Hoffmann's Tales (1916)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hoffmann's stories |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1916 |
| length | 67 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Oswald |
| script |
Fritz Friedmann-Frederich Richard Oswald |
| production | Lothar Stark for Lothar Stark Film, Berlin |
| music | Jacques Offenbach |
| camera | Ernst Krohn |
| occupation | |
| |
Hoffmanns Erzählungen is a German silent film from 1916 by Richard Oswald , freely based on motifs from the opera of the same name , which in turn is based on some of ETA Hoffmann's novellas .
action
In the prologue, director Oswald stands in front of Friedrich Schiller's grave . This otherwise meaningless scene only serves to underline the artistic claim of the following film. The actual film, which submits itself entirely to theatrical language in the staging, is divided into three acts in which three stories with Hoffmann at the center of the action are told, but which are not connected to one another.
The young ETA Hoffmann lives in Jena long ago under the roof of his uncle and aunt. Count Dapertutto, the glasses dealer Coppelius, the museum director Spalanzani and the doctor Dr. Miracle. Hoffmann quickly developed a deep aversion to all these mysterious and dodgy characters, especially since he found them to be very hostile. These Hoffmann-hated characters finally find their way into three extremely unfortunate love stories written by the young author, where they take on demonic traits.
The first story : Spalanzani owns the mechanical doll Olympia, a life-size, very pretty creature. Coppelius, like Spalanzani a very strange and eerie figure, still has money to get from Spalanzani and instead receives a bill of exchange. Hoffmann purchases strange glasses from Coppelius. The world seen through these glasses turns out to be completely different; to the sighted things appear in a euphoric light. When Hoffmann sees Olympia through these glasses, he does not realize that she is a doll. He quickly falls in love with her, and although her hopping dance moves are very angular and angular, he still does not realize that this lovely creature is not real. When Coppelius returns angry because Spalanzani's change has failed, he furiously destroys Olympia.
The second story : the setting here is a Venetian palace. The seductive Giulietta celebrates a bacchanal with her guests . Hoffmann is also present and gives himself over to enjoying the wine. Suddenly Schlemihl appears, an extremely jealous contemporary who, like everyone else present, seeks Giulietta's closeness. This tries to influence everyone so that the feelings of the young hotspurs do not take on dramatic forms. When Conte Dapertutto appears, things turn for the worse. He owns a diamond whose sparkle gives him power over women. Giulietta is instantly fascinated by this diamond. Dapertutto succeeds in inciting Schlemihl and Hoffmann, who had just lost all of his money in a card game, to one another. Hoffmann then demands revenge from Schlemihl. Both play cards again. Finally there is a duel between the two fighting cocks for money and the favor of the Giulietta. Schlemihl no longer casts a shadow, as he has already lost it to Dapertutto through Giulietta. Schlemihl falls in this duel, pierced by a blow from Hoffmann with Dapertutto's sword. Now Hoffmann has to flee. When he met Giulietta for the last time, he gave her his own reflection in deep love, just as Dapertutto had planned. However, this only makes fun of him. Now with no bothersome competition, Dapertutto seizes Schlemihl's win and also takes Giulietta.
The third story : This scene takes place in the house of the Crespel Council . Antonia is the daughter of the widowed landlord. His wife once suffered from a rare disease caused by singing and died from it. The council fears that the singing talent Antonia could also succumb to the same fate. When Hoffmann gets to know Antonia better, they both fall in love. To the delight of her father, she agrees to forego a career as a singer for the sake of this love. But the mysterious Dr. Mirakel, who through his ominous work has the life of Antonia's mother on his conscience, also tries to exercise his terrible power in Antonia's case. He succeeds in making Antonia believe that her mother would communicate with her from the afterlife and encourage her to continue singing to her heart's content. Antonia obeys this request and dies. Deeply desperate and shaken, Hoffmann leaves Crespel's house and flees.
Production notes
Hoffmann's stories were shot in February 1916 and premiered towards the end of the month, on February 25, 1916, in the Berlin Marble House . The film had a prologue and three acts. The re-performance took place on May 26, 1921 in Berlin's Richard-Oswald-Lichtspiele.
Werner Krauss made his film debut in Hoffmann's Tales . He had previously been seen by director Oswald as part of the Wedekind Festival at the theater and was then engaged in front of the camera. At first he received 40 marks a day, in view of his acting performance Oswald increased the fee to 50 marks. Manfred Noa designed the film structures. Director Oswald also took over the production management of this film produced by Lothar Stark .
Reviews
In its issue No. 8 of February 26, 1916, Lichtbild-Bühne wrote: “In terms of content, the plot of the film does not coincide with the well-known and popular opera. In the interest of the success of the whole work of Richard Oswald, the free processing of the material was correctly recognized and undoubtedly necessary. It is precisely what is so difficult to understand in opera that comes to the fore in the film. In spite of the free processing of the subject matter, the film work complements the opera and is undoubtedly called upon to give it more to the people. Richard Oswald really did something very good as a director in this film work. He has created a work that not only does him credit, not only strengthens his reputation as a director, but must also contribute to raising its reputation in the interests of cinematography. In relation to the film “Hoffmanns Erzählungen”, where are the enemies of the cinema who said there was no art to be found in the film? The direction breathes love, care and artistic sensitivity. Each scene brings only beautiful motifs that appear picturesque in the film. The individual roles are consistently set very well. In his portrayal, the young Hoffmann (Kurt Wolowski) allows for all kinds of expectations for the future and Kaiser-Titz, as Hoffmann, has achieved outstanding results. The bearers of the other roles, and even the extras, were well established and contributed a lot to the success of the whole thing. "
In Der Kinematograph , issue no. 479 of March 1, 1916, the following was to be read: “There are always films whose premieres are awaited with particular excitement, be it that the name of a famous contributor is of interest, be it that beforehand there is a mysterious talk about technical innovations that one now wants to get to know, or be it finally an artistically significant motif that justifies the staging. […] The world premiere in the “Marmorhaus” was an event for those who know their ETA Hoffmann, who love Offenbach's swan song, but who also appreciate the importance of the cinematograph for art. [...] It is definitely an artistic work that is worthy of recognition. Hoffmann's personality, his fantastic writings, literally scream for the film. The authors have let themselves be guided in their actions by the idea of making the plot of Offenbach's book, which is not entirely understandable, even to the initiated. [...] If you hereby appreciate the literary content of the film, then on the other hand you have to give the staging the greatest praise. The director relocates the story to ancient Jena and thus has a good opportunity to give many scenes a mysterious external framework. Because he gave his artists, among whom are the ladies Ronay, Ridon, Käte Oswald, Alice Scheel-Hechy, Thea Sandten, Resel Orla and the Messrs Wolowsky, Krauss, Kühne, Pick, von Horn, Ferdinand Bonn, Pittschau and in the title role Erich Kaiser-Titz has given the right masks and a game that clearly explains the plot, the great profound effect could not be lacking. And what one experiences so seldom in cinemas, it happened here, after each act there was lively applause. "
On the occasion of the re-performance, the same sheet in issue 746 of June 5, 1921 came to a much more critical résumé: “An excavation from the pre-war period, which is at most a curiosity, since it is comparatively clear to see the progress made by the art of photography and that of its actors have done in the meantime. Werner Krauss is the only one who already emerges as a strong film talent. Some pretty old cityscapes are of interest in the staging. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “The staging is consistently masterful, the plot is easy to understand despite the many people involved with appropriate attention, the photos are very good, the game and the music great. (A hit especially for a fine audience.) "
In the CineGraph book on Hoffmann's stories it says: “These stories by Hoffmann are episodes from the life of a poet. Somewhere in a small German town he experiences the inexplicable, the nightmare-like. History is populated with alchemists who try to make gold, but who also "build" people, with spectacle dealers who have constructed a vision device that helps the dead come to life again, with museum directors who present their dead objects like living people. It is a dream-like world that can never be fully seen through, the world of German romanticism. There is also no lack of horror elements and scary effects. So when Spalanzani and Coppelius notice during the construction of their living doll that they are still missing their eyes and they quickly reach for the young Hoffmann who is watching them in amazement ... Oswald cleverly uses the technical possibilities that the cinema offers him. Three years before Lubitsch's The Doll, Oswald was already using the mirror technique and bringing a small doll to life. The subject of the film already refers to Richard Oswald's upcoming films. Horror and fantasy were the areas to which he felt particularly attached. The writers whose popular books he used as the basis for his equally successful films were ETA Hoffmann and Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Wallace and Oscar Wilde. "
Kay Wenigers In life, more is taken from you than is given ... called Hoffmann's stories Oswald's "first artistically ambitious staging".
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to stummfilm.at ( memento of the original from October 2, 2013 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.
- ↑ Ruth Oswald is Richard Oswald's then almost three-year-old daughter
- ↑ cf. Hoffmann's stories in cinegraph.de
- ↑ It is based on Hoffmann's Der Sandmann
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 605, (entry Alice Hechy).
- ↑ It is based on Hoffmann's The Story of the Lost Mirror Image from The Adventures of New Year's Eve
- ↑ Cf. Oskar Kalbus : On becoming German film art. 1st part: The silent film. Berlin 1935. p. 30
- ↑ cf. Werner Krauss' Memories The drama of my life from 1958, in cinegraph.de
- ^ Photo-stage criticism in filmportal.de
- ↑ Kinematograph Critique (1916) in filmportal.de
- ↑ Kinematograph Critique (1921) in filmportal.de
- ↑ Hoffmann's stories in Paimann's film lists ( Memento of the original from April 27, 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.
- ↑ Michael Hanisch: Hoffmann's stories in cinegraph.de
- ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 379.
Web links
- The Tales of Hoffmann at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Hoffmann's stories at filmportal.de