The night of knowledge

The night of knowledge was the title of the “first German sound record lecture film” in which Ruth Weyher and Fritz Kortner presented the “revelation of a marriage”. The film, which "exposed the most secret movements of the soul" [sic], had 6 acts according to the poster that were "provided with a new kind of artistic music illustration of undreamt-of effect".

The fact that the physician Kurt Thomalla gave an introductory lecture on this is reminiscent of the approaches that were used for “educational films” from the beginning of the 1920s. The fact that in the text of the poster the needle film is played against the optical sound film, on the other hand, refers more to the end of the Weimar Republic , when both processes were still competing in the movie theaters.

With music illustrations on optical sound ( movietone ), silent films had already been released in the USA from 1927, including William A. Wellman's aviator film Wings and Murnau's Sunrise - Song of Two People (original title Sunrise ).

According to filmportal.de , the film was a production by Eiko-Film GmbH by producer Franz Vogel , which was submitted to the censors for examination in October 1918 [sic]. Unfortunately there is no further information, especially about the contributors. That can't be the movie this is about.

The only silent film in which Weyher and Kortner appeared together was Arthur Robison's " Schatten - Eine Nachtliche Halluzination " from 1923. It was a production by Pan-Film GmbH Berlin, which was also awarded under the title "Schatten - The Night of Knowledge" has been. The poster for “The Night of Knowledge” on filmportal.de shows Ruth Weyher in a pose that she also assumes in “shadow”.

So was "The First Sound Disc Lecture Film" a re-performance of Robison's "Shadows" from 1923, 'retouched' with records? The example of Waldemar Rogers “The twelfth hour”, who “according to the procedure of Organon GmbH in the Polyphon-Grammophon-concern” with records musically illustrated new edition of Murnau's “ Nosferatu ” teaches that there may have been more attempts to make older, successful silent films to bring it back to the cinemas cheaply using needle tone. “The Night of Knowledge” would have been another one of them.

Illustrations

Cinema poster for the »Rössle-Lichtspiele« Eppingen from Wednesday, March 16 [1929?].
Movie poster for the »Capitol« cinema: “The great sensation! The great music-sound-film "

Individual evidence

↑ This term for gramophone records, which seems strange today, can also be found, like the term “Spielplatten”, in announcements about so-called “singing films”, but to the contrary argumentation: they want to differentiate themselves from the imperfect needle tone with their 'living' artists, cf. Text on posters for “Herz am Rhein” and “Mädel vom Rhein”
↑ See Hans Jürgen Wulff in the Lexikon der Filmbegriffe : "The lecture film is already known in a preliminary form from the silent film era; this is how James Hurley's documentary about the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition (1914–1916) with the title South (1919) became a feature film presented, but was at the same time available as a "lecture film", which was supplemented by a live lecture. Such combinations of lecture and film were produced and used for educational purposes, but also for advertising and propaganda purposes. "
↑ so the poster of the Rössle-Lichtspiele in Eppingen from the end of the 1920s
↑ also lines of text such as “A film for more mature people” (poster Rössle-Lichtspiele), “only for adults” (poster Capitol) and pompous teasers like “A gripping, disturbing drama of human passions” (poster Rössle-Lichtspiele) or “dangerous awakening of the Desires and desires slumbering in the human soul ”(Capitol poster), which play 'virtuously with eroticism, but also with psychoanalysis', point in this direction.
↑ cf. »The press writes:“ The solemn accompaniment of this pin-tone film will never be achieved in the softness of a light-tone film. You have to experience the effect yourself. ”And“ The human voice speaks clearer and clearer than before in sound films in this 1st sound recording film. ”«
^ “Movietone” (musical score and sound effects) , cf. IMDb technical specs
↑ The shadow. The night of knowledge - filmportal.de
↑ cf. Heinz-Hermann Meyer in the dictionary of film terms ; Advertising slip from Eiko-Film GmbH shown. at deutsche-kinemathek.de
↑ also with GECD # 32829 nothing more can be learned than that the film measured 4 acts and was banned from young people.
↑ “Ruth Weyher had her first big screen success in Arthur Robison's expressionist classic 'Schatten. A nocturnal hallucination '(1923) as the attractive wife of a jealous husband (Fritz Kortner), she was' better than usual in terms of performance, she is more mature, more personal, not only beautiful, but also typical. She missed that so far. It must first be pressed into a form or into a task, must model itself in order to overcome what is often inexpressive '”, wrote the“ Film-Kurier ”at the time (No. 177, July 26, 1928) (as with steffi- line.de )
^ Movie poster - The shadow. The night of knowledge - filmportal.de
↑ cf. Stand photo ; the title "Der Schatten", to which "The Night of Knowledge" appears like an added subtitle, points to a possible confusion with Robison's film, whose alternative titles were: Shadow - The Night of Knowledge (without article!) and Shadow - A nocturnal hallucination, cf. Shadow (1923) ; only October 1918 is too early for that.
↑ cf. murnau-stiftung.de
↑ Fig. Of a “Grammophon Cinéma” silent film accompanying record at grammophon-platten.de
↑ cf. Gravestone for Max Schreck and Lotte H. Eisner, Murnau. Publisher: Kommunales Kino Frankfurt am Main 1979, pp. 161–180.
↑ there were no license fees for the large electrical companies that held the optical sound film patents, cf. u. a. Harro Segeberg: Media and their technology: theories, models, history. (= Series of publications by the Society for Media Studies, Society for Media Studies, ISSN 1619-960X . Volume 11). Verlag Schüren, 2004, ISBN 3-89472-359-9 , pp. 264-265 and 270.

[1] This term for gramophone records, which seems strange today, can also be found, like the term “Spielplatten”, in announcements about so-called “singing films”, but to the contrary argumentation: they want to differentiate themselves from the imperfect needle tone with their 'living' artists, cf. Text on posters for “Herz am Rhein” and “Mädel vom Rhein”

[2] See Hans Jürgen Wulff in the Lexikon der Filmbegriffe : "The lecture film is already known in a preliminary form from the silent film era; this is how James Hurley's documentary about the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition (1914–1916) with the title South (1919) became a feature film presented, but was at the same time available as a "lecture film", which was supplemented by a live lecture. Such combinations of lecture and film were produced and used for educational purposes, but also for advertising and propaganda purposes. "

[3] so the poster of the Rössle-Lichtspiele in Eppingen from the end of the 1920s

[4] so lines of text such as “A film for more mature people” (poster Rössle-Lichtspiele), “only for adults” (poster Capitol) and pompous teasers like “A gripping, disturbing drama of human passions” (poster Rössle-Lichtspiele) or “dangerous awakening of the Desires and desires slumbering in the human soul ”(Capitol poster), which play 'virtuously with eroticism, but also with psychoanalysis', point in this direction.

[5] . »The press writes:“ The solemn accompaniment of this pin-tone film will never be achieved in the softness of a light-tone film. You have to experience the effect yourself. ”And“ The human voice speaks clearer and clearer than before in sound films in this 1st sound recording film. ”«

[6] “Movietone” (musical score and sound effects) , cf. IMDb technical specs

[7] The shadow. The night of knowledge - filmportal.de

[8] . Heinz-Hermann Meyer in the dictionary of film terms ; Advertising slip from Eiko-Film GmbH shown. at deutsche-kinemathek.de

[9] so with GECD # 32829 nothing more can be learned than that the film measured 4 acts and was banned from young people.

[10] “Ruth Weyher had her first big screen success in Arthur Robison's expressionist classic 'Schatten. A nocturnal hallucination '(1923) as the attractive wife of a jealous husband (Fritz Kortner), she was' better than usual in terms of performance, she is more mature, more personal, not only beautiful, but also typical. She missed that so far. It must first be pressed into a form or into a task, must model itself in order to overcome what is often inexpressive '”, wrote the“ Film-Kurier ”at the time (No. 177, July 26, 1928) (as with steffi- line.de )

[11] Movie poster - The shadow. The night of knowledge - filmportal.de

[12] . Stand photo ; the title "Der Schatten", to which "The Night of Knowledge" appears like an added subtitle, points to a possible confusion with Robison's film, whose alternative titles were: Shadow - The Night of Knowledge (without article!) and Shadow - A nocturnal hallucination, cf. Shadow (1923) ; only October 1918 is too early for that.

[13] . murnau-stiftung.de

[14] Fig. Of a “Grammophon Cinéma” silent film accompanying record at grammophon-platten.de

[15] . Gravestone for Max Schreck and Lotte H. Eisner, Murnau. Publisher: Kommunales Kino Frankfurt am Main 1979, pp. 161–180.

[16] there were no license fees for the large electrical companies that held the optical sound film patents, cf. u. a. Harro Segeberg: Media and their technology: theories, models, history. (= Series of publications by the Society for Media Studies, Society for Media Studies, ISSN 1619-960X . Volume 11). Verlag Schüren, 2004, ISBN 3-89472-359-9 , pp. 264-265 and 270.