The love affairs of Käthe Keller
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The love affairs of Käthe Keller |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1919 |
| length | approx. 96 (1919), 91 (new censorship 1921) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carl Froelich |
| script | Carl Froelich Paul Tatzeit based on the novel of the same name (1899) by Richard Skowronnek |
| production | Maxim-Film-Ges., Ebner & Co., Berlin |
| camera | Otto Tober |
| occupation | |
| |
The Liaisons of Käthe Keller is a German silent film drama from 1919 by Carl Froelich with Irmgard Bern in the title role of a thoroughly depraved amoral soldier of fortune.
action
Prince Isensee has become the father of a son named Ottokar. But he also poached in another bed, and so a lady-in-waiting named von Pellet became pregnant by him. In order to get rid of them as quickly as possible, the young woman is quickly married to the chief forester Petrow, who had once wooed her in vain. When he later learns of her pregnancy, he assumes that he is the child's father. When the truth comes to light, the forester gets divorced and the child is taken to acquaintances for education. Since then the chief forester has not been his old man, he begins to drink. After three years he is killed by a fatal blow from a poacher. As he dies, he makes “his son” (who is not his) swear to avenge his death and to judge the poacher.
Another story unfolds at the same time. Frau Keller, a run-down waitress in one of the same bars, has her richest admirer give her 5000 marks as a gift in view of the upcoming motherhood and also has her employer (with whom she obviously had something at one point) leave her another 3000 marks. With this money as a kind of trousseau she goes to the house servant of the bar, who agrees to accept the child's paternity for this sum. They both get married, and the girl born will be named Käthe Keller. Käthe's parents have built a sophisticated, highly profitable sports hotel in which tout le monde, i.e. the world of the beautiful, the rich and the famous, pervades. When Käthchen is of marriageable age, the unscrupulous mother ensures that Käthe throws herself at the prince's son Ottokar, who is on vacation there, in the hope of having a presentable son-in-law. The Hereditary Prince is heavily in debt and, bills of exchange prove this, with mother and father Keller in the chalk. Frau Keller thinks: We have the money, you have the title. Why don't we combine the two by having the Hereditary Prince marry our daughter?
In the meantime, Käthe Keller has enjoyed a good upbringing and has returned to her parents' sports hotel. She is considered flirtatious, does not know how to stingy with her charms and flirts as much as she can. Prince son 1 (legitimate) and Prince son 2 (illegitimate) are also present in the hotel, as luck would have it, and make the young lady look good. The alleged forester's son has fallen in love with Käthe, and she encourages him to ask her parents for her hand. But the married couple have a higher goal in mind: if they are son-in-law, then please be the prince's son, who is also known as such. You don't do it below that, and so Franz Petrow's proposal is thrown out. Meanwhile, Käthe's mother's bad genes prevail, and she begins a love affair with the Hereditary Prince and lets him impregnate her. He and Kathe never miss an opportunity to have it together, and the young woman feigns mourning when the forester's son Petrow informs her that her parents have regrettably rejected his marriage proposal. Käthe is a bitch through and through. During the day she keeps Franz warm, who has to promise her never to visit her at night, and they both scurry through the beds. At night it is Prince Ottokar's turn with his insatiable sex drive, but of course the honestly loving forester's son is not allowed to know anything about it.
Only a servant puts an end to the cruel game with Franz's feelings when he tells him the real reasons why the Käthe's chamber was declared a taboo zone at night. Angry with jealousy, Franz intrudes into Käthchen's room at the Tête-à-Tête of his lover with the Hereditary Prince. She disappears half-naked while Franz plans to assassinate the Hereditary Prince with a loaded weapon. But even as the illegitimate son of a prince you have style, and so Franz challenges his rival Ottokar to a duel, befitting his status. At the same time, Käthe's foster father receives the news that he has lost all of his fortune and as a result suffers a stroke. When the dying man asked Käthe to get married as quickly as possible rich or at least aristocratic, she just laughed at him: he couldn't tell her anything, after all, he wasn't her biological father at all. Franz has now advanced into his rival's room and is shot by one of the princely servants. The old prince, who knows that Franz was his son from his relationship with the lady-in-waiting, explains to his other son that his half-brother was shot. The Hereditary Prince collapses over the body of Francis, crying. Meanwhile, Käthe Keller's mother is arrested for forging documents. Käthe, who gathers up all of the cellar's cash, wants to run away with Prince Ottokar in order to give herself up to the sweet life in Monte Carlo from now on. Carelessness first causes her clothes to catch fire, then the entire sports hotel, and Kathe dies a cruel death in flames.
Production notes
The love affairs of Käthe Keller , also known (e.g. in Austria) under the title Der Liebesroman der Käthe Keller , was created in the Maxim-Film-Atelier in Berlin's Blücherstraße 32, was originally 1970 meters long, spread over five acts and was banned from young people . The film had 204 subtitles and had its world premiere on September 12, 1919 in Berlin's UT Kurfürstendamm. In view of the almost constant amoral behavior of almost all those involved in this story, The Liaisons of Käthe Keller was finally banned by the film supervisory board on February 26, 1923. The reasoning stated, among other things: “There is no need to point out that the content of the picture strip is filthy. In addition, the film offers lascivious and indecent representations in many image sequences. The supervisory authority then came to the conclusion that the strip of images was suitable to have a demoralizing effect. It was then to be banned. ”The film opened on January 2, 1920 in Austria.
The buildings were designed by Hans Sohnle .
Reviews
“The exposure is brilliant, leads into the milieu of those unscrupulous and unscrupulous people who also deliver their own child to Mammon and seek to capitalize on their bodies. With a terrible end to almost every person involved, this fallacy finds a sobering, but also shocking refutation. Perhaps this drastic description will help improve some things - one would hope so. The game is excellent. (...) The material and the presentation make the film a 'teardrop' that will overcrowd the cinemas. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: "Material, photos, game and scenery excellent (a hit of the first rank)."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Prohibition of justification for Die Liebschaften der Käthe Keller in a transcript from the Film Board on February 26, 1923
- ↑ Neue Kino-Rundschau of November 22, 1919. p. 23
- ↑ The love novel of Käthe Keller in Paimann's film lists ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
