Barbed wire (1927)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Barbed Wire |
| Original title | Barbed wire |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1927 |
| length | 67 (today version) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rowland V. Lee |
| script |
Jules Furthman adapted from Rowland V. Lee based on the novel The Woman of Knockaloe (1923) by Hall Caine |
| production |
BP Schulberg Erich Pommer (anonymous) Rowland V. Lee (anonymous) |
| camera | Bert Glennon |
| cut | E. Lloyd Sheldon |
| occupation | |
| |
Barbed Wire is an American silent film melodrama from 1927 with Pola Negri in the lead role.
action
The film is set in France at the time of the First World War , which hit a village in the summer of 1914 like a firestorm. You are just harvesting when you can already hear the guns and machine gun salvos. The first German prisoners of war, guarded behind barbed wire, will soon arrive in western France. Among them is the German soldier Oskar Müller. He is held captive in a farm that has been converted into a prisoner-of-war camp for the Entente and, like many of his comrades, has to help the locals with the harvest.
The young French farmer's daughter Mona falls in love, much to the annoyance of her old father, a veteran of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 and a proven German hater, with those pretty Germans. Her immediate environment reacts with anger, hatred and incomprehension to Mona's desire to marry a “hereditary enemy” of the French. It was only after the armistice in 1918 that Oskar was able to gain acceptance from the French, after Mona's brother, André, who was blind on the battlefield and who was believed to have died, appealed to everyone to finally bury the hostilities.
Production notes
The originally 80-minute film was premiered on August 6, 1927 and was released in Germany in November 1927 that same year. Barbed wire started operating in Austria in January 1928. Mauritz Stiller was involved in the directing, unnamed.
criticism
In the New York Times of August 8, 1927, Mordaunt Hall wrote : “It is in many ways a deftly directed film, but the story might have been considerably improved by the inclusion of more detail of the lives of the military prisoners and by the exclusion of one of those melodramatic incidents, peculiar to motion pictures, which no longer come as a surprise to the spectator. (...) As usual, Miss Negri handles her characterization with ease. She changes her facial expression in a remarkable manner to suit the action of this narrative. As Mona she is active, with a will to work, after war is declared, but the knowledge that war has taken her brother brings a listlessness to her eyes and a set look on her face. Clive Brook, who also appeared as a German in "East Is West," in nearly all his scenes gives a capital showing. "
On the occasion of the Austrian premiere, Vienna's Neue Freie Presse reported: "Much anointing oozes from this tendentious finale, in which the immortal divine word to mankind" Love one another! "Appears to be mixed with sentimentality and sugar candy its basic features are entirely believable and captivates with a series of lively, impressive images. Pola Negri, who dresses excellently in peasant costume, looks herself like a picture full of grace, which is equally appealing to laughing and crying. "
Web links
- Barbed wire in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Barbed wire at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Barbed Wire". In: Neue Freie Presse , January 14, 1928, p. 8 (online at ANNO ).
Remarks
- ^ Barbed Wire in The New York Times . Translation: “In many ways, this is a well-made film, but the story could have been improved a lot by adding more details of the prisoners' lives and foregoing the melodramatic incidents that are so characteristic of films, especially since they no longer mean a surprise for the audience. (…) As usual, Miss Negri handles her characterization with a light hand. She remarkably changes the expression on her face to translate the narrative into action. As Mona, she is active in working with the will to work after the war breaks out, but the knowledge that the war has also come upon her brothers gives her eyes a listlessness and her face a stare. Clive Brook, who had already played a German in "East Is West", makes a great show in almost all of his scenes. "