Othello (1922)

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Movie
Original title Othello
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1922
length 97 (original) 79 minutes
Rod
Director Dimitri Buchowetzki
script Dimitri Buchowetzki
Carl Hagen based
on the drama of the same name by William Shakespeare
production Wörner-Film, Berlin
camera Karl Hasselmann
occupation

Othello is a German feature film from 1921/22. Under the direction of Dimitri Buchowetzki , Emil Jannings as the title hero and Werner Krauss as Iago play the leading roles.

action

In terms of content, the film largely follows the play by William Shakespeare .

Black Othello, a general in the army of the Republic of Venice, secretly married the beautiful, cultured Desdemona. When the inexperienced Cassio is promoted past Jago from Othello to lieutenant, Jago, a cunning and envious, malicious and destructive character, immediately seeks fatal revenge. He wants to take everything that Othello has and destroy him. The means to an end is the young Rodrigo, who also loves Desdemona and who likewise cannot bear to see his dream woman in the hands of the Moor. The plot against Othello takes on dangerous proportions when Desdemona's father Brabantio learns of the love affair between his daughter and the black general. He believes this could not have happened without dangerous spells.

From then on, Jago knows how to turn everyone against everyone, the web of intrigues he has spun leads to everyone mistrusting each other. The morbid jealousy of the black is additionally nourished by Iago insinuating that Cassio Othello, who is only too happy to believe the whisperings of his false friend, is betraying him with the allegedly faithless Desdemona. Othello, now furious with jealousy, strangles his completely innocent wife. When Iago's intrigue is exposed, Othello stabs himself to death out of boundless grief over the bloodshed he committed.

Production notes

Othello was made by the small Berlin production company Wörner-Film in late autumn 1921 and early winter 1921/22 in the Jofa studios in Berlin-Johannisthal . The seven-act film was censored on February 23, 1922 and was banned from young people. The premiere took place on March 18, 1922.

Karl Machus and Fritz Kraencke created the film structures, Friedrich Paulmann worked as the second cameraman, head cameraman Karl Hasselmann .

After 1909, this is the second German film adaptation of Othello . The Hungarian actress Ica von Lenkeffy , who had hardly appeared in Germany until then, played in a few German films in the early 1920s.

Reviews

Oskar Kalbus ' Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst wrote: “The big difference between book drama and film emerges, for example, from the film“ Othello ”(1922) (with Emil Jannings in the title role). In literary drama one can ponder tormentingly, in film drama, on the other hand, the focus is on the dynamic of the plot, what drives forward, what is active - that is, in the othello tragedy: Jago and his intrigue. So the Othello film should actually be called "Iago", because Iago has been cleverly placed in the focus of the filmic events by the director Buchowetzki. Iago is Werner Krauss, bursting with vitality and energy, full of juice and strength. A whole guy. "

In Heinrich Fraenkel's Immortal Film it was said: “Under the spell of evil and yet in desperate defense against the whisperings of the intriguer, the figure of “ Othello ” , the“ Moor of Venice ”: a tough soldier and yet a soft person, unspeakably suspicious and yet very in need of love. This tragic figure and that of his treacherous opponent had appealed to every actor since Shakespeare created it. With Emil Jannings as Othello and Werner Krauss as Iago, it remains unforgettable how the two great actors of human beings raised each other to ever higher achievements. "

Hal Erickson said: “Even without the benefit of sound, the 1922 German adaptation of Othello seems more operatic than Shakespearean. This may be due to the casting of Emil Jannings, to whom restraint and subtlety were strangers. Werner Krauss, of Cabinet of Dr. Caligari fame, is on hand as the duplicitous Iago. Appearing as the unfortunate Desdemona is Lea Von Lenkeffy, better known as Lya de Putti. Produced on an elaborate scale, Othello may not be true to the letter of Shakespeare, but is undeniably a smorgasbord of visual delights. "

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oskar Kalbus: On the becoming of German film art. 1st part: The silent film. Berlin 1935. p. 67 f.
  2. ^ Heinrich Fraenkel: Immortal Film. The great chronicle from the Laterna Magica to the sound film. Munich 1956, p. 354
  3. ↑ Othello short review
  4. ↑ Translation: “Even without sound, the German adaptation of Othello from 1922 looks more like an opera than a Shakespeare play. That may be due to the cast of Emil Jannings, for whom restraint and delicacy were foreign words. Werner Krauss, famous for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , is ready as a double-faced iago. Lea von Lenkeffy, better known as Lya de Putti, appears as the unfortunate Desdemona. Produced in an elaborate framework, Othello may not be a very faithful Shakespeare, but it is without a doubt a hodgepodge of visual pleasures. "

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