly, because it has not lost its charm. It is therefore a thankful deed of the Wiener Kunstfilmfabrik that it has decided to make a film of this play. She succeeded brilliantly in the difficult work. With all means ... the elaboration of the generous work was staged, which shows originality in the crowd scenes and dexterity in the social scenes. The drama has found a skilled film dramaturge. Mrs. Louise Kohn [sic!] Shows a great talent there. She has preceded the three acts of the play with a prelude that takes place ten years earlier and draws the résumé of rough little Sanda until the rich notary takes the gypsy child into his house. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The Wedding of Valeni". In: Neue Freie Presse , February 1, 1914, p. 26 (online at ANNO ).