Harakiri (1919)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title harakiri
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1919
length 60 minutes
Rod
Director Fritz Lang
script Max Jungk based on the story Madame Butterfly (1898) by John Luther Long and the dramatization of the play by David Belasco
production Erich Pommer for Decla-Film-Ges. Holz & Co., Berlin
camera Max Fassbender
occupation

Harakiri is a German silent film drama directed by Fritz Lang from 1919 with Lil Dagover in the leading role.

action

The Japanese O-Take-San, lovely daughter of Daimyo Tokujawa, is stubbornly stalked by the lustful fat cat and his temple servant Karan. While Bonze intends to ordain her a priestess, Karan intends to make her his geisha . The monk, who finds in O-Take-San's father a stubborn adversary and defender of his daughter's honor, spreads an honor-cutting rumor, whereupon the old man only has honor-restoring suicide. And so he does hara-kiri .

O-Take-San's fate changes for the better when one day she meets the naval officer Olaf Jens Anderson. The handsome European, who quickly falls in love with the pretty Japanese woman, is ready to enter into a temporary marriage with her in the Japanese tradition, or more precisely for 999 days. Very happy to have escaped a terrible life in bondage, however, an event soon casts its shadow over the young marital happiness. Anderson was called back home after just one year. O-Take-San waits, waits and waits for his return, but Anderson does not return to her. Then comes the day when, according to Japanese law, their marriage is over and O-Take-San is again at the mercy of their old tormentors.

O-Take-San, pregnant by Olaf, has since given birth to the son of her great love and calls him Olaf as well. Finally the officer reappears. At his side is his wife, the European Eva, whom he has since married in Copenhagen. When O-Take-San sees her husband for a time with Eva, a world collapses for her. Like her father, she sees only one way to restore her stained honor: suicide through hara-kiri. Father Olaf finally takes his son back home with him to Europe.

Production notes

Harakiri was filmed in around four weeks from the beginning of September to the beginning of October 1919 in Hamburg-Stellingen in Hagenbeck's zoo and in Woltersdorf . The first performance was in the context of a press screening on December 18, 1919 in the marble house .

The film structures - especially the impressive Japanese ensembles - were designed by the Hamburg Völkerschau operator Heinrich Umlauff . Asia and Africa specialist Umlauff had already taken care of Lang's production Die Spinnen in terms of construction and props.

The film director Rudolf Meinert worked at Harakiri as production manager.

In 1987 the film was restored by the Federal Archives in Koblenz.

prehistory

Harakiri was created at a time when exotic film material was booming in Germany towards the end of the First World War and shortly thereafter. The film was announced by the producing Decla in 1918, in the late stages of the war. Otto Rippert was originally supposed to direct. Months later, in June 1919, the same production company planned to put Josef Coenen in charge . Finally Fritz Lang, who was in Hagenbeck's zoo because of the filming of The Spiders , was awarded the contract. Lil Dagover was selected for the role of O-Take-San early on.

A number of the cast of Die Spinnen - Lil Dagover, Paul Biensfeldt , Rudolf Lettinger , Meinhard Maur and Georg John , who has since been to appear in a plethora of feature-length films - were also taken over.

The film courier reported twice about the shooting .

Reviews

Karl Figdor wrote: “The old story, which we already know so well, varies. The scene of ancient Japan. Mikado, priest, daimyo, and white naval officer. The poor little Japanese girl with her flower soul tragically in between. Dear colleague Fritz Lang! Above all, I would not have ordered Miss LD. The exotic alias alone doesn't do it. And being able to dance doesn't mean being a human player. How delicately floral is this Japan of reality! How fabulous sometimes even today! How strangely puppet-like playful the rhythm of life there ... How helplessly the female submission freezes in fate ... This rhythm, it also lives in Japanese nature ... Dear colleague Fritz Lang - You have tried your best to reconstruct it. Like the blessed theater director in Faust I, you spared no expense or effort. There were delightful pictures yesterday: Japanese Stellingen, Japanese Berlin ... And beyond that, really real Umlauffsche interiors. "

The film said: “A more careful dramaturgical preparation of the subject would undoubtedly have made the work of the director (Fritz Lang) and the representation much easier. Lil Dagover (O-Take-San), partly still hope, partly already fulfillment, can undoubtedly do more than she was able to show here. Nils Prien played Olaf. Other proven actors, Biensfeld, John, Maur, Lettinger, Hübsch, were well placed. Almost all of them, including the beautiful Lil, lacked the typical Japanese look and gesture, whereas Heinrich Umlauff's magnificent furnishings were as real, beautiful and magnificent as possible. There are also only good things to say about photography (Faßbender) - apart from a few exceptional moments. "

In the Berlin stock exchange courier it was written: “Lil Dagover designed the Japanese woman in an extraordinarily impressive way: the way she reproduces the childish and innocent of the little Japanese woman is touching. Messrs Georg John, Paul Biensfeld, Meinhard Maur are worthy of Lil Dagover's achievements. The film also offers pictures of unusual charm that leave nothing to be desired in terms of clarity and effect. "

In the Berliner Tageblatt it is said: “The Marble House (which is also the Theater on Moritzplatz) offers a film with a strong mood and deeper tension; this story of a young Japanese woman, written by Max Jungk and staged by Fritz Lang, is more than exotic. There is really something of the magic of a distant, strange world. With Lil Dagover in the lead role and the talented Nils Prien, it will also be a success in terms of performance. "

The Lichtbild-Bühne came to the following conclusion: “It is becoming more and more evident that our film industry not only endeavors to appear on the world market, but that it has also found ways and means to make films that are not competitive with other countries need to fear; that money people and artists come together in an effort to refine the film industry, to bring out its value and effect. One such work, with which we can confidently begin the fight against foreign countries, which is certainly not to be underestimated, is the second world-class Decla film "Harakiri". Z. had its successful premiere in the marble house. The manuscript, freely adapted from "Madame Butterfly" and Hall-Jones "Geisha" by Max Junk, is pleasant to entertain. […] The ethnological museum JFG Umlauff - Hamburg provided the very detailed and picturesque setting, based on meticulous ethnographic studies. The interior of the dwellings, the stylish exterior shots, the picturesque streets of Nangasaki, the colorful, blooming and fragrant gardens with their ornamental bridges and swan ponds - all of these are perfect, living paintings. The performers had a hard time finding the right pace that breathed deepest devotion. Measured gestures and extremely controlled play were the first conditions. They have done their job well, really worthy of recognition. In the lead role, the lovely Lil Dagover as O-Take-San can test her great art of design, her eloquent facial expressions. Fearful, faithful-eyed waiting for the great happiness, but strong, firm and controlled in death, tripping and graceful in shape - this is how she created the type of a real Japanese woman in an unsurpassably likeable way. In addition to her, Paul Biensfeld, Georg John and, in a shiny mask and with brilliant facial expressions, Meinhard Maur as Prince Matahari and Rudolf Lettinger as a natural, devious temple servant should be mentioned. "

Ludwig Brauner wrote in Der Kinematograph on New Year's Eve 1919 : “Exotic films are currently being made by numerous film companies, and one cannot deny that they are extremely attractive. The foreign milieu alone is extraordinarily effective and, under a skilful direction, gives the opportunity to get to know other peoples and their customs and traditions. What is also often missing, the illustration is conveyed here by looking at the moving image. And since prominent experts are involved in the staging, the images are amazingly true to nature, and you can hardly tell that they were taken at the gates of a large European capital. [...] Lil Dagover as O-Take-San worked through her charming appearance and her expressive mine game and had found herself completely in the soul of the little Japanese woman. Georg John was great in the mask as a fat cat. […] The film gives the opportunity to take delightful pictures from Japanese gardens. The house in which O-Take-San spends her honeymoon lies like a fairy tale in blossom dreams. The pictures of the "Festival of Falling Leaves" are also wonderful, with the swarm of countless small boats, hung all over with colorful paper lanterns. […] The kidnapping of O-Take-Sans from the tea house gives the opportunity to take interesting pictures from the Yoshiwara of Nagasaki, the street of the brothels, where the geishas sit behind the bamboo bars and love is a profession one need not be ashamed of . Pretty lighting effects increase the charm of the evening street scene. Fritz Lang's direction worked out all the nuances of the plot with great love and made sure that the sense of style is never violated, even in minor details. "

The Deutsche Lichtspielzeitung came to the following conclusion on the occasion of the Munich premiere at the beginning of 1920: “In order to fully exploit their effect, films like this need a confident direction, brilliant equipment and artistic photography. Decla made sure of that. Every image in the film is filled with dramatic life, the photography - Max Faßbender - are at a ripe artistic level. Fortunately, the display is also good. Lil Dagover is an adorable little Japanese girl, graceful at dandy play, touching in pain. A sharply outlined character figure offers Georg John as a bigwig, a delicious batch of Rudolf Lettinger as the bigwig's servant Karan. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Kinematograph of May 29, 1918; First Internationale Film-Zeitung of August 17, 1918, p. 24
  2. ^ Film-Kurier of June 2, 1919, p. 3; Lichtbild-Bühne June 21, 1919, p. 20; The cinematograph from June 25, 1919; The film from June 28, 1919, p. 33.
  3. ^ Film-Kurier of June 2, 1919, p. 3
  4. ↑ Issue 1, No. 94, of September 24, 1919 and Issue 1, No. 97, of September 27, 1919
  5. ^ First Internationale Film-Zeitung, Issue 13, No. 50, of December 20, 1919, p. 32.
  6. ↑ Der Film, Issue 4, No. 51, December 21, 1919, p. 40.
  7. ↑ Berliner Börsen-Courier, No. 595, December 21, 1919, early edition, p. 9.
  8. ↑ Berliner Tageblatt, Edition 48, No. 610, December 21, 1919.
  9. ↑ Lichtbild-Bühne, Issue 12, No. 52, December 27, 1919, p. 19.
  10. ↑ Der Kinematograph (Düsseldorf), Edition 13, No. 677, December 31, 1919.
  11. ^ Die Deutsche Lichtspielzeitung, Munich-Berlin, Issue 8, No. 6, February 7, 1920.