Angel
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Angel |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1914 |
| length | 38 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Urban Gad |
| script | Urban Gad |
| production |
Paul Davidson for PAGU |
| camera |
Axel Graatkjær Karl Freund |
| occupation | |
| |
Engelein , subtitled Mimisches Lustspiel , is a German silent film in four acts by Urban Gad from 1914.
action
The Berlin editor Schneider writes to his brother Peter J. Schneider, who lives in America, that he has married. Peter is wealthy but childless and therefore designates the first child of this marriage as his future heir. Little does he know that this child was born four years ago. Little Jesta was born out of wedlock, which the Schneiders do not tell their rich relative. Punctually one year later, they announce the birth of their daughter Jesta and present a borrowed baby to Peter who has arrived.
Twelve years later, Jesta has become a spirited 17-year-old who brings the teachers in the boarding school to despair. She rebelled against all the regulations of the boarding school and was finally expelled from the facility when she met her secret fiancé Theodor Schiebstedt. Jesta celebrates her departure from boarding school with a big nightly party including sweets, alcohol, cigarettes and a deck of cards.
The widowed Peter has since returned to Europe from Chicago and very much wishes to see his future heir again. His “little angel” is only twelve years old in his mind and so the Schneiders disguise Jesta as a girl. Peter is delighted with his niece and takes her to his estate over the summer. Jesta does some damage here and soon makes her new tutors and dance teachers give up.
Meanwhile, her mother wants to put an end to the hustle and bustle. She sends Theodor Schiebstedt and his sister Meta to the estate. Meta is supposed to seduce Peter, but Jesta, who has long since fallen in love with her uncle, tries to prevent this. When Peter and Meta want to get engaged, Jesta tries to drown herself in grief, but the water is too cold for her. Their farewell letter is found anyway and while the search for Jesta begins, Schneider tells his brother the truth. Jesta is found and Peter, who has always loved her, decides to marry her.
production
Engelein was made in 1913 as the fourth film in the Asta Nielsen / Urban Gad series 1913/1914 and was Asta Nielsen's 24th film. It had its premiere on January 3, 1914 in Berlin.
At the time of filming, Nielsen was 32 and played a 17-year-old who pretends to be a 12-year-old. “And yet that didn't seem absurd. The flirtatiousness of the seventeen-year-olds is just as true as the giggles of the twelve-year-olds. ”As an illegitimate child, Jesta alludes to Nielsen's own biography: her daughter Jesta was also born out of wedlock in 1901.
There were various problems with the censorship in the run-up to the premiere. In one scene, Jesta climbs up a ladder on a wall for a secret meeting with Theodor Schiebstedt. The educator catches her and she has to go back down this ladder:
“The garter belt above the knee became visible for a second. Great excitement at the censorship! Was that really a garter belt? The scene had to be shown again. After much back and forth, some of them thought it was just a loop. The scene was shown for the third time. Now it came down to it: bow or garter belt! Since the presumptuousness only appeared for a second, you still hadn't realized it and magnanimously let the few meters go by. "
However, when the full contents of the film became known, the censors banned it completely. Nevertheless, it was shown in the Union cinemas, which caused a scandal, resulted in fines and angered the press against censorship. After three days, the censors gave in and released the film. However, he was banned from young people. "We had calculated this film for children too," Nielsen said in 1928, looking back.
Several copies of the film have survived that differ in length. The copy of the Munich Film Museum has a scene in which the smoking Jesta offers the educator, who suddenly appeared, a cigarette during her farewell party. This scene is missing in the copy of the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin. In 1916, Engelein's wedding was a sequel to the film Engelein , but it is considered lost.
criticism
Contemporary critics called the film a “blender, and so did the presentation. Inner truth and authenticity can only be felt as much as Nielsen knows how to make every situation real thanks to her art of representation, even if it were the most peculiar. "The film was criticized for its moral and educational ability:" This film can be morally educational but only be completely negative. Neither the naughtiness of the girl in boarding school nor the somewhat extensive disclosure of her feminine 'charms' can be justified in any educational or ethical way ”, but“ the Nielsen […], thanks to their completely un-erotic body, allow themselves a lot that others have in common would work, but still remain within the limits of what is bearable for her ”.
The Lichtbild-Bühne praised Asta Nielsen as “a cheerful artist of great skill. [...] She has endowed her role with so many little jokes and funny extremes that the floor is constantly smiling and laughing. This is a real, real comedy, as it should be, because it has to please everyone. We are extremely pleased to note this great success ”. The Kinematographische Rundschau also emphasized Nielsen's comedic skills: "Above all that is funny in the play itself hovers the madness of Asta Nielsen, who shows some things in the most discreet way and lets you guess a lot".
The film is still today the “prototype of screwball comedy ” and “the best film of its year and many years to come, in the innovative power and Olympic perfection of its staging and presentation, in its pure quality as a film unmatched right up to the early masterpieces of Lubitsch and Lang . "
literature
- Angel. In: Renate Seydel , Allan Hagedorff (Ed.): Asta Nielsen. Your life in photo documents, self-testimonies and contemporary reflections. Henschel, Berlin 1981, pp. 106-109.
- Angel. In: Ilona Brennicke, Joe Hembus : Classics of the German silent film. 1910–1930 (= Goldmann 10212 Goldmann Magnum. Citadel Filmbücher ). Goldmann, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-442-10212-X , pp. 34-39.
- Klaus Lippert: Engelein. 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. 24 f.
- A fidgety backfish: Asta Nielsen's 'film jokes'. In: Claudia Preschl: Laughing bodies. Comedians in the cinema of the 1910s (= Filmmuseum-Synema-Publications. Vol. 8). Synema, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-901644-27-6 , pp. 131-150, spec. 134-142.
Web links
- Angels in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Engelein at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Engelein. In: Dieter Krusche: Lexicon of the movies. From silent films to today. 3. Edition. European Educational Community et al., Stuttgart et al. 1977, p. 54.
- ↑ Renate Seydel (Ed.): Asta Nielsen. Your life in photo documents, self-testimonies and contemporary reflections. 1981, p. 33.
- ↑ a b Asta Nielsen: The silent muse. (Memories) (= Henschel Taschenbuch. Vol. 13). 1st edition of the paperback edition. Henschel, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-362-00596-9 , p. 134.
- ↑ Asta Nielsen: My way in the film. What I experienced with the censorship. In: BZ am Mittag , October 3, 1928.
- ↑ A fidgety backfish: Asta Nielsen's 'Film Fools'. In: Claudia Preschl: Laughing bodies. Female comedians in the cinema of the 1910s. 2008, p. 137, FN 258.
- ↑ Alexander Elster: Engelein. In: Image & Film. Vol. 3, No. 8, May 1914, ZDB -ID 619116-2 , pp. 205-207 .
- ^ Photo stage . No. 2, January 10, 1914.
- ↑ Cinematographische Rundschau. No. 307, January 25, 1914, p. 106.
- ↑ Engelein. In: Ilona Brennicke, Joe Hembus: Classics of the German silent film 1910–1930. 1983, p. 35.