Masks (1929)

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Movie
Original title Masks
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1930
length 79 minutes
Rod
Director Rudolf Meinert
script Rudolf Meinert
production Omnia film, Berlin
music Hansheinrich Dransmann
camera Günther Krampf
occupation

Masks is a silent film made by Rudolf Meinert in 1929 and also the last detective film in the German film series Stuart Webbs . Karl Ludwig Diehl can be seen in the role of the smart detective .

action

While Stuart Webbs is in his club, he witnesses a robbery carried out by an armed man in tails. The perpetrator escapes undetected. However, Webbs knows who he is. It's about Jonny Stoll, who was once wrongly convicted of bank robbery and who recently broke out of prison. Stoll's actual plan is to get revenge on the real perpetrator of the bank robbery, a certain Breitkopf, and the banker Clifford, who had wrongly accused him in court at the time. The next day, Clifford receives a visit from a certain Professor Doux, an elderly gentleman who intends to buy oil stocks. A little later the banker remains tied up and gagged in his office. Then suddenly a much younger foreigner turns up in the bank, who in turn wants to sell oil shares. Are both men Stoll?

When Webbs tries to audition at Clifford, he finds the banker gagged and bound again. Webbs tries to get to the bottom of these mysterious processes, which he suspects must be related to Stoll. In the masquerade of a Chinese, Webbs goes to the pint of the innkeeper Pitt, where Jonny Stoll and his girlfriend Goldelse have moved into a small attic room. Suddenly the police appear and carry out a raid. The "Chinese" (Webbs) is mocked down, then all those present are led away. Webbs, awakened from his feigned impotence, uses the opportunity to seek out Stoll's hiding place. Finally he helps the escaped man to escape because he firmly believes in Jonny's innocence. A little later the police return. With the help of Clifford's fiancé Elynor, the real culprit Breitkopf can be arrested.

Production notes

The last Stuart Webbs film was shot in the autumn of 1929 in the Berlin Grunewald studio . On December 18, 1929, masks passed the film censorship and was premiered on March 4, 1930 in the Titania Palace.

Webbs actor Diehl, who was to have his breakthrough to screen star in the early sound film years, got his first leading role here.

Hermann Warm was responsible for the film construction. The design for the Schüfftan process came from Fritz Maurischat .

From masks a sound film version with music and noise was made. The German performance of this version produced by a Paris company can no longer be dated; in Austria, this version ran on July 29, 1930 in Vienna .

Reviews

  • Hans Sahl writes: “The old, honest cinema that let off steam in the first Stuart Webbs films was chemically cleaned by Rudolf Meinert. The photography flashes and sparkles ... Presentation is everything! "
  • Hans Flemming found: "A somewhat elongated but clean film that offers fans of the genre horror and tension in abundance."
  • Fritz R. Lachmann came to the following conclusion: “A mishap must have happened with the manuscript. In any case, after an exciting raid, the film is suddenly over, without knowing whether the wanted criminal who escaped is really innocent and someone else is guilty, whether the banker is a villain or a dear person and more. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monday Morning, Berlin No. 11, March 10, 1930
  2. ↑ Fl. In Berliner Tageblatt , Berlin No. 112, of March 7, 1930
  3. ↑ Lac. in Tempo , Berlin No. 54, from March 5, 1930