Whore tragedy
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Whore tragedy |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1927 |
| length | 78 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bruno Rahn |
| script |
Ruth Goetz Leo Heller |
| production | Pantomim-Film AG |
| music | Felix Bartsch |
| camera | Guido Seeber |
| occupation | |
| |
Dirnentragödie is a German silent film drama by Bruno Rahn from 1927. Asta Nielsen plays the leading role .
action
Felix, a young student, leaves his parents' house after an argument and is picked up on the street by the aging prostitute Auguste and taken in to her apartment. She has grown tired over the years and, numb and disillusioned, has largely surrendered to her fate. She no longer expects much from life and therefore lets herself be exploited by her brutal pimp Anton without complaint. The careworn woman sees the spoiled youth as a chance for a new life, the illusion of a common, better future.
Not only Anton lives together in Auguste's apartment, but also the young prostitute Clarissa. She shows little consideration for her older colleague and begins to seduce the handsome Felix. Meanwhile, Auguste is making plans. She throws her pimp Anton out of the apartment and uses the money she has earned to make a down payment to a pastry shop, with which she would like to secure her and Felix's livelihood in the future. Meanwhile, Anton, a dumb, unscrupulous guy, tries everything to cause discord. Above all, he wants Auguste back. And so he begins to pair the boy with Clarissa.
When Auguste learns of the looming relationship between Felix and Clarissa, she is deeply disappointed and angry and sees all her future plans fading. Auguste instigates Anton, who is capable of any malice, to murder Clarissa, the much younger competitor for the student's favor. Felix, who has no idea of the plot against his new girlfriend, confesses to Auguste his love for Clarissa. Then Auguste tries at the last moment to prevent the contract killing, but she comes too late. Anton himself only realizes after the bloody act how senseless his actions were and turns himself in to the police. Auguste, deeply desperate and deprived of all hopes for a better life together at Felix's side, then commits suicide. The young man, on the other hand, returns ruefully to his parents' house.
Production notes
The shooting took place in February / March 1927 in the Rex-Film-Atelier in Berlin-Wedding . The premiere was on April 14, 1927 in Berlin . Whore tragedy was banned from youth.
The film was based on a play by Wilhelm Braun .
Director Bruno Rahn died six months after filming was finished.
Whore Tragedy was one of Asta Nielsen's last silent films . The 46-year-old artist received a lot of praise for her portrayal of an aging prostitute. The film itself received the rating "artistically superior".
The film structures were designed by Carl L. Kirmse .
In 1931, directed by Gerhard Lamprecht, a remake was made with the name Between Night and Morning . Aud Egede Nissen took over the Nielsen role there .
Reviews
The Lichtbild-Bühne praised: “A gloomy, poignant film that shines into the night side of social life. And outshining everything: Asta Nielsen, still one of the greatest film actresses in the world, still a miracle of humanity and art. "
Siegfried Kracauer wrote a differentiated review: “Nielsen is, still, a great artist, but her subject is out of date. She plays the whore she has often played and moves in a joy alley that has been completely modified by a no longer contemporary literature. This points back to the Strindberg era and, as a social fact, has lost its priority among other equally sad social facts. After all, the Nielsen stands out from the milieu, and even if she does not teach new nuances, she masters the ones she is used to. [...] The director conjures up the gloomy mood with reference to older role models with undeniable empathy. "
Willy Haas criticized the editing performance in the Film-Kurier - "If I had the opportunity, the time, the inclination and the practical knowledge (I don't have all four things): I cut this film entirely into long, unbroken, continuous scenes" - -, praised the dramaturgy of the script - “The situations in the manuscript - by Ruth Goetz and Leo Heller - are extraordinarily strong and an almost cruel invention. When an old whore lies howling in front of a locked door, and behind it a stupid little boy who she's screwed up with is having fun with another younger whore, and the two pretend they aren't there, but the old woman feels it, what's happening next door: it's a well thought out thing "- and paid homage to the leading actress without any compromises:" Of course: except for Asta Nielsen. It comes from a completely different world, breathes in a completely different world, carries a completely different world into it: the world of really great art. "
“As the old prostitute, she walks with a heavy step along the gray walls after the young street girl has taken her lover out of the DIRNENTRAGÖDIE. Slowly, infinitely tired, she removes make-up, removes all passion and sinks back into nothing. At such moments the hearts of the audience stand still - one is simply no longer able to analyze the unique intelligence in this great art of acting, where every gesture, every facial expression, every movement of the body seems to make up the natural, absolutely instinctive elements. "
Reclam's film guide stated: “Despite the spread-like plot, despite some clichés in the plot, the film achieves an immediate and in part suggestive effect. His assets include a clear director's conception, a convincing description of the milieu that is managed by director and camera, which also includes small gestures and details of the decoration, and above all excellent performance. Asta Nielsen was seldom better than in this film. "
The film's large lexicon of people writes: "... as a prostitute in the drama 'Whore Tragedy', Asta Nielsen showed the full range of her dramatic skills."
The lexicon of international films reads: "One of the best-known Asta Nielsen silent films, impressive in the portrayal of the main role, stylistically on the border between expressionism and realism."
literature
- Fred Gehler: Whore Tragedy. In: Günther Dahlke, Günter Karl (Hrsg.): German feature films from the beginning to 1933. A film guide. 2nd Edition. Henschel-Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-89487-009-5 , p. 146 f.
Web links
- Dirnentragödie in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Whore tragedy at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Photo stage. Vol. 20, No. 91, from April 16, 1927, ZDB -ID 536617-3 .
- ↑ Kracauer in the Frankfurter Zeitung. Stadt-Blatt , May 4, 1927, ZDB -ID 380324-7 .
- ^ Film courier. Vol. 9, No. 90, from April 16, 1927, ZDB -ID 575776-9 .
- ^ Dieter Krusche, Jürgen Labenski : Reclams film guide. Reclam, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-15-010205-7 , p. 49.
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 5: L - N. Rudolf Lettinger - Lloyd Nolan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 676.
- ↑ Tragedy of the prostitutes. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .