Sleeping Beauty (1917)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | sleeping Beauty |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1917 |
| length | 64, 67 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Paul Leni |
| script | Paul Leni. Subheads in verse by Rudolf Presber |
| production | Paul Davidson for PAGU |
| camera | Alfred Hansen |
| occupation | |
| |
Sleeping Beauty is a German silent fairy tale film from 1917 by Paul Leni .
action
A king and his wife, the queen, rule a fairy tale kingdom in which there are apparently only satisfied people. One day, when the ruler and her ladies-in-waiting lose herself on the bank of the river, she comes across a frog who predicts that she will soon be born. The frog spoke the truth, because soon a child will be born to the royal couple. The girl is said to be called Sleeping Beauty. The monarch issued orders that the good news of the birth of an heir to the throne should be spread throughout his kingdom. So that his people can also share in the good news, he invites them to a lavish party. The old witch, who lives secluded in the dark forest, is overlooked at the invitation. She is terribly angry about it and curses the child. According to her prophecy, the princess should one day prick herself on a spinning wheel and at that moment fall into a deep, endless sleep with everyone at court. An impenetrable tangle of thorny roses should grow around the castle so that no one can access it.
A fairy, who hears of the curse and is the only one able to counter it, then announces that one day a prince may come along to get through the thorns to the princess and wake her up with a kiss. The king also learns of the witch's curse and gives the order that all spinning wheels in his kingdom be destroyed. The danger seems to have been averted and the princess grows up to be a pretty young woman, protected. One day when she was on a discovery tour of her father's castle, she saw an old woman who was sitting at a spinning wheel. Little does she know that this is the witch who is cursing her and is without any suspicion. Sleeping Beauty accepts the invitation to try the spinning wheel and spin a thread. She stings herself and the witch's curse comes true. She sleeps for a full hundred years, and a huge, almost impenetrable sea of thorns surrounds the high castle walls. One day a prince comes along who is not put off by this obstacle. He heard of the witch's curse in an inn, and curiosity overwhelmed him. He fights his way through the thorns and enters the castle. Nothing has changed in the last 100 years, everyone is still on the post of where they were at the moment of deep sleep. When the prince discovers Sleeping Beauty, he is delighted with her grace and beauty. With a gentle kiss, he brings the young woman to life. And with her the entire court wakes up. Nothing stands in the way of a splendid wedding between the two young people.
Production notes
Leni's Sleeping Beauty version was created in the Union studio in Berlin-Tempelhof . The four-act act was, depending on the cut, 1381 or 1315 meters long and was premiered on December 20, 1917 in the UT Alexanderplatz. The premiere for Austria-Hungary was announced for May 10, 1918.
Leni also designed the film structures executed by Kurt Richter as well as the costumes.
criticism
“The old, beloved fairy tale has been translated into a romantic court atmosphere, with kings, princes, wet nurses, fairies and old witches. And one must give the director Paul Leni the greatest appreciation for the fact that he did not take any of the mysterious charm of these legendary characters, that he created a framework for the fairy tale whose strict stylistic purity has not yet been achieved in Germany. Like pictures of old masters that had come to life, the king and queen strode past in a splendid procession, followed by knights and noble ladies with pointed sugar hats and stiff towed dresses. And below them like a bright fairy picture, the lovely Sleeping Beauty, gracefully embodied by Mabel Kaul. The portrayal did everything possible to match the interior designed by Paul Leni with authentic gestures. [...] It was only possible to maintain this authenticity of style and to equip the splendid rooms with real devices and costumes with the greatest resources. And again, only a painter like Leni could succeed in creating this unity between representation and interiors that gives this film such a special character. The fairy tale itself has been edited with great skill for the purposes of the film: it preserved the poetic undertone and cleverly avoided all modernizations. Rudolf Presber's verses treated the subject in his own way with freshness and boldness, so that a close connection was established between the performance and the visibly captivated audience. "
“Rudolf Presber tells the fairy tale in light verse and Paul Leni provided the pictures. This is more than the usual staging, it is costume science that has come to life, it is true indulging in the dance that artistic taste and art history perform here. Indeed, not just a fairy tale for the little ones. In the development of the content, seriousness and humor cleverly alternate, supported by a very good presentation in which Georg Kaiser, Harry Liedtke, Victor Janson, Paul Biensfeldt, Hermann Picha, the dazzlingly beautiful-looking Käthe Dorsch, Mabel Kaul and Maria Grimm-Einödshofer involved. This film is not about a 'Christmas film, it deserves inclusion for every program. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: "Material, game, photos and scenery are very good."
"Leni, the painter by profession, wanted to outdo Wegener, so worked less with photographic tricks, but reveled in art history and costume studies that had come to life."
Web links
- Sleeping Beauty in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Sleeping Beauty at The German Early Cinema Database
- Sleeping Beauty at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lichtbild-Bühne No. 51 from December 22, 1917
- ↑ Kinematograph No. 574 of January 2, 1918
- ↑ Sleeping Beauty ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Paimann's film lists
- ^ Oskar Kalbus: On the becoming of German film art. Part 1: The silent film, Berlin 1935, p. 63
