Earth spirit (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Earth spirit |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1923 |
| length | approx. 85 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Leopold Jessner |
| script |
Carl Mayer based on the tragedy of the same name (1895) by Frank Wedekind |
| production | Leopold Jessner Richard Oswald |
| camera |
Axel Graatkjær Günther Krampf |
| occupation | |
| |
Erdgeist is a German silent film from 1923 based on a template by Frank Wedekind . Under the direction of theater specialist Leopold Jessner , Asta Nielsen plays the main role of the "male murderer" Lulu.
action
Jessner's implementation of the well-known "Lulu" material is like a chamber play.
The life of the young, revealing Lulu is shaped by numerous acquaintances with men, all of whom sooner or later fall for her. At first she was the partner of the much older and wealthy journalist Dr. Nice, who once wanted to free her from the clutches of a certain Schigolch and took her off the street. When Schön wants to leave Lulu because he expects social advancement from the liaison with a ministerial daughter, Lulu turns to Schön's son Alwa, although his father does not really get away from her.
She pairs up nicely with the medical councilor Dr. Goll, a friend. He dies soon after when he catches Lulu red-handed with the painter Schwarz. Lulu and Schwarz then marry, but she continues to be Schön's lover. Black kills himself after learning of Lulu's past life and infidelity. Lulu is a slave, marries Dr. Nice she, but knowing that he can never own her completely and she will always cheat on him, like with the greasy, repulsive crook Schigolch.
Production notes
Erdgeist was made in the second half of 1922. The film passed the film censorship on January 10, 1923 and was premiered on February 22, 1923 in the Richard-Oswald-Lichtspiele. The Austrian premiere was in Vienna on May 4, 1923. The five-stroke was 2137 meters long.
The film structures were created by Robert Neppach .
Asta Nielsen's reception
“Asta Nielsen shares, like few, that highest acting grace: to express with the most economical means what others need a whole array of glaring clarity for. She was and is the greatest actress who was visible on the screen. "
"The piece? There is no piece here. The only content of this film is that Asta Nielsen flirts, flirts, loves and seduces six men. The content of this film is the erotic charisma of this woman, who gives us the large, complete sign dictionary of sensual love. "
Movie reviews
“After his 'backstairs' last year, the director of the Berlin State Theater, Leopold Jessner, has now worked as a film director for the second time ... It must be stated that the great master of the stage has not found his way to film this year either. His work 'Erdgeist' is a sin against the spirit of the cinematographer, who is called to show the face of the world in colorful alternation. For Mr. Jessner, on the other hand, he is there to take up a few decorations into which the action is compressed on stage. A complete misunderstanding of the cinematic, the direction of which runs almost contrary to the theatrical. The stage drama is intense, the film extensive. Jessner cannot free himself radically from the stage director's imagination and therefore stages theater in which he only replaces the spoken word with overly played out representations, numerous close-ups and other props. […] Nothing can change about this overall judgment because he managed to create some impressive images with the help of the architect and the illuminator, and that the actors, at the head Asta Nielsen and Albert Bassermann, gave their best. Nevertheless, Wedekind's 'Earth Spirit' in film form, rolled out into six too long acts, did not achieve the strong human effect that is characteristic of it on stage. "
“Jessner's 'Erdgeist' film is less characteristic of the current situation in German film than of the (hopefully temporary) uncertainty of the theater man Jessner. [...] Jessner and Carl Mayer only took the elevators of the 'Erdgeist' drama and deprived themselves of the cinematic enhancement from the start. Jessner deprived himself of them for the second time when he did not set up the five files in motion pictures, but rather examined them in detail. The play of forces that is simultaneously attracted and repelled by one point (Lulu) was missing. Instead, he gave banal individual fates, now rooted in the bourgeois, narrow-minded, now in the social sphere. […] What remains of this film? The first appearance of Granach as Schigolch (which he has no opportunity to improve) and individual physical moments by Asta Nielsen. When Asta Nielsen stands there with the corners of her mouth drawn cynically, when she half opens her eyes, then Lulu has translated extraordinarily into the language of the film. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “The whole thing is dominated by the virtuoso interplay of the ensemble, which Nielsen excels at. The direction renounced ... all the usual antics and limited themselves to depicting moods of the soul which were transformed into facial expressions, to which endeavor all other components of the film appear subordinate. The photos are also kept at a remarkable height. "
"Despite all the serious warnings, Leopold Jeßner filmed 'Erdgeist' (1923) and, as with his 'back stairs', did not find the way to the cinematic here either."
Web links
- Earth Spirit in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Erdgeist at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Wollenberg: Earth Spirit . In: Lichtbild-Bühne , No. 8, February 24, 1923
- ^ Herbert Jhering: Erdgeist In: Berliner Börsen-Courier , February 27, 1923
- ↑ Erdgeist ( Memento of the original from March 24, 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. 72
