Hans Trutz in the land of milk and honey

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Hans Trutz in the land of milk and honey
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1917
Rod
Director Paul Wegener
script Paul Wegener
production Paul Davidson
for PAGU, Berlin
camera Frederik Fuglsang
occupation

Hans Trutz im Schlaraffenland is a German silent film from 1917. It is the second film in Paul Wegener's fairy tale film trilogy (1916–1918).

action

The farmer Hans Trutz lives in poor circumstances. He has constant arguments with his wife and son, and the physically demanding work gives him no satisfaction. How nice it would be to escape all this misery, everyday toil and drudgery. One day the devil made him a really tempting offer: If Hans Trutz would sell him his soul, he would be allowed to live like in a land of milk and honey from now on. Just idleness and gluttony!

The temptation to escape the misery of everyday life is too great, and so Hans makes a pact with the devil. But after a short time he is infinitely bored in what is supposed to be paradise, and he also doesn't like lazing around all day long and filling his stomach. And so Hans begins to rediscover the joy of work in the land of milk and honey. Soon he even longs for his useless son and the quarrelsome wife. The devil sees his skins swim away and tries to keep Hans Trutz by all hellish means of seduction. But with the help of an angel his wife can bring him back on the right track and back to court. From then on, Hans Trutz enjoyed the difficult, arduous life as a farmer.

Production notes

Hans Trutz in the land of plenty was created in the late phase of the First World War. The film was shot around Bautzen and in the Union studio in Berlin-Tempelhof . It was the second film in the small series of film adaptations of German sagas and folk tales, begun in 1916 by the director and lead actor Wegener, and with him in the lead role.

Just like the two canvas fairy tales Rübezahl's Wedding and The Pied Piper , Hans Trutz was also produced by Paul Davidson's PAGU in the land of plenty. The premiere took place on November 18, 1917 in the Berlin premiere theater Union Palast Kurfürstendamm .

As in the other two fairy tale films, Wegener's then wife Lyda Salmonova played the female lead. The 21-year-old Gertrud Welcker made her film debut here alongside Wegener, her colleague from the Deutsches Theater . The film structures were made by Rochus Gliese , who also played a small role.

Hans Trutz in the land of milk and honey was also used in special performances for charity events , for example for the benefit of the World War II soldiers who went blind in the front.

Reviews

In the German daily newspaper it says: “Individual technically and artistically very good shots, including very attractive landscapes, pass our eyes by. There is also no shortage of bacon and sausage in this fairy-tale region, that's why it's a fairy tale! Lydia Salmonowa as Mürte like Paul Wegener as Hans Trutz and Ernst Lubitsch as Satan have successfully put their art at the service of a good cause ... "

The cinematographer judged: "According to the same author," Rübezahl ", people were rightly excited about the new Paul Wegener film" Hans Trutz im Schlaraffenland ". Here too, Wegener goes his own way. He dresses life wisdom in the guise of fairy tales, and thus makes his work more than just interesting for adults. In his new film, he deals with the longing to enjoy the fruits of life without work, the longing whose fulfillment soon awakens the longing for work. [...] If you want to summarize the judgment on Wegneresche's new creation, then you have to say that a further step has been taken to refine the art of cinema, here a deep idea is brought closer to the understanding of the child, an idea that also the adult a lot there. From a purely technical point of view, this Hans Trutz offers a successful solution to some interesting new tasks. "

In the Deutsches Kurier it can be read: “Imaginative beautiful pictures have given the film director a grateful task, and since the main roles are in the hands of Paul Wegener himself and Lyda Salmonova, the guarantee of complete success was given from the start. The film, which is particularly suitable for the coming Christmas season, was received with strong applause when it was first shown and aroused the special interest of the dear young people. "

The Lichtbild-Bühne paid great attention to the film: “The new Wegener film, which led to the land of milk and honey with the help of verses in the Hans Sachs tone, certainly does not achieve its" Rübezahl "in terms of diversity, poetry and animation of the plot, but it brings a very interesting and artistically harmonious picture fairy tale, which again puts the possibilities of film tricks at the service of the legends with great skill. [...] Wegener gives the Trutz in an effective, if not very clear mask; he has all the straight, strong gestures and expressions for such depictions that tie in with woodcut art. Even Lyda Salmonova's affectionate, modest peasant woman happily fits into this style. One of the most remarkable achievements is Satan Lubitsch, who, with tail and horse-foot and downright devilish grimaces and leaps, is a prince of hell who holds the middle between comedy and horror; how he hovers over the meadows with his strange bat wings, the game master Wegener succeeded particularly well. Otherwise the pictorial and the fantastic are happily met everywhere. "

The specialist publication Der Film wrote: “The brilliantly tuned, overcrowded house that Paul Wegener's latest film 'Hans Trutz im Schlaraffenland' (Union-Zadek-Staar) saw last Sunday at its Berlin premiere in the Unionpalast has again shown great interest , which is shown towards the Wegener films, and also that Wegener's purely artistic endeavors find genuine and grateful acceptance in the audience. In view of the high, ethically and tastefully valuable endeavors of this champion for German art film, we can warmly welcome this fact and wish his works the greatest possible dissemination. The new fairy tale film, which holds even more than 'The Student of Prague', 'The Golem' and 'Rübezahl' promised, depicts the strange experiences of the dissatisfied farmer Hans Trutz, who ends up in the land of milk and honey through the devil's cunning, in the Hans Sachsischen style , there, after a lush and lazy life, learns to understand the benefits and blessings of work and is ultimately saved from the clutches of the devil and his evil spirits by wife and child. "

Oskar Kalbus ' Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst (Vom Werden German Filmkunst) commented on this very complex topic: “Paul Wegener first gave us' Rübezahl's Wedding '(1916), a lyrical folk picture book that made children's jubilation and happiness - even for the most blasé of big city dwellers - a present. Here too, Wegener shows new art again. New in the material and in the execution, in which all the achievements of modern direction have been used. Then came the 'Pied Piper of Hameln' with the tingling rats and mice filling all the rooms - a material that cannot be found in a more cinematic way. Wegener also went his own way with his fairy tale film "Hans Trutz im Schlaraffenland" (1917). For the adults he dressed all kinds of wisdom in fairy tales. Here, too, Wegener is great as an actor because he never puts his person in the foreground, but always only serves the whole. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German daily newspaper, edition of November 19, 1917
  2. ↑ Der Kinematograph, issue 569 of November 21, 1917
  3. ^ German daily newspaper, issue of November 22, 1917
  4. ^ Lichtbild-Bühne, issue 47 from November 24, 1917
  5. ^ The Film, Issue 47, November 24, 1917
  6. ^ Oskar Kalbus: On the becoming of German film art. 1st part: The silent film. Berlin 1935. p. 63