Dora Green Salon
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Dora Green Salon |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1933 |
| length | 78 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Henrik Galeen |
| script |
Bobby E. Lüthge Hans Rudolf Berndorff based on the novel "Diplomatic Underworld" by Hans-Rudolf Berndorff |
| production |
Geo Bergal Helmut Schreiber for TK Tonfilm-Produktion, Berlin |
| music | Franz Grothe |
| camera | Bruno Mondi |
| cut | Martha Dübber |
| occupation | |
| |
Salon Dora Green , also known as The Trap , is a German spy and crime film from 1933 with Mady Christians and Paul Hartmann in the leading roles. Directed by Henrik Galeen . The script is based on Hans Rudolf Berndorff's novel Diplomatic Underworld , published in 1930.
action
Engineer Frank Gebhard has built a new type of ship propulsion system, equipped with a propeller he designed. With this invention he could revolutionize the world market, if it weren't for the shabby competition that envies him success and tries to steal the construction plans. The first thing to do is to equip an ocean liner with Gebhard's invention, which is currently being built at the Brinkmann shipyard. Captain Brinkmann's daughter Ellen is also Gebhard's fiancée. The competition is not exactly squeamish in their means of getting Gebhard's construction plans.
The first attack on the engineer fails. Then a certain Sucharow, head of an agent ring specializing in industrial espionage, puts his best man, a certain Iwan Keller, on Gebhard. Keller's ignorant accomplice is the cabaret singer Dora Green. The spy rents a previously vacant apartment above the Gebhards and convinces Dora to move in there. Soon a salon will be built there, a meeting place for very different people who like to socialize and celebrate extensively. Frank Gebhard also quickly became a regular guest in Dora's salon. Keller and Sucharow use this contact to get in touch with the engineer themselves in an inconspicuous way and inform him that Dora has money problems because her previously generous friend has left her behind. As a gentleman of the old school and admirer of Doras, Frank wants to support her financially. But the lady's debts are too high, Gebhard doesn't have that much money. Sucharow then suggested that he buy his construction plans. Gebhard indignantly rejects this request.
Dora soon realizes that Sucharow and Keller have only abused her for their espionage services and warns Gebhard over the phone about the two foreign darklings. But the obviously Russian spies as well as the shipyard's own police listen to their phone calls. Iwan Keller is arrested the moment he is in the designer's office. But he no longer has the construction plans. Rather, he gave them to Sukharov shortly before, who wants to run away with them. However, Dora Green and the police arrive at him at the last moment in time to prevent his escape. Sukharov is arrested at the same time, and Dora Green thinks it is time to start a new life abroad.
Production notes and background
Salon Dora Green was created between December 15, 1932 and the beginning of January 1933. The premiere was on February 23, 1933 in the Berlin atrium. Two months later, on April 27, 1933, the film was also shown in Austria. In the USA it was published in 1937 under the title The House of Dora Green .
Ernst Wilhelm Fiedler assisted head cameraman Bruno Mondi . The film structures were designed by Gustav A. Knauer , the costumes by Willi Ernst. It did Oscar Joost with his orchestra. By Franz Grothe the carried forward in the film title comes Little love - love .
The film-historical significance of Salon Dora Green is mainly due to the fact that this was the last film by the famous screenwriter and director Henrik Galeen. He stayed in Berlin for several years, but as a Jew he was condemned to professional inactivity.
Historical background
Allegedly, the story is based on a true case. The real Dora Green was a dubious American who performed as a revue dancer in San Diego . There she is said to have had many an affair with sailors on shore leave. In New York she finally met a Japanese man who was spying for his country in the USA. This was after certain documents in Washington . To get these documents, Dora was supposed to open a fashion salon in the American capital.
One day the Secretary of the Navy, who was in charge of the important US documents, received a large bill for clothes allegedly bought there by his alleged girlfriend. In order to get to the bottom of this ominous story, the US civil servant visited this fashion salon and met Dora Green in this way. Their attempts at seduction subsequently failed, however. Her Japanese lover then put Dora under pressure and tightened his measures to convince the officer to commit treason. Obviously the approach was rather amateurish. While the naive Miss Green was arrested, her Japanese backers were able to travel quickly out of the country and thus escape.
Reviews
In the New Vienna Journal of April 27, 1933, it says on page 9: “The motifs of this interesting and exciting affair are now the basis of the major spy film 'Salon Dora Green' that is now being released. Much has changed for cinematic and other reasons. The main features of the actual espionage case have remained, however, and so this film that life was writing unfolds an extraordinarily gripping picture of the practices of international espionage. "
The Wiener Zeitung of April 30, 1933 praised: "The film is very exciting and is played excellently."
The author and critic Karlheinz Wendtland saw it completely differently, who said: “This is a spy film that lacks speed and tension. In addition, the audience sees through plans and tricks too early. Mady Christian’s graceful womanliness doesn’t fit a vampire role, just as Alfred Abel the heartless rascal doesn’t. The atmosphere charged with expectation is completely absent. "
Frank S. Nugent wrote in the New York Times on July 26, 1937 : “Despite the hackneyed subject and occasional mechanical defects, Miss Christians, aided by an excellent cast, manages to put a certain appeal into the character of the cabaret entertainer who falls in love with the intended victim of foreign spies and saves Engineer Gebhard's unique ship plans in the end. "
See also
Web links
- Salon Dora Green at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Salon Dora Green at filmportal.de
- Salon Dora Green Wiener Illustrierter Film-Kurier No. 594 (Cover picture: Mady Christians, Paul Hartmann)
Individual evidence
- ^ Salon Dora Green / The Trap Filmplakat + Berliner Illustrierter Film-Kurier at rarefilmsandmore.com
- ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 181.
- ↑ See report in: Neues Wiener Journal of April 27, 1933, page 9
- ^ "Salon Dora Green". In: Neues Wiener Journal , April 27, 1933, p. 9 (online at ANNO ).
- ^ "Salon Dora Green". In: Wiener Zeitung , April 30, 1933, p. 12 (online at ANNO ).
- ^ Karlheinz Wendtland: Beloved Kintopp. All German feature films from 1929–1945 with numerous artist biographies born in 1933 and 1934, edited by the author Karlheinz Wendtland, Berlin, Chapter: Films 1933, Film No. 25.
- ^ Salon Dora Green in New York Times
- ^ Translation: "Despite the hackneyed topic and many a mechanical defect, Miss Christians, supported by an excellent cast, manages to gain a certain charm from her figure of a cabaret operator. She falls in love with the victim chosen by foreign spies and finally saves the unique ship plans of the engineer Gebhard. "