The wrong Asta Nielsen
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The wrong Asta Nielsen |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1915 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Urban Gad |
| script | FJ Steffens |
| production | Paul Davidson |
| occupation | |
| |
The wrong Asta Nielsen is a 1914 German silent film comedy with a mix-up with Asta Nielsen in a double role.
action
Asta Nielsen is at the height of her fame in 1914; along with Henny Porten , she is the most popular female film star in the German Empire. The theater director Baumbach knows this, too, who thinks that his daughter Bolette, a would-be model that is “shining” due to persistent failure, is very similar to the screen diva. So why shouldn't he try to earn money with Bolette as the fake Asta Nielsen, especially since he has just read how much the real Asta supposedly earns. Bolette is enthusiastic about this idea and writes the famous Dane a letter in which she asks for some of her no longer needed items of clothing. In fact, Asta Nielsen is so generous and sends her some clothes.
Inadvertently, the diva's diamond jewelry got under the clothes, which the enterprising Baumbach immediately silvered at a jeweler in order to invest the money as start-up capital in Bolette's hoped-for star career. In the Silesian town of Waldenburg , where an Asta Nielsen guest performance was announced in the local court theater, father and daughter experience their baptism of fire. There is a clear division of labor: the smart Baumbach takes care of the financial and organizational matters, while Bolette's “Asta” explains the essence of cinematography and the art of film to the traveling press. At a reception given in her honor, however, Bolette, who is a little peasant, behaves quite wrongly. But the people here in the provinces look up to “Asta”, believing that such behavior is an expression of typical artist whims.
A film company reports and wants to hire Bolette's Asta. But she prefers to enjoy herself in the city's nightlife, where she meets a snazzy baron who she likes. He, in turn, likes her rough, robust and always a little noisy personality. The champagne flows freely, which, however, gives Bolette a hangover the next morning. Still slightly tipsy, she appears at her new employer in the film studio, which angered her new bosses. At the same time, the real Asta Nielsen arrives in Waldenburg and is very surprised that she is given such a cold reception. Bolette had probably left a pretty disastrous impression the night before. The director of the court theater makes it clear to Asta that he considers his stage too valuable for a person of her kind to appear there. More than astonished, she moves away from this inhospitable place and returns to the streets. There the authorities handed Asta a summons to court, where they should answer for disturbing the peace at night and gross nonsense. To make matters worse, an oily gentleman charms her, who in all seriousness claims that he has been her beau since last night.
The real Asta Nielsen gradually realizes that something cannot be right here: there must be a doppelganger! The baron, who had just struggled with his fake bride, the real diva, has just returned from shopping and presents his Bolette-Asta with the diamond star recently silvered by Father Baumbach, which belongs to the real Asta. Baumbach is very happy about it and is already thinking about how he can turn this valuable piece of jewelry into money a second time. Bolette soon begins to try out the would-be Asta in front of the camera, while the real Nielsen, who has secretly arrived, watches this spectacle with amusement from behind the scenes. In the final scene, she cheats in front of the camera and hands Bolette, who is amazed at the bass, a letter. Baumbach, who saw the disaster approaching, has long since left - with Asta Nielsen's diamond jewelry, of course. He doesn't get far, however, because the police have been waiting for him and are waiting for him. Bolette herself hardly gets her mouth closed any more than she thinks she is looking into her own reflection. She wants to leave quickly when she too is arrested by the police. When Baumbach repentantly returns the piece of jewelry to Asta, the great Dane intercedes for the two offenders, and the police let father and daughter go. Bolette and her baron leave the scene, and Asta Nielsen makes it clear to the stunned theater director von Waldenburg with smug undertone that there is only one Asta Nielsen.
Production notes
The fake Asta Nielsen passed the first film censorship in September and the second in November 1915 and was banned from young people. The first performance of the three-act comedy, which had already been filmed in the early autumn of 1914, took place on December 10, 1915, much late due to the war. The three-act act was filmed in the Union studio in Berlin-Tempelhof's Oberlandstrasse. From February 1916, The False Asta Nielsen could be seen in both Denmark and the Netherlands.
The theater comedian Victor Arnold , who died by suicide in October 1914, played his last role here. In one scene, the fake Asta, Bolette, looks at the real Asta in their 1914 film Das Feuer .
Reviews
“Asta Nielsen plays her role with truly artistic humor: the scene in which the fake Asta Nielsen with the mirror in hand tries to appropriate the facial expressions of the great artist while satirizing herself, which has an amazing effect, seems hilarious . One of the best comedians ever to appear on the film stage also achieves a brilliant performance in this film, the Berlin actor Arnold, who unfortunately died too early (...) The last act of the right and wrong Asta Nielsen is extraordinarily skillful. "