Katharina Knie (1929)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Katharina knee |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1929 |
| length | 81 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Grune |
| script |
Franz Höllering based on the folk piece of the same name (1928) by Carl Zuckmayer |
| production | Karl Grune |
| music | Werner Schmidt-Boelcke |
| camera | Karl Hasselmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Katharina Knie is a German silent film from 1929 from the circus milieu. Karl Grune directed the implementation of the folk play of the same name by Carl Zuckmayer .
action
The focus of the plot is the heroine, daughter of the old tightrope walker Karl Knie. The small circus he leads, over which the Sword of Damocles of bankruptcy always hovers, is the home of the knees as well as that of several other artists. Katharina is the crowd puller of the small group that moves from village to village. When one day there is again no money left for the animal feed, Katharina steals it from the farm of the estate owner Martin Rothacker. Despite the unfortunate circumstances of mutual acquaintance, the young people quickly find sympathy for one another. When there was a heated argument between the old knee and daughter Katharina, the young woman decided to get out of circus life and stay on Rothacker's estate. He offers her to live with him for a year and to complete an agricultural training.
Finally the two get engaged. Father Knie only agrees because he believes that his Katharina is simply a circus child who at some point cannot help but return. When the circus returns to the vicinity of the Rothackerschen Gut after a long journey, Karl Knie's prophecy seems to come true, because Katharina hurries into the performance. But not to return home to the traveling people, but only to tell how happy she was with her Martin. Before Katharina can tell her father that she will be gone forever, the father dies. Katharina is now committed to family and tradition. With a heavy heart, she breaks her engagement to Martin Rothacker and returns to the circus world to take over the leadership of the small troupe, just as her father always wanted.
Production notes
Katharina Knie was created in October and November 1929 in the UFA studio in Neubabelsberg . The outdoor shots were made during the Oktoberfest in Munich. The seven-act act passed film censorship on December 9, 1929 and was banned from young people. At that time it was 2614 meters long. After another censorship check, the length increased to 2,714 meters, this time spread over ten files. The premiere took place on December 13, 1929 in the Berlin Capitol.
The building designs come from Robert Neppach and were executed by the film novice Erwin Scharf . Curt Prickler took over the production management.
Viktor de Kowa (as Lorenz Knie) and Ernst Busch (as Fritz Knie) made their film debut here; Katharina Knie was also the only silent film for both up-and-coming artists and for Ursula Grabley , 20 years old at the time of shooting , who also appeared in front of the camera for the first time here with a small supporting role .
Director Grune also made a sound version of his film in March 1930, which was shown for the first time on August 5 of the same year in Berlin's marble house . Chamber singer Alfred Jerger sang the prologue .
criticism
“From what point should one judge German film? From the subject? That is mostly worn out. From the director? That has become unimportant. What does it mean if Karl Grune has learned a lot from the attitudes of Russian films or Johanna von Orleans . What does it mean that the Stroheim experience has made it worse and sharper in bourgeois and Lebemann types. There are really contrasts here like the juxtaposition of harmless traveling circus and big-city hype. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “A relatively small fable; Grune's directing compensates for this by working out the milieu connection of his characters, supported by an excellent presentation and a presentation that works in the aforementioned sense. The photography is also very good ... "
Web links
- Catherine knee in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Katharina Knie at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Katharina Knie in Paimann's film lists ( memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
