The devil's hand
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The devil's hand |
| Original title | La main du diable |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1942 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Maurice Tourneur |
| script | Henri-Georges Clouzot Stanislas-André Steeman |
| production | Maurice Tourneur Alfred Greven |
| music | Roger Dumas |
| camera | Armand Thirard |
| cut | Christian Gaudin |
| occupation | |
| |
The Devil's Hand is a French feature film from 1942. Directed by Maurice Tourneur , Pierre Fresnay starred . The story is based on the novel " La main enchantée " (1832) by Gérard de Nerval .
action
The story begins in a mountain inn. Guests have gathered in the dining room and are talking. Suddenly a strange man walks in. He's carrying something under his arm. It is a box in which a cut hand is kept. The guests urge the stranger to tell the story behind it. And so the stranger begins to report: Once he was an unsuccessful painter who simply did not want to succeed. In order to improve his miserable existence, he made a Faustian pact: he bought a box with a severed hand that would bring him luck, fame and fortune. The love of his dream woman should also be granted to him. What he didn't know: He made a pact with the devil. One day a small, black-clad man visited him and asked him to return the devil's hand. Roland learned that he was not its first owner and that all previous ones had been killed.
Now he knows what fate awaits him. The story of the devil's hand wandering from owner to owner is told through flashbacks . Roland Brissot is a poor painter who is spurned by Iréne, the woman he loves. For a sou he purchases a left hand, the devil's hand, from an innkeeper. This hand will bring him talent and fame as a painter, Roland is promised, but also Irène's love. One day, however, Roland is made clear, an equivalent will be demanded of him and nothing less than his soul. In order to preserve this he only has to pay one sou per day, which after a few weeks of hand ownership would mean an enormous sum to buy his soul free. Since he can never repay his debts, Roland Brissot faces a terrible fate.
But soon it turns out that there is a break in the chain of fate. Because the devil once stole the magical hand from the monk Maximus Leo. Brissot could never become the owner of the devil's hand and never has to surrender his soul to the devil. And so the flashback ends, and it's back to the mountain inn. Roland Brissot, the mysterious stranger with the devil's hand, explains to the unbelieving visitors that he is on his way to the monk's grave in order to finally bring the devil's hand back to him. Chased by a little man in black who turns out to be a devil, Roland rushes to the monk's tomb. A fight ensues and the painter falls into the monk's grave. He dies, but at the same time brings the hand back to the true owner.
Production notes
The Devil's Hand was shot within four weeks of 1942 and celebrated its world premiere on April 21, 1943. The film opened on March 30, 1947 in Germany.
Andrei Andreyev created the film structures.
useful information
The Faust- inspired film The Devil's Hand is, like Marcel Carné's Night with the Devil , "one of the highlights in the short fantastic current that illuminated French cinema in the 1940s" as the French screenwriter Jacques Lourcelles stated. The film by the cinema veteran Tourneur was produced under the umbrella of the German-controlled production company Continental Films . Its boss, Alfred Greven , had been able to win some of the best French directors who remained in the country for his company since the autumn of 1940. Greven gave, as can be seen an example of this film, also numerous "enemies of the Reich", employment, including the resistance fighter Jean Devaivre who Tourneur served as assistant director, and the Jew Jean-Paul Le Chanois , of the screenplay for The Devil's Hand wrote .
Reviews
In the lexicon of the international film it says: “The weird, not particularly logical story is darkly staged in the form of a narrative back and gains tension mainly through the decorations; as a variant of the "Faust" theme, not without charm. "
“Maurice Tourneur and Jean-Paul Le Chanois modernize Gérard de Nerval's novel and preserve its poisonous poetry. Several stories answer themselves like musical instruments at the service of a strange melody. The magic works thanks to a fruitful, aesthetic search: huge shadows, collages, hallucinating paintings. "
"The rapid review of inevitable fates is a highlight of Maurice Tourneur's staging skills."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lourcelles quote on film.at
- ↑ See Kay Less : Between Stage and Barrack , p. 24. Berlin 2008
- ↑ The Devil's Hand. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 1, 2019 .
- ↑ Lourcelles short review on film.at
Web links
- The Devil hand in the Internet Movie Database (English)