The three holy wells
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The three holy wells |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1930 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mario Bonnard |
| script | Hans H. Zerlett based on an idea by Arnold Fanck |
| production | Hom-Film AG, Berlin |
| music |
Willy Schmidt-Gentner (silent film version) Paul Dessau (sound film) |
| camera |
Richard Angst Willy Winterstein Viktor Gluck |
| occupation | |
| |
The three holy fountains is an early German sound film from 1930 by Mario Bonnard with Luis Trenker , Betty Bird and Boris de Fast in the leading roles.
action
Once upon a time, as a young man, the alpine farmer Christomanus moved from his village into the distance to try his luck elsewhere. Now he is returning as a qualified and recognized engineer. He stops at the “Zum Weißen Hirsch” inn of his old friend Louis and finds shelter there. Christomanus is shocked to discover that Louis has become a depraved drunkard who, to make matters worse, treats his pretty young wife Pia extremely badly. Christomanus goes on a hike through the mountains and discovers an underground river bed. The engineer immediately came up with the idea of building a dam, fed by underground water, the “holy three wells”, in order to secure the energy supply for his community and the surrounding area. He gets to work right away with the preparations.
The extensive construction work requires the entire commitment of the engineer, so that he does not even notice that Pia has gradually fallen in love with him, the homecomer. For her, Christomanus embodies the big, wide world she has always longed for. Louis, who is quite simply knitted, quickly notices Pia's enthusiasm and becomes jealous. Plagued by dark thoughts, he plans to murder his old childhood friend. When he carried out the attack, however, he was carelessly killed himself and also put Christomanus in great danger, from which he was able to escape. The engineer is appalled by what his return home has caused and decides to leave the mountain village and the region and look for new tasks elsewhere. Pia knows that Christomanus will return to her one day.
Production notes
The three holy wells was created at the beginning of 1930 and was filmed in Staaken (studio) and in Tyrol, the High Tatras and in Switzerland (exterior shots). The film premiered on February 28, 1930 in Vienna. The Berlin premiere was on April 16, 1930 in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo . It is currently not known when the sound film version started.
Viktor Skutezky was in charge of production, Heinrich C. Richter designed the film structures.
The film received the rating "popular education".
Reviews
In the edition of March 5, 1930, Vienna's Neue Freie Presse reads: “The film draws on abundant resources, indulges in a symphony of Swiss beauty: narrow, unworldly villages, wide snow fields, mountain ridges with gigantic rock faces, smooth stone walls towering into the sky, abysses , unexplored mountain holes, rushing water masses underground. All of this is irresistibly attractive, dangerously mysterious. The modern zeitgeist breaks into this mixture of natural wonders and embryonic culture. (...) The simple narrative built into the beautifully picturesque natural setting is warmed up by small, exhilarating episodes. Luis Trenker comes first in terms of performance; First and foremost, fascinating in his mountain sports achievements, but also in the profiled tracing of a man of precisely technical and scientific deed who ignores the human aspect. Betty Bird appears to be remarkably advanced in expressing emotions. She doesn't stop here at letting her beautiful appearance speak. "
Siegfried Kracauer, on the other hand, hardly left a good hair on the film. In “From Caligari to Hitler” he complained that Fanck's model was devoid of ideas, stated a “pseudo-heroic bombast” of roaring elements, wondrous technology and storms of passion. He also scoffed that Trenker's engineer Christomanus was a “one hundred percent man” who only lacked knight armor.
Web links
- The Three wells in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The three holy wells at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The three holy wells". In: Neue Freie Presse , March 5, 1930, p. 12 (online at ANNO ).