Vengeance is mine (1912)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The revenge is mine |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1912 |
| length | approx. 48 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | NN |
| production | Oskar Messter |
| occupation | |
| |
Revenge is mine is an early German silent film drama from 1912 with Martha Angerstein and Harry Liedtke in the leading roles.
action
Jenny is just twenty years old when she works as an assistant to a renowned portrait photographer. He has his eye on the young girl, but does not dare to confess his feelings to her. Berndt, a friend of Jenny's boss, is far less hesitant. He is considered a womanizer and also knows how to turn Jenny's head. During a rowing boat trip with Jenny, an old lung disease becomes noticeable again, whereupon his doctor advises a convalescent cure in Egypt. Jenny lets herself be persuaded to come along. On this trip she meets an older man and his daughter and becomes friends with both of them. The daughter is very pretty, whereupon Womanizer Berndt turns to her emphatically. Jenny feels neglected by her companion. When he goes too far with his flirtations in an Arab café, Jenny gets up indignantly and decides to return to Germany. She is pregnant by Berndt and wants to start a new life at home as a single person. Soon a son named Konrad will be born, whom Jenny has to take care of. In the meantime, she is working hard to find a good job by posting an advertisement. Her former boss, the portrait photographer, reads this ad and does what he would have wanted to do back then: he proposes to Jenny. But too much has happened since then; Jenny is ashamed of her slip-up with Berndt and doesn't dare to tell her former boss that she has long since become a "dishonorable" mother. He has almost left the room when the girl thinks better, falls on her knees in front of him and says that she would like to become his wife. Both marry and become happy, but Jenny's dark story about the slip-up with Berndt she doesn't like to confess to him.
Ten years have passed and their son Konrad is still living with his foster mother. Jenny keeps dropping by secretly and is satisfied with the progress the boy is making in school. Then the misfortune approaches in the form of Berndt returning from a trip around the world. He is visiting his photographer friend when he is amazed to find his former lover with him. And that as his wife! Berndt still never lets anything burn and tries again to approach Jenny inappropriately. But this time she rejects him indignantly. Jenny confesses to her husband, who overheard this excited appearance, both the earlier affair with Berndt and the existence of her ten-year-old son from this short-term relationship. A duel ensues between the two former friends, with Jenny's husband losing out and dies. Now she is alone again in life. As the new head of the photography business, she gets involved in work in order to numb the intense emotional pain.
Another ten years have passed, and Konrad has developed well as a young man. As a student in the corps, he took the boldness one day and called out something jokingly after a young lady, which, however, was uncomfortable with her much older, male companion. It's about Berndt, who is instantly brutal. The Studiosus feels hurt in his honor and challenges the attacker to a duel. When Jenny reads Konrad's farewell lines the next morning immediately before the duel, she was in a state of excitement: Don't lose another loved one in such a senseless duel! She runs to the scene, hoping to prevent the worst. Berndt is late and urges his chauffeur to hurry. He loses control of the vehicle on the journey into hell and races down a slope with him. Konrad and his fellow students watch the accident from a distance and walk there. Jenny is already at the scene of the accident. With a mixture of horror and satisfaction, the woman realizes that the fatally injured person is the bad guy Bernd.
Production notes
Revenge is mine was made in the Messter-Film-Atelier in Berlin's Blücherstraße 32, passed the censorship on June 29, 1912 and probably saw its world premiere a little later. The premiere for Austria-Hungary can be proven on August 9, 1912. The film was three acts long and measured 890 meters. It is currently unknown who directed it.
The theater actress Martha Angerstein appeared here for the first time in front of the camera. Her film partner Harry Liedtke, who later became a top star in German cinema until the 1930s, also made his film debut here. He received a daily fee of 20 marks for his first appearance. Both actors were film partners in Too Late and Guilty (both 1913).
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhard Lamprecht: German silent films, volume 1903-1912, p. 239.