The dancer Barberina
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The dancer Barberina |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1920 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carl Boese |
| script | Adolf Paul based on his novel of the same name |
| production | Primus-Film, Frankfurt am Main |
| camera | Mutz Greenbaum |
| occupation | |
| |
The dancer Barberina is a German historical silent film from 1920 with Lyda Salmonova in the title role and Otto Fee as Frederick the Great .
action
The film is about life, love and the extensive affairs of the dancer Barbara Campanini . As a young girl she was discovered and encouraged by the Italian dancer and dance teacher Antonio Rinaldi Fossano. With the support of her matchmaker mother and with the application of a lot of pressure, Fossano makes her his lover. Through Fossano, Barbara gets to know the great world of courts and palaces in Europe. It ends up first at the court of Louis XV. in Versailles, where she is courted by courtiers and favorites of the king. Barbara is not averse to any adventure right from the start, because the ambitious dancer wants high in her life. And so she ends up in the beds of lustful counts and princes who can give her the life that the courtisane longs for.
A guest performance in London leads her straight into the arms of the young Lord Stuart de Mackenzie , who runs off to Venice with her, although the dancer "La Barberina", as she is affectionately known by her admirers, has promised to commit to Berlin to meet the court of the Prussian King Friedrich II. Enraged by the breach of contract, the king, who threatens to turn the matter into a veritable state affair, ensures that the Italian dancer is extradited by the Republic of Venice to Prussia and taken to the ballet of his royal court opera. Barbara takes advantage of this forced action, ignores the love-loving Lord Stuart, who is traveling after her, and finally becomes the lover of Fritz, who was not so “old” at the time.
Production notes
The dancer Barberina was made mainly in the second half of 1919. The seven-act film with a length of 2238 meters was censored on March 10, 1921, but was premiered on April 2, 1920 in the Tauentzienpalast .
Background and interesting facts
- Barbara Campanini (1721–1799), one of the most important dancers of the 18th century, made her debut on German soil in 1744 at the Prussian court opera. She lived mostly in Prussia until her death. In the campaign for Campanini's favor, however, the Prussian nobleman Baron Karl Ludwig von Cocceji remained the winner. However, Cocceji's role is not considered in this film.
- For Otto Fee this was the first film produced by a small Frankfurt company in which he appeared as the Prussian King Frederick the Great. In over two decades he played Fridericus Rex 14 more times.
- The relationship between the Barberina and Frederick II is also discussed in the films Die Mühle von Sanssouci (1925/26) and The Dancer von Sanssouci (1932). In the first, Olga Chekhova played the barberina in the second, Lil Dagover .
- The film structures and costume designs come from Ernst Stern .