The emperor's candlesticks
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The emperor's candlesticks |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1936 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Hartl |
| script | Karl Hartl Friedrich Schreyvogel |
| production | Wilhelm Székely |
| music | Lothar Olias |
| camera |
Werner Brandes Karl Drömmer Anton Pucher |
| cut |
René Métain Karl Hartl |
| occupation | |
| |
The Emperor's Candlestick is an Austrian film from 1935 by Karl Hartl with Sybille Schmitz and Karl Ludwig Diehl in the leading roles. The story is based on the novel “The Emperor's Candlesticks” (1899) by Baroness Orczy .
action
Vienna, during the imperial era. The young Russian Grand Duke Peter Alexandrovich is spellbound by a young masked woman at the court opera ball and follows her into a palace. This is a trap, because a number of Polish conspirators and freedom fighters are already waiting in the building. They force the tsar's offspring to write a letter to his father at home in St. Petersburg. It threatens the death of the Tsarevich if a certain Polish patriot, who is serving life imprisonment in a Russian dungeon, is not released. This condemned man is none other than the father of Maria Orlitsch, the masked woman who followed Peter Alexandrowitsch strolling into the palace. Georg Wolenski, a confidante of the Polish freedom fighters, is assigned to bring the letter to the Tsar's palace in St. Petersburg. Before his departure, Wolenski visits the Austrian Archduke Ludwig, who asks the Pole to take two elegant candlesticks for him and present them as a gift from the Russian Princess Marianow. Few people know that parts of the candlesticks are hollow on the inside and that they were used as a means of transporting secret documents and cash registers even in Marie Antoinette's time . Wolenski takes advantage of this fact and hides the letter to the tsar as a precaution even while he is staying with Archduke Ludwig.
This idea should not turn out to be particularly clever. Wolenski discovered to his horror that he was not allowed to take the candlesticks with him immediately. They fall into the hands of the Russian agent Anna Demidow, after she had offered herself to the Archduke as the conveyer of the objects. Anna also knows about the secret compartment function and wants to use the candlesticks for her own purposes. Wolenski must now come into possession of the candlesticks, otherwise the fate of Maria's father could be bad. The Polish patriot seeks out the Russian agent, who is loyal to the tsar, and is watched. Then Wolenski learns that Anna's suitcase in which she kept the candlesticks was stolen. From Anna's maid, the two, who have gradually gained sympathy for each other, hear that the candlesticks have been sold to an antique dealer. But when the man visits, the couple discovers that the dealer no longer owns the two artifacts, but has resold them. Finally, a trail leads to an auction, where each of the two opponents now buys one of the two candlesticks. Now both are playing with open cards for the first time: Georg shows Anna the letter to the tsar, while she in turn reveals a document hidden in the cavity that is nothing more than a tsarist arrest warrant for the “Polish rebel” Georg Wolenski.
The letter from Peter Alexandrowitsch finally reaches his father, and the tsar actually releases Maria's father into freedom. Georg and Anna meet again, and the Russian, meanwhile in love with Georg, burns the arrest warrant against him and other documents incriminating him before his eyes. Both plan to start a life together. In the end, the emperor's candlesticks also achieve their actual goal: Wolenski hands them over to Princess Marianow as ordered.
Production notes
The emperor's chandelier was created on November 5, 1935 in the Tobis-Sascha studios in Vienna-Sievering and Vienna-Rosenhügel. The premiere took place on February 14, 1936 in Berlin's Gloria-Palast, the Viennese premiere was on March 12, 1936.
Werner Schlichting and Kurt Herlth designed the film structures, while Emil Stepanek and Franz Meschkan provided the equipment . Alfred Kunz designed the costumes, Herbert Janeczka and Fritz Radler provided the sound. Heinz Helbig was an assistant director.
Johannes Heesters , not yet a big screen star, plays his first German-language film role here.
Reviews
The Österreichische Film-Zeitung wrote: “Karl Hartl, the director, set the events in a splendid setting that was furnished with great effort, made the scene lively and staged the [sic!] Hunt for the two dainty Rococo candlesticks ... at a gorgeous pace . "
The Wiener Zeitung found: “The search for the candlesticks of Antoinette, which wandered through several hands and through half of Europe, is being pursued with real tension and skillful intensification. It is real noble colportage. The best film style that combines strong, moving action with colorful, changing, interesting visual effects. "
The Kino-Journal found: "A dazzling film style that combines strongly moving action with an interesting visual effect".
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The Emperor's Candlesticks". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , March 20, 1936, p. 6 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ "The Emperor's Candlesticks". In: Wiener Zeitung , March 14, 1936, p. 10 (online at ANNO ).
- ^ Review in: Das Kino-Journal
Web links
- The candlestick of the emperor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The emperor's candlesticks at filmportal.de