Problematic natures (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Problematic natures |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1913 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hans Oberländer |
| script | based on the novel of the same name by Friedrich Spielhagen |
| production | Oskar Messter |
| camera | Carl Froelich |
| occupation | |
| |
Problematic Natures is a German silent film set in the Biedermeier period with Erich Kaiser-Titz in the leading role of Oswald Stein.
action
The story takes place at the end of the Biedermeier period , 1847/48, immediately before the failed bourgeois revolution .
Dr. Oswald Stein takes up a position as private tutor for the von Grenwitz family on Rügen through the mediation of his former university professor Berger . The baron couple has three children, the daughter Helene, the son Malte and Bruno von Löwen, a foster son. Social contacts are maintained mainly with other noble families on Rügen. The liberal and progressive stone, who is proud of his bourgeois values and cultivates a deeply rooted hatred of the privileged nobility and their privileges, quickly sensed a discrepancy between him and his aristocratic environment. While Stein's idea of his professional activity sometimes collides with the wishes of the Grenwitz family, he develops a particularly complex relationship with the neglected Bruno. When he dies, this is an occasion for Stein to pack his suitcase and leave Rügen again. The other reason lies in his jealousy of Adalbert von Oldenburg, to whom he feels a kinship, but whom he also sees as a competitor for the favor of the married Melitta von Berkow.
Another acquaintance of Oswald is the difficult to understand Albert Timm, an intriguer who is always concerned about his own advantage. Timm finds out that Oswald is the lost heir of Harald von Grenwitz, which would change his social and societal position enormously. In the hope of getting a lot of money himself, Timm Oswald shares this knowledge. For Stein, this knowledge primarily means the opportunity to marry into the “better circles”. Above all, he keeps an eye on the now grown-up Helene von Grenwitz, to whom she is largely related. In the doctor Dr. Franz Braun finally found a sincere friend and mentor for Oswald, who pointed out to him the phenomenon of "problematic natures", which Oswald Stein could develop into. Both men decide to travel to Thuringia to visit Prof. Berger, who has meanwhile been admitted to a sanatorium for the mentally ill. Shortly before the first revolutionary rioting by the youth of Germany, Stein took a job as a teacher in Grünwald, while Dr. Braun has taken over the practice of his future father-in-law. The Grenwitz people have also settled there, in their town house, and the sly Timm is in turn staying in the small town to continue his sinister intentions.
Oswald flees to Paris one day, crushed by the narrow-mindedness there. At his side are Adalbert von Oldenburg, Albert Timm and Prof. Berger, who has since recovered. This is where the Germans get caught up in the revolutionary events of 1848. Fanned by the fire of the bourgeois revolt against the socio-political encrustations and the outcry for unity, freedom, justice and equality, those involved return to Berlin. There Stein got into violent barricade battles in his work for his ideals, which also include the abolition of the privileges of the nobility. He falls as well as Stein and Timm. In the end, nothing has changed, and the restoration of pre-revolutionary conditions cemented the status quo.
Production notes
Problematic Natures was created in the Messter-Film-Atelier in Berlin's Blücherstraße 32 and had five acts. The film passed censorship in December 1912 and premiered the following year.
Reviews
“This film is popular, it is artistic and it also interests the literary world because it is based on a legend that processes the best German novel of the middle period of the last century. (...) Every single picture is a painting in itself, which stimulates and appeals. How wonderful is the splendid castle picture chosen, how stylish and lifted out of the time of the relief skirt and curls. How beautiful is the scene at the piano, which is reminiscent of the well-known Schumann picture. (...) These are only fragments, arbitrarily torn out, of a work that is impeccable in its totality and into which the actors' portrayal fits in with an atmospheric tone. This film work is carved from the wood that is suitable for bringing new friends back to the cinema. "