Sumurun (1920)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Sumurun |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1920 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ernst Lubitsch |
| script |
Hanns Kräly , Ernst Lubitsch |
| production |
Paul Davidson ; Projektions-AG "Union" for Universum-Film AG |
| music |
Victor Hollaender (original), Javier Pérez de Azpeitia (version 2005) |
| camera |
Theodor Sparkuhl , Fritz Arno Wagner |
| occupation | |
| |
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Sumurun is a German silent film by Ernst Lubitsch from 1920. It is based on a pantomime by Friedrich Freksa , which was filmed in 1910 by Max Reinhardt .
content
1st act
Medieval Baghdad : The hunchback worships the beautiful dancer. Together they travel through the country in a theater car and perform in small villages. The slave trader Ahmed sees the dancer and suggests that the hunchback should introduce her to the old sheikh for his harem . He chases him away.
Meanwhile, the women in the sheikh's harem are thrilled when the young cloth merchant Nur-al-Din offers his goods to the palace eunuchs in front of the palace gate. Above all, Sumurun, the sheikh's favorite wife, is carried away by the cloth merchant and is caught in her crush by the old sheikh. In the meantime, however, his son is standing in front of the window and throws Sumurun kisses - she rejects him, but the old sheikh is jealous.
2nd act
The jugglers move into Baghdad. Immediately the inhabitants are on their feet and enthusiastically watch the game of the hunchback, the old man and the dancer. When the young sheikh tries to pass the square, he drives the crowd apart. Although he initially expelled the jugglers from the city, the sight of the dancer made him milder - the hunchback had previously instructed her to ensnare the sheikh so that the group could stay. The plan is working. While the hunchback spends the last of his money to buy the dancer a bracelet, the amorous sheikh lavishes the dancer with cloth - the hunchback is left disappointed.
3rd act
Sumurun is said to be beheaded for their flirtation. Shortly before the sentence is carried out, Haidee can petition the head eunuch for Sumurun's rescue. He tells the young sheikh of her fate, who begs his father to spare her. Everything was his fault. The old sheikh reverses his judgment and Sumurun is saved. He now also refuses the slave trader's offer to see the beautiful dancer up close. When Sumurun turns him away in the bedroom, however, he lets the slave trader come and follows him to the place where the jugglers have stopped.
4th act
Enter the jugglers. The hunchback disguises himself like Pierrot and makes the crowd laugh at first. However, when he sees the dancer and the young sheikh who has secretly stepped up to the theater car kiss, he becomes deeply sad. Melancholy he accompanies the performance of the dancer on the lute , which is watched by the old sheikh. The old sheikh then agrees to accept the dancer into his harem. While she packs her things and the old woman gets drunk without restraint, the hunchback swallows in his grief pills that let him sleep like a death.
The dancer is shocked to find the hunchback lifeless and flees. She is pursued by the young sheikh and only after a chase does she manage to get to the slave dealer. Meanwhile, the old woman is desperate when she sees the hunchback lying motionless on the stage and hides him in a sack. This is stolen by Puffti and Muffti, the servants of Nur-al-Din, because they suspect it is full of jewelry. The old woman follows the thieves unobtrusively.
5th act
The hunchback is discovered in the fabric shop and the panicked servants hide him in the attic. There the old woman fetches him down and the hunchback, who is now sitting on the stairs, is asleep and is put into a cloth chest by the servants. The old sheikh's harem wives arrive to buy new fabrics. Haidee organizes an unobserved rendezvous between Sumurun and Nur-al-Din. When the women want to leave, they maneuver the cloth merchant into the same box in which the hunchback is. Like the second box with the purchased fabric, it is carried to the palace by the eunuchs. The old woman follows the group.
The fabric dealer is successfully smuggled into the palace unobserved. The eunuchs find the lifeless hunchback in a box and run away in horror.
6th act
At the slave dealer the dancer is dressed for the old sheikh. While she is being carried to the palace in a sedan chair, the old woman manages to wake the hunchback. He is furious with jealousy when he sees the dancer entering the palace. She becomes the sheikh's new favorite wife and spends the night with him.
The dancer is woken up by the young sheikh, who embraces her on his father's bed and kisses her. The hunchback followed the young sheikh. When the dancer sees him, she lets out a surprised cry that wakes the sleeping old sheikh. He kills the dancer and his son. When he storms into his harem and sees Sumurun embracing the carpet dealer, he wants to kill them both, but he is stabbed by the hunchback.
The palace gates are now open. The harem ladies leave the building and Sumurun and Nur-al-Din can now become a couple. Only the hunchback remains with his lute.
production
The monumental decoration and furnishings come from Kurt Richter and Ernő Metzner . Ali Hubert designed the costumes .
Filming for Sumurun began on March 13, 1920 in the Ufa Union studios in Berlin-Tempelhof. The censors put the film with a youth ban. The world premiere of Sumurun took place on September 1st, 1920 in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin .
The original music of Sumurun was created by Victor Hollaender . When the restored film was released on DVD in 2006, the film was backed by music by Javier Pérez de Azpeitia from 2005. The restored film is viraged like the original .
criticism
The contemporary criticism said that with Sumurun "a work [was] succeeded, from which the strongest artistic effects emanate, which achieves the effects of great art with the purest means and points the way in the new film territory, far away from all pseudotheatrical unculture." The film is an "oriental fairy tale in moving pictures, on which the director Ernst Lubitsch has put his characteristic stamp."
The lexicon of international films described Sumurun as “'historical ham' with a great deal of effort in setting and costume with a view of the box office, but also a cinematic journey into a universe of feelings and passions of great intensity and extreme perfection with a remarkable Ernst Lubitsch in one of the main roles. "
Thomas Mann saw the film on September 23, 1920 in the Munich Lichtspieltheater Sendlingertor together with Josef Ponten and later processed his impressions in the Zauberberg .
literature
- Brigitte Kueppers: Max Reinhardt's "Sumurun" , New York University, School of the Arts, The Drama Review TDR, New York 1980, 24, 1, pp. 75-84.
Web links
- Sumurun in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Sumurun at filmportal.de
- Excerpt from the film at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sumurun . In: BZ at noon. Quoted from: Lichtbild-Bühne , No. 37, September 11, 1920.
- ↑ Klaus Brüne (Ed.): Lexicon of International Films . Volume 7. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1990, p. 3658.
- ↑ Christoph Schmidt: Hunted processes full of splendor and nudity. An unknown cinematographic source for Thomann Mann's novel 'The Magic Mountain'. In: Wirkendes Wort 38 (1988), Heft 1, pp. 1-5.