Looping the loop
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Looping the Loop The death loop |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1928 |
| length | 133 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Arthur Robison |
| script |
Robert Liebmann Arthur Robison |
| production | Gregor Rabinowitsch |
| music | Artur Guttmann |
| camera | Carl Hoffmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Looping the Loop , also known as Die Todesschleife , is an internationally cast German silent film love drama from the world of the circus that was made in 1928 . Directed by Arthur Robison , Werner Krauss (Germany), Jenny Jugo (Austria), Warwick Ward (England) and Gina Manès (France) will star.
action
The circus clown Botto is one of the best in his field, but his fame has not caused him to lose a long-standing shyness towards women. Once a girl he loved very much laughed at him because of his job. Artist André, a young attractive man, is completely different: he loves women and is not considered a food lover. His current flame is called Hanna and appears in the circus as an art shooter. One day Botto meets the very young Blanche Vallette, who has absolutely nothing to do with the circus. The sensitive Blanche shows interest in Botto, but thinks Hanna is Botto's lover because of a misinterpretation and suffers a breakdown. Botto, who finds Blanche lying unconscious on the street, takes care of her and brings Blanche home. The clown quickly made contact with Blanche's family and met her mother and father. Still suffering from his bad experience, he claims that he is an engineer in order not to be laughed at again by a lady in his heart. He showered Blanche with presents and was already thinking of a wedding when thunderclouds were gathering in the relationship sky ...
After a few months, Blanche visits the circus one evening, where Botto and André perform. She immediately catches the eye of the womanizer and Luftikus André, who tries to wrap her around his finger with his Casanova charm. Hanna joins them during the break and makes her André a jealous scene. Then there is also a dispute between Blanche and the "burned child" Botto, whereupon Blanche runs away. However, she returns to André, who knows much better than Botto how to beguile a woman. During a big performance in London, she performs a looping number with him. With the death loop, the Looping the Loop, there is a serious accident. André falls from a great height and dies. Botto, who is present at the same time and waiting in full costume and masking for his own appearance, runs to Blanche and helps her. Since Blanche does not recognize him in his clown painting, she also does not know that her savior is Botto. When she pours her heart out to him, Botto realizes that she genuinely loves him, no matter what profession he pursues. Blanche, realizing that the now made-up Botto is standing in front of her, asks his forgiveness, and both can now follow their common path in life.
Production notes
The death loop aka Looping the Loop was created in January and February 1928 in the UFA studios in Neubabelsberg (studio photos) and in London (outdoor photos). The film passed the censorship on May 24, 1928 and was premiered on September 15, 1928 in Berlin's UFA-Theater Universum on Lehniner Platz. The film opened in Vienna on New Year's Day 1929. The film had six acts in Germany (in Austria: eight acts), spread over 3347 meters (in Austria: approx. 2700 meters) and was banned from young people.
Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig designed the film structures. Gregor Rabinowitsch was also the production manager, Max Wogritsch was the production manager . Erich Holder served Robison as assistant director.
Reviews
"Above all, it is the main character of the play, Botto, the clown, who is excellently drawn and represents a type from the varied circus life, as it may easily appear in reality: with all its happy moods, his successes in the ring and - his sorrow in his heart. (...) It may be that ... the photographer (Carl Hoffmann), who does come up with many atmospheric circus shots, has missed a lot. Warwick Ward has also been seen better, especially in "Varieté". On the other hand, the clown Botto finds an embodiment in Werner Krauss that could not be better imagined. "
“All of the film's liveliness comes from non-players. From the large number of participating artists: Japanese on swinging trapeze, elephants in act of dressage, horses, girls - that smells like a circus. (...) Nameless people scurrying past complement the circus business. The audience likes to see him again and again. (…) One would finally bring Werner Krauss into the film atmosphere. So he just keeps putting his inexhaustible theater masks in front of the camera, always a distant relative of "Dr. Caligari". His clown shows himself in a scene with two facial expressions: made up and removed at the same time. So is all of Krauss in the film. (...) The eye has enough to look - too little to experience. The abundance of what is on offer will turn the film into a circus attraction for the masses of cinema-goers. "
“The plot of this new large-scale circus film by Ufa-Lichtspiele stands or falls with the somewhat questionable thesis that a clown has no luck with women. The women had to laugh at him, so he was finished as a man. (...) Arthur Robison, the director, has tried to create a real and rich milieu, but he is not as at home in it as Max Reichmann , who in the "Manege" film met reality down to the smallest detail . Robison not infrequently exaggerates and generally applies too much. Indeed, he did some things excellently; Such a dream scene in which the clown leans over the wooden frame of the "death loop", reduced to a puppet-like shape, on which the lover is supposed to produce with the artist. The film is saved by Werner Krauss, who performs the role wonderfully tenderly and with melancholy grace. "
The Österreichische Film-Zeitung wrote: “The brilliant director Arthur Robisons exhausts every possible effect, creates sequences of images and individual scenes that are exciting and highly interesting at the same time and reveal a rare mastery of the milieu and the people who are rooted in it. (...) Outstanding in the portrayal of the main character, the clown Botto, is Werner Krauss, whose design is one of the most splendid that has ever been seen by this artist. (...) Photography deserves a special note, as it has achieved something masterly with truly sophisticated technical means. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “The typical circus story combined with the Bajazz motif, worked fluidly in pleasing variations. The fact that this subject does not have a full effect may be due to the very pretty Jenny Jugo's mimic expressiveness, which does not complement Werner Krauss's excellent performance ... who here ... created a person of flesh and blood. Plenty of original and well-seen pictures from the world of the circus, smooth directing and excellent photography compensate for this. "
Web links
- Looping the Loop in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Looping the Loop at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Looping the Loop". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , January 5, 1929, p. 14 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Looping the Loop in Paimann's Filmlisten ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2018 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.
