The Rolling Ball (1919)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The rolling ball |
| Country of production | German Empire |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1919 |
| length | 66 (1919), 57 (1921) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rudolf Biebrach |
| script | Henrik Galeen |
| production | Oskar Messter |
| occupation | |
| |
Die Rollende Kugel is a German silent film drama from 1919 by and with Rudolf Biebrach . Ernst Hofmann and Martha Angerstein can be seen in the leading roles . The story is based on motifs from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Gambler.
action
Russia, in the 19th century. Young Vanya is employed as a private tutor for General Sagorianskij. Pauline is his daughter. Both young people quickly fall in love, but the old general does not tolerate this relationship because, according to the old man, Vanya, as a teacher, does not have the means to offer his daughter a decent life. When Wanya's question as to whether he could come back after he had made a fortune, the teacher received the approval from the general. Wanja sees the only way to get money quickly by going to the casino and risking everything at the roulette table. In fact, he is very lucky and wins large sums of money. The lover rushes back to his Pauline, but she has looked elsewhere in the meantime. The wealthy and respected Marquis de Grillet, a little older than Wanja, courted her, and an engagement was about to begin. Badly hit, Vanya insults the noble rival and challenges the marquis to play. The mission should be Pauline.
Whoever wins in the game gets the girl, whoever loses leaves life voluntarily. Vanya is lucky, the dice roll in his favor. The former head of house graciously refrains from sacrificing himself on the part of the Marquis, he should just disappear. But this time Wanja has no luck with his advertising for Pauline's heart. Disgusted by the circumstances in which she was wooed, she brusquely rejects Wanya's request to make her his wife. But Vanya does not give up; In honor of her and her father, he organizes a large artist festival, to which father and daughter Sagorianskij are the guests of honor. In fact, the general and Pauline want to leave for this festival, when a stroke takes the old man away. So it happens that Pauline arrives at the party very late. There she meets Vanya dying: sitting on a float, he shot himself with a revolver, assuming that his dream woman would have rejected him again. The eponymous rolling ball from the roulette table had brought Wanja wealth, but he was denied happiness in love. And so a bullet, this time in the barrel of a pistol, should end his life.
Production notes
The rolling ball was created at the beginning of 1919 in the UFA-Messter-Atelier in Berlin-Tempelhof , passed the first censorship in April 1919 and was premiered on May 9th of the same year in Berlin's Mozart Hall. The length of the film was 1524 meters in 1919 and in the version of the new censorship of April 4, 1921 between 1424 and 1433 meters, divided into five acts. The film was banned from young people.
criticism
“The plot stems from Dostoyevsky motifs and was… brilliantly staged. The portrayal, too, immersed itself in the mind of the poet and lets the characters appear in a corresponding adaptation to the original Russian characters. Ernst Hofmann as Manja with excellent disposition and agile play, joined the ensemble in an understanding complement. The overall impression is also the best thanks to the interaction of the interesting material, the dignified furnishings and the beautiful pictures. "