Rivals (1923)

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Movie
Original title Rivals
Country of production Germany
original language Subheads in German
Publishing year 1923
length 6 acts, 2545 meters, at 22 fps 101 minutes
Rod
Director Harry Piel
script Harry Piel,
Victor Abel,
Alfred Zeisler
production Apex Film Company Limited (Berlin)
Producer: Harry Piel,
Louis Zimmermann,
Heinrich Nebenzahl
camera Georg Muschner
occupation

Rivalen is the title of a silent German adventure film that Harry Piel starred in 1923 with himself in the lead role, as co-author of the manuscript (alongside Victor Abel and Alfred Zeisler ) and as co-producer (alongside Louis Zimmermann and Heinrich Nebenzahl ) in his company “Apex Film ”in Berlin. The forced use of technical sensations, including a machine man remotely controlled by radio waves, brings the film closer to science fiction .

action

Harry has to "rescue the beautiful daughter of an inventor from the clutches of a madman" and makes unpleasant acquaintance with "sparking robots" and "mysterious submarines". In doing so, he is constantly "in mortal danger", most recently when the air pump refuses to work during a diving bell operation. But after "breakneck chases", "bravado jumps and climbs", "Jack of all trades Harry" can turn everything for the better in the end.

(After the program »Rediscovered«)

background

The film, a production by Apex Film Co. Ltd. Berlin, was photographed by Georg Muschner . The stage design was created by film architect Hermann Warm , the special structures were designed by Albert Korell. The manager was Walter Zeiske . Contrary to popular belief that Piel played all the dangerous scenes himself, the stunts in the film were performed by the artist Hermann Stetza .

The film was submitted to the Reichsfilmzensur for examination on February 23, 1923 , received the number B07011 and was premiered on the same day in Berlin. “Rivalen” was also shown under the title Radio Mysteriet in Denmark, where it premiered on August 13, 1923.

reception

At the beginning of 1923 “Rivalen” was shown in Piel's hometown of Düsseldorf in the “Asta-Nielsen-Theater”.

On February 26, 1923, the magazine Der Montag wrote about “rivals”:

“Of course, first and foremost, Piel is given the opportunity to shine in various bravura jumps and climbs. The most sensational moment, however, is when Piel is lowered into the ›sea‹ by his rival in a diving bell, whose air pump naturally suddenly fails. An experiment which, as those in the know would like to know, would have been almost fatal for the artist when it was recorded. "

How the film was already understood five years later, EGM described in the Hamburger Echo , No. 151, of June 2, 1928:

“This somewhat antique film would be found much more amusing if it weren't for everything to be understood with such tragic seriousness. Disgraceful things happen. Harry Piel devises sharp instruments with which his 'adversaries' attack him, for which the Middle Ages would have envied him. But Harry is stronger than death, and in the end we see him holding hands with a blonde and well-curled girl. Oh Harry! Harry Piel! "

On the occasion of the rerun of “Rivals” in the program “Rediscovered” at the Berlin Zeughauskino , the announcement on September 2, 2011 said:

“Tension, love, sensations. Sparkling robots and mysterious submarines, crackling mask parties and breakneck chases and always in the middle of it all: Harry Piel, the jack-of-all-trades of the early German sensational film (today one would say: action film). This is not the first time that Piel has to rescue the beautiful daughter of an inventor from the clutches of a madman, and his life is constantly in danger. A penny novel that is wonderfully staged with impressive images, great decorations, expressionistic lighting and a rapid cut. Above all, the eccentric game of the German Douglas Fairbanks . "

literature

  • Matias Bleckman: Harry Piel: a cinema myth and its time. Filminstitut der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf, 1992, ISBN 3-929098-01-6 , p. 455.
  • Alfred Krautz: International directory of cinematographers, set and costume designers in film. Volume 4: Germany (from the beginnings to 1945). Saur, Munich et al. 1984, ISBN 3-598-21434-0 , pp. 443, 471, 564.
  • Gerhard Lamprecht: German Silent Films Volume 8: 1923–1926. Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin 1967, OCLC 163497338 , p. 167.
  • Erika Wottrich (Ed.): M for Nebenzummer: Nero film production between Europe and Hollywood . A CineGraph book. Verlag Edition Text + Critique, 2002, ISBN 3-88377-710-2 , pp. 119f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ the introduction of public entertainment broadcasting that year drew the audience's attention more to the new technology, which was also reflected in the increased treatment of the topic in the cinema; Film titles like “ Mister Radio ”, “Die Radio-Heirat” (both 1924), “ Harry Hill auf Welle 1000 ” (1926) or “Funkzauber” (1927) bear witness to this.
  2. ↑ Piel had already used a robot in a film, cf. Thomas Tode, Mechanization Takes Command, posted March 4, 2012 at Telepolis : “A first film on this subject, unfortunately lost today, is Harry Piel's Die Große Wette / Der Elektromensch (D 1916). Here the magic component of the animation is replaced by the use of electricity. In Rivalen (D 1922/23), too , Piel lets a spark-spraying robot appear as a kidnapping tool. "
  3. ↑ cf. Birett, sources on film history 1920–1931: “Rivalen, 1923”
  4. ↑ cf. IMDb / release info
  5. ↑ cf. square7.ch , Ruediger Schmidt-Sodingen at astanielsen.net
  6. ↑ cf. Rad-Club RC Düsseldorpia History: From 1919 to 1939: "That's why people liked going to the cinema: At the beginning of 1923, Düsseldorf's Harry Piel thrilled viewers in the" Asta-Nielsen-Theater "with his film" Rivalen "."
  7. ^ Monday, February 26, 1923, quoted in according to dhm.de
  8. ↑ see filmportal.de
  9. ↑ cit. according to: Zeughauskino, series Wiederentnte, Sept./October 2011; (PDF)