The eternal mask
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The eternal mask |
| Country of production | Austria , Switzerland |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1935 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Werner Hochbaum |
| script | Werner Hochbaum Leo Lapaire Kurt Gauger based on the novel of the same name (1934) by Leo Lapaire |
| production | Leo Lapaire for Tobis-Sascha-Film, Vienna, and Progress-Film, Bern |
| music | Anton Profes |
| camera | Oskar Schnirch |
| cut | Else Baum |
| occupation | |
| |
The Eternal Mask is an Austrian-Swiss film drama from 1935 by Werner Hochbaum with Peter Petersen and Mathias Wieman in the leading roles.
action
Professor Tscherko, head physician at a Basel hospital, has a huge problem. In his clinic, cases of meningitis (meningitis) are increasing, so that one can now speak of a real epidemic. More and more patients are dying from this life-threatening disease. Cherko's young colleague Dr. Dumartin is feverishly working on an antidote. When he wanted to try the serum on the patient Adam Negar, whom the hospital management had long since given up, Dumartin received several rebuffs from Prof. Tscherko. The reason: There is no experience whatsoever, not even in self-experiment, with the drug. When Dr. Dumartin nevertheless tried his antidote on Negar against the wishes of his superior, the patient recovered temporarily. But suddenly he suffers from shortness of breath and eventually dies of unknown consequences of the medication, as is suspected.
Negar's widow, who has promised Dumartin that her husband will be cured, is beside herself and accuses the doctor of murder in her desperation and irrepressible grief. The Negar case is immediately picked up by the press and pushed into a scandal. The clinic is accused of doing irresponsible experiments on its patients. Deeply shocked by the consequences of his act, Dr. Dumartin walks the city streets and falls into a full blown depression . Eventually he destroys the documents of his research by throwing them into the river, and jumps after himself to kill himself. But the suicide attempt fails, Dumartin is fished out of the water by witnesses to the incident.
His personality has been seriously damaged and Dumartin begins to suffer from schizophrenia and hallucinations . Professor Cherko's research into the Negar death shows that the Dumartins serum cannot be blamed for the sudden death of the patient. Rather, an embolism is stated to be the cause of Negar's death. Thanks to these findings, Dumartin's research results are beginning to gain in importance again. But his documents have been destroyed and the young doctor seems to have been mentally deranged since his suicide attempt. With the help of Negar's widow and a trick by his psychoanalytically savvy colleague Dr. Wendt, at the center of which is a mask that Dr. Encountering Dumartin himself, Dumartin can be brought back to reality. Recovered, he can complete his research and cure numerous meningitis patients.
Production notes
The eternal mask was created from February 19, 1935 to April of the same year in the Rosenhügel film studios of the Tobis Sascha film industry. The world premiere took place on August 26, 1935 in Venice on the occasion of the Biennale . There, The Eternal Mask received the Actor Society's medal for the “best psychological study”. The Austrian premiere was four days later in several cinemas in Vienna.
In Switzerland, the second co-producing country, The Eternal Mask opened in Zurich on September 18, 1935.
The Bern lawyer and later film producer Ernst Oskar Schmid, who founded the film production company "Thekla-Film" in his hometown, was responsible for the Swiss production. His wife the actress Thekla Ahrens (* 1906) played the role of sister Anna and Leo Lapaire the role of Lieutenant Dumartin.
In Germany, Hochbaum's film could initially be seen in Dresden from January 8, 1936, the Berlin premiere was on March 3, 1936. A youth ban was issued. On January 12, 1937, the film was also shown for the first time in the United States, where it ran under the title The Eternal Mask . Ten years later the film was released again in Austria.
The extensive film structures were designed by Hans Jacoby ; As Kay Less writes, it became Jacoby's “artistically most significant and quantitatively most comprehensive work.” a. a 30-meter-wide watercourse, a complete hospital block and a cleverly lit, eerie labyrinth of corridors ... with which he tied in with the aesthetic language of expressionist cinema (which was now ostracized in Hitler's Germany). ” Herbert Janeczka was responsible for the sound. The psychotherapist and writer Kurt Gauger , who also worked on the script, was hired as a medical adviser . Dancers from the Vienna State Opera Ballet and the Hellerau Dance School dance. Two songs are played: Un jour d'amour rempli d'émoi and Waltz mystic , published by Ludwig Doblinger (Bernhard Herzmansky) Vienna-Leipzig-Berlin.
Reviews
The film was largely well discussed in German-language press products but also in foreign-language countries. Here are a few examples from over five decades:
In the Österreichische Film-Zeitung of September 6, 1935, you can read about The Eternal Mask on page 2: "The Eternal Mask" ventures into a subject area that does not belong to the familiar subject area of the film. The author Leo Lapaire has together with the director Werner Hochbaum made the attempt to make the obsessions and dream fantasies of a person suffering from a split consciousness visible in the film. They understood how to give these fantasies something uncanny, dreamlike and at the same time plastic, so that the attempt was thoroughly successful and must be described in a way that is understandable for the audience. ... Matthias Wieman, as the main actor in the film, created a particularly impressive performance, Peter Petersen portrays the professor in an extremely characteristic way. "
Paimann's Filmlisten states: “Visionary sequences of images that are not an end in themselves, within the framework of a real, common-understandable action with concise dialogue interrupted by silent scenes. The director skillfully mixes him with unobtrusive light music (Profes), carefully leads the ensemble, which is dominated by Wiemann's impressive performance. Distinctive presentation, image and sound technology. Despite all the concerns about problem films, which cannot be dismissed here in terms of simpler visitor groups, the quality is above average ”.
The Neue Freie Presse sums it up: "The million-dollar film“ Die Ewige Maske ”, which was created in Vienna, is the work of a few artists who are looking for new paths. It is one of the rare cases in which the work and creator coincide completely. This is also unusual The fact that art-loving financiers were found who made huge funds available for the production of such a crazy film. "
"The content of the film, which was influenced by psychoanalysis and formally by Expressionism, earned Werner Hochbaum, a German avant-garde director, the distrust of the Nazi regime, but international recognition."
“THREE SUB-OFFICERS as well as DIE ETERNAL MASK, which was co-produced in Switzerland and Austria, are, surprisingly enough, protests by Hochbaum against the incorporation of youth into the adult world. The young doctor in THE ETERNAL MASK has to be 'guilty' to be considered an adult. The symbols of the Red Cross in THE ETERNAL MASK, the swastika in DREI UNTEROFFIZIERE, which are clearly shown in the picture, stand for the consumption of young people by the institutions (medicine, military) against which Hochbaum registered a radical reservation - which was not noticed at the time. "
"Mr. Lapaire's psychology is sound, and Werner Hochbaum, its director; Oscar Schnirch, its photographer, and Hans Jakoby, its art director, have collaborated perfectly in fusing the real and unreal elements of the drama into a coherent and completely engrossing motion picture. The modern score by Anton Profes, played by the Vienna Philharmonic Society, is the most eloquent accompaniment imaginable, and the performances are uniformly admirable. Special mention must, of course, go to that splendid German actor, Mathias Wieman, for his brilliant handling of the Dumartin rôle, and to Peter Peterson for the gruff Professor Tscherko. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrich J. Klaus: Deutsche Tonfilme, 7th year 1936. Berlin 1996, p. 66 (034.36)
- ↑ The Eternal Mask. Schweizer Film = Film Suisse: official organ of Switzerland., Accessed on June 7, 2020 .
- ↑ The Eternal Mask. Schweizer Film = Film Suisse: official organ of Switzerland., Accessed on June 7, 2020 .
- ↑ The Eternal Mask. An author seeks three people and finds himself. Swiss Film = Film Suisse: official organ of Switzerland., Accessed on June 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 258.
- ↑ "The Eternal Mask". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , September 6, 1935, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ The eternal mask in Paimann's film lists ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ "The Eternal Mask". In: Neue Freie Presse , August 25, 1935, p. 13 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ The Eternal Mask. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ The Eternal Mask in the New York Times
Web links
- The eternal mask in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The eternal mask at filmportal.de