The Prussian Spy
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Prussian Spy |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1909 |
| length | 5 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | David Wark Griffith |
| script | David Wark Griffith |
| production | American Mutoscope and Biograph Company |
| camera | GW Bitzer |
| occupation | |
| |
The Prussian Spy ( German : Der Prussische Spy ) is an American melodrama film by director David Wark Griffith from 1909 . The screenplay was also written by David Wark Griffith, the silent film is a production of the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company .
action
The Prussian Spy is set against the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/71 . Count Lopes, an officer in the French army, and a Prussian soldier are rivals for Lady Florence's favor.
Lady Florence loves a young Prussian soldier. Count Lopes is in love with Florence, but is rejected by her. Lopes suspects that Florence loves someone else and wants to find out who it is. A Prussian spy could be followed up to Florence's house, and Lopes believes him to be his rival because he saw him get in through her window. Florence hides the Prussian in a closet. When Lopes confronts her and accuses her of supporting the spy, she denies and swears her innocence. But Lopes notices her anxious looks at the closet.
To avoid the degrading search and to give Florence a chance to confess, he summons two of his lieutenants to shoot at a target on the door of the closet under the pretext of testing a new revolver. Florence continues to deny the allegations and sends her maid to the attic to open a trapdoor above the hiding place and allow the spy to escape. But it comes too late, the shots kill the hidden spy and when the closet is opened the truth emerges.
Production notes
The Prussian Spy is a one-reeler on 35mm film that is 465 feet long . The film was released on March 1, 1909.
In this film, after the introductory sequences , David Wark Griffith used two scenes in which the plot consistently alternates in parallel montages : Lady Florence's apartment with the closet, and a room in the attic above. While one location is shown in the picture, the other location of the action as well as the mostly invisible main actor remain in the audience's consciousness. The actors contribute to this, Lady Florence and Count Lopes with their actions related to the closet and the housemaid in the attic with the effort of the trapdoor.
criticism
The Moving Picture World published brief synopsis in its February 27 and March 6, 1909 editions. The reviewer described the film as an extremely beautiful performance, convincingly played and perfectly recorded. Only the reason for the title The Prussian Spy does not emerge from the film. It could be any other spy.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Prussian Spy . In: The Moving Picture World , Volume 4, No. 9, February 27, 1909, p. 246, digitized .
- ↑ a b The Prussian Spy . In: The Moving Picture World , Volume 4, No. 10, March 6, 1909, p. 269, digitized .
- ↑ The Prussian Spy in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ^ Joyce E. Jesionowski: Thinking in Pictures. Dramatic Structure in DW Griffith's Biograph Films . University of California Press, Berkeley 1989, ISBN 978-0-520-06792-9 , pp. 63-64.