Letters from the beyond
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Letters from the beyond |
| Original title | The Lost Moment |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1947 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Martin Gabel |
| script | Leonardo Bercovici |
| production | Walter Wanger for Universal Pictures |
| music | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
| camera | Hal Mohr |
| cut | Milton Carruth |
| occupation | |
| |
Letters from the Beyond is an American psychodrama with elements of horror film and film noir from 1947. The film remained the only work by Martin Gabel as a director and is based freely on the 1888 novella The Aspern Papers by Henry James .
action
New York City publisher Lewis Venable remembers traveling to Venice as a young man in the 1900s . There he wants to get the love letters written in the 19th century by the long deceased but still famous poet Jeffrey Ashton. Lewis learns from his friend Charles, himself an unsuccessful poet, that Juliana Borderau - the addressee of Ashton's love letters - is still alive and is now 105 years old. Under a false identity and without revealing his intentions, Venable lodges herself with Juliana and her great-niece Tina, a pianist, as a lodger. The family's venerable house is long past its prime, Juliana is short of money and wants to sell Lewis a valuable painting herself in order to make ends meet.
Little by little Lewis discovers dark secrets in the house: Tina is schizophrenic and believes at night that she is Juliana and that the love letters for Jeffrey Ashton are meant for her. The real Juliana fears that her great niece could harm her in the schizophrenic state. Meanwhile, the penniless Charles tries unsuccessfully to blackmail Lewis by revealing his true identity and intent to the Borderaus if he does not pay him hush money. Lewis finally finds out that the letters are actually in the Borderaus' possession, but they don't want to sell them at any price. At night, Tina believes in her condition that Lewis is the beloved Jeffrey - Lewis lets her believe in order to get the letters. When he gets the chance, Lewis takes the letters and wants to leave Venice with them on the Orient Express , although he now gets along well with Tina in normal condition. But he turns around when he hears Juliana screaming: The schizophrenic Tina has discovered the missing letters and is threatening her aunt.
Juliana has to admit that she once killed Ashton, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1843, when he was about to end their relationship. She then buried the poet in the garden. When Juliana tries to pick up the letters Lewis showed her, she knocks over a candle and starts a fire with it. Lewis is able to save Tina and Juliana from the burning house, but the letters are lost in the flames. With the end of the letters, Juliana's will to live is also broken, she dies in the garden of the house, while Tina is finally cured of her schizophrenia.
background
Henry James ' 1888 novella The Aspern Papers served as the template for the film. Percy Bysshe Shelley , who died in 1822 and wrote love letters to Claire Clairmont , served as a model for the character of the poet Jeffrey Ashton . Shortly before her death in 1879, a stubborn Shelley lover rented a room from the elderly Clairmont's house in Florence , who wanted to discover Shelley's unpublished material there and later publish it. After Clairmont's death, her niece, who also lived in the house, offered the tenant the letters for money. Henry James heard about this anecdote while in Florence. The film does make some changes, though, while the niece Tina in James' book has an inconspicuous appearance, here she is a beauty.
The film was directed by actor Martin Gabel from the Broadway stages, who had not worked as an actor or director for the film until then. Letters from the Beyond was his only directorial work. Agnes Moorehead, who was not even half as old as her figure of 105-year-old Juliana, had to endure long make-up procedures every day in order to get the age-old look she wanted in the end. Bud Westmore was responsible for the make-up , the costumes were designed by Travis Banton ; Alexander Golitzen , Russell A. Gausman and Ken Swartz worked for the production design .
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created in 1985 on the occasion of a television broadcast for the NDR.
| role | actor | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Lewis Venable | Robert Cummings | Claus Wilcke |
| Tina Bordereau | Susan Hayward | Marlen Diekhoff |
| Juliana Borderau | Agnes Moorehead | Ida honor |
| Amelia, maid | Joan Lorring | Monika Barth |
| Father Rinaldo | Eduardo Ciannelli | Horst Stark |
| Charles Russell | John Archer | Matthias Grimm |
| Pietro, Lewis' servant | Frank Puglia | Utz Richter |
| Maria, cook | Minerva Urecal | Helga Bammert |
Theatrical release
With a budget of $ 1,313,775 million, the film grossed under $ 750,000 at the US box office. This was a major flop, causing losses of nearly $ 900,000.
Reviews
While Letters from the Beyond is receiving a largely positive reception today, it received mixed reviews when it was published. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote at the time of publication that The Lost Moment was "little more than the average horror film". "Dark lighting, venerable rhythms and an emphasis on music and sounds" would be used as in other films of this type, and Agnes Moorehead, a 105-year-old lady, would take care of the grotesque moments. David Thomson found that the images in the film were “beautifully shot”. Time Out judged The Lost Moment to be “remarkably effective”: “The ghostly web of changing identities and sexual tensions is wonderfully spun and makes it lamentable that Martin Gabel subsequently opened up limited his acting career. "
The lexicon of the international film judged: “In a fantastic pseudo-Venetian setting, atmospherically photographed drama, whose creepy-mysterious plot about a ' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 'theme seems very confused. ”The film magazine Prisma wrote:“ This psychological thriller with a good dose of horror is the only directing work by actor Martin Gabel (...) Hollywood diva Susan is in front of the wonderful backdrop of Venice Hayward, the young niece who Hitchcock veteran Robert Cummings considers the admired poet. ”The US film critic Dennis Schwartz regretted that this is Gabel's only film as a director because it was“ brilliant Gothic ”.
Web links
- Letters from beyond the grave in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ The Lost Moment at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Letters from Beyond ( Memento of the original dated November 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at the German Synchronous Database
- ^ Matthew Bernstein, Walter Wagner: Hollywood Independent , Minnesota Press, 2000 p. 444
- ↑ Letters from Beyond in the New York Times
- ↑ David Thomson: Have You Seen ...? ': A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films Including Masterpieces, Oddities and Guilty Pleasures (with Just a Few Disasters)
- ↑ The Lost Moment at Time-Out
- ↑ Letters from the beyond at two thousand and one
- ↑ Letters from Beyond at Prisma
- ↑ The Lost Moment by Dennis Schwartz
