Comedians (1925)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Comedians |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1925 |
| length | approx. 87 (1925), approx. 58 (today's version) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Grune |
| script | Felix Salten |
| production | Max Schach for Stern-Film, Berlin |
| music | Willy Schmidt-Gentner |
| camera | Karl Hasselmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Komödianten is a 1924 German silent film directed by Karl Grune with Lya de Putti and Eugen Klöpfer in the leading roles.
action
Axel Swinborne is a celebrated stage star. Although in great demand, he now wants to relax and takes the train on vacation. At full speed he leans out of the window when a serious mishap happens: his jacket gets tangled on the window handle so badly that the suction force throws him out of the window. When the injured artist is found, a suicide attempt is immediately suspected. Swinborne is shipped to an inn. There he is nursed back to health by the young Lydia. Lydia is from his field, but far more unknown. As an amateur, she travels from place to place with a band of amateurs. The audience is accordingly: chubby, trimmed for a brawl, and the men like to be physical. Sometimes you throw rotten eggs at the amateur troop, sometimes the drunk men among the spectators are assaulted and hit Lydia wherever her greasy fingers have no business. In these moments, from Lydia's point of view, the men actually transform into pigs with corresponding pig head masks.
Swinborne, still a little deranged from his curious window fall, only realizes the next day that as a comedian he is among other comedians. When the fat leader of the amateur troupe recognizes Swinborne and knows who he is looking at, he immediately comes up with a splendid idea. How about promoting your own company with the name of the famous Swinborne and making a profit from it? Out of gratitude, Axel even shows himself ready to give the enthusiastic amateurs a hand and agrees to participate in the next piece. Swinborne thinks Lydia has a lot of talent and offers her to do everything that she can make it big as a theater artist, this time on a much more professional basis. Axel negotiates a "transfer fee" with the director of the Schmitzentheater.
Some time later: Lydia actually made it and has become a well-known stage actress. She is courted by a veritable prince who regularly comes to her performances. Swinborne also feels very close to her beyond the purely professional, he desperately wants Lydia to be his wife and, although much older than her, proposes marriage to her. Lydia says “yes”, but only to show her gratitude to her mentor. However, the prince is not ready to give up so quickly and accept this competition without contradiction. He reacts jealously. When the three protagonists meet together, Swinborne's monocle falls under the table. The prince and Lydia go underground to search and take the opportunity to secretly kiss under the table. When Swinborne is on his way to a gig by train, he uses binoculars to spot Lydia and the prince turtling on the balcony of his house. Now it dawns on him that his wife is obviously cheating. Axel immediately pulls the emergency brake, hurries back and catches the two of them red-handed . The aging artist clenches his fists because he is seething with anger and jealousy. But nothing happens yet.
A few days later, Swinborne, the betrayed husband, exchanged the blank cartridges for a revolver for real ammunition at the next theater performance. Before his appearance he crosses himself, speaks his role text (“You will pay for your betrayal with your life”) and shoots at the scene partner, his wife Lydia. Although she is only slightly injured, Swinborne has to pay for his act of jealousy with a prison term. Lydia has a guilty conscience, but she suspects that Axel's short-circuit reaction with her affair with the prince is related. She asks her lover to visit Swinborne in prison. The nobleman appears, but Swinborne refuses to exchange a word with him.
Some time passed before Swinbornes was released. The old artist has regretted his deed, the time behind bars has also been visually difficult for him. The prince and the now divorced Lydia are married to each other. As a wedding present, Prince Lydia presented a life-size statue of herself in the costumes of one of her theater roles. It is revealed in a park. One day, Lydia's old colleagues from the theater company also stop in their town. Swinborne joins them, but as in Murnau's Last Man , Swinborne's descent is obvious: now the once celebrated mime is only allowed to sell tickets for the performances. When Axel Swinborne is walking through the park, he stops shortly in front of the sculpture Lydias. In his imagination she comes to life, and again he is on stage with her. And the audience applauds.
Production notes
Comedians , a largely unknown side work by Grune, passed the censorship on December 2, 1924 and was premiered on February 23, 1925 in Berlin's Mozart Hall. The length of the film was 2202 meters.
The building designs come from Karl Görge and were carried out by Erich Zander . Ali Hubert was responsible for the costume designs.
Eugen Klöpfer had previously appeared in front of the camera in several other Grune productions, including Die Nacht ohne Morgen, Der Graf von Charolais , Schlagende Wetter and Die Straße .
Reviews
The trade journal Der Kinematograph found Grune's staging to be too unambitious and also criticized the fact that the content was a "smear story".
Paimann's film lists summed up: “First of all, the highly rated performance of the director should be mentioned, who was visibly supported in his intentions by a well-coordinated ensemble. The subject is also worked according to an old, effective recipe and is quite gripping. The presentation and photography are at a remarkable level. "
Web links
- Comedians in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Comedians at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Komödianten ( Memento of the original from March 12, 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 (469/1925)
