City in sight
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | City in sight |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1923 |
| length | 60 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Henrik Galeen |
| script | Henrik Galeen Friedrich Sieburg |
| production | Lupu Pick for Rex-Film GmbH, Berlin |
| camera | Gotthardt Wolf |
| occupation | |
| |
City in Sight is a German silent film drama by Henrik Galeen from 1922/23, reduced to four characters .
action
The action is laid out in the wild and takes place on a barge traveling along a river.
Three people live together in a very small space, a barge. So far, your life has been as simple as it is happy. There is the old ship owner Ullrich. Every evening he follows a fixed rite and reads the Bible. His much younger wife, Anna, cooks and knits and thus ensures the well-being of the two men on board. The third member of the group is called Fritz. He is the boatswain who secretly and unobtrusively adores the wife of the barge tractor owner. One day, Fritz wanted to change: he wanted to leave the boat to go out to sea as a sailor. However, Ullrich does not want to come to terms with the impending loss and wants to keep Fritz; In Ullrich's eyes, one has so far got along so well and has arranged it smoothly in this ménage à trois.
Things change dramatically when a certain Fredy steps into the lives of the three tug residents. Fredy is a bad guy, just as unscrupulous as it is unscrupulous. Actually an artist and tap dancer , he has already had a lot of problems with the crimes he has committed. Anna quickly threatens to succumb to Fredy's charm. He's outrageous and dynamic, a gruff womanizer who takes what he wants. And he's not as tired of old age as Ullrich and also not as simple-minded and simple as the straightforward Fritz. The apparently urbane Fredy promises an exciting alternative to the well-worn paths on the barge. Fredy insinuates a wild, exciting life, it means: the city is in sight - with all its temptations and dangers. Because: “This is where the dregs of humanity lurch around, here the wickedness reigns, the brutal violence wins and destroys. CITY IN SIGHT - means: Danger is imminent, sin lurks, crime threatens, calamity is brooding ... ".
production
Galeen turned City in Sight in the second half of 1922. After passing the initial censorship on January 16, 1923, the five-act film premiered on February 8, 1923. Due to some scenes of violence, including a rape scene, the film had to go through a second censorship following an application by the Baden government and was finally approved on May 21, 1924 after several editing conditions.
City in Sight - Leading actress Edith Posca was the wife of producer Lupu Pick . The film structures were designed by Otto Moldenhauer .
The ambience and concept of the story anticipate in several aspects Jean Vigo's classic film L'Atalante . To what extent Vigo knew Galeen's film is unknown.
City in Sight was long considered lost. During the cataloging work of the Filmarchiv Austria , however, an almost completely preserved copy was found in the nitro inventory of the Laxenburg Film Depot.
Reviews
In the film courier it says:
“The manuscript by Henrik Galeen and Ms. Sieburg gives the impression of an episode relaxation. The technical parts of the film are extremely fine; the photography of the water has captured the lights and the atmosphere splendidly, and the movement of the picture with the moving objects is in places dictated by a surprising love of the matter. Some of the close-up shots are very attractive, and the sections of the landscape are chosen characteristically, even if a landscape type once chosen was not always carefully maintained in the cut. Fortunately, a lot has been saved with fading. Henrik Galeen's direction shows itself mainly in the overall picture, in catching the right moment and the careful choice of the milieu. Friedrich Taeger (Ullrich) and Otto Treptow (Fredy) are very good actors, Taeger achieves a hot, inner strength in his final scenes, and Treptow turns the violent man into a comedian who makes a smile every now and then in order to alleviate the repugnance of this failure. One ought to see him more often in the film; he brings a personality with him and jumps easily and safely from one expression to another. In the role of Fritz, Harry Nestor appears tightly in the gesture, and Edith Posca must be named as Anna. "
The cinematograph comes to the following conclusion:
“A good, fine, condensed work, sufficient in the wake of thought and psychology; quite in the wake of artistic will and ability. Each situation is pictorially adapted to the thought, the symbol, and each scene is captured in a witty way. Water images, reflections of the most delicious and rarest charm. "
Judging Paimann's film lists :
"The subject, which almost completely respects the unity of time and place, is to be addressed as very gripping, the representation by a well-coordinated ensemble is very effective, beautiful shoreline pictures as a frame in excellent photography."
Web links
- City in sight on stummfilm.at
- City in sight in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- City in sight at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stage actor Taeger (1866-1939), occasionally incorrectly listed as Friedrich Traeger, appeared in a few films in Berlin in the early 1920s. At that time he had been employed at the Altona City Theater for a good 20 years and stayed there until 1926.
- ^ City in Sight on stummfilm.at
- ↑ Censorship decision No. 201 of the Film-Oberprüfstelle from May 21, 1924
- ^ City in Sight on stummfilm.at
- ↑ Js. in Film-Kurier, No. 34, of February 9, 1923
- ↑ Der Kinematograph, Düsseldorf, No. 836, 1923
- ↑ Paimanns Filmlisten, No. 377, Vienna June 23, 1923