Demon Woman (1926)

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Movie
German title Demon woman
Original title The Temptress
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1926
length 106 minutes
Rod
Director Fred Niblo
Mauritz Stiller (anonymous)
script Dorothy Farnum
production Irving Thalberg for MGM
camera Gaetano Gaudio and William Daniels
cut Lloyd Nosler
occupation

Demon Woman (also Totentanz der Liebe ) (OT: The Temptress ) is an American silent film with Greta Garbo directed by Fred Niblo from 1926.

action

During a masked ball, Elena, an attractive young woman, meets Robledo, an engineer from Argentina, and falls in love with him. She pretends to be unbound and starts a relationship with him. When Robledo later visits his friend, the Marquis de Torre Bianca, it turns out that Elena is his wife. Robledo tries in horror to break away from Elena, but repeatedly falls under her spell.

Fontenoy, a banker, is giving a banquet to which Elena, her husband, and Robledo are also invited. At the end of the festival, Fontenoy poisons himself in front of everyone after accusing Elena of ruining him. Elena's husband, who was financially dependent on Fontenoy, is also ruined by the banker's death. Robledo returns to Argentina, where he builds a dam.

Elena and her husband follow Robledo to South America three years later and their old love soon rekindles. Other men also vie for Elena's favor. Two friends of Robledo get into an argument about her, which ends fatally for one. The bandit Manos Duras is also carried away by the beautiful woman and tries to win her over. It comes to a duel between Duras and Robledo. Duras loses and shoots Robledo in revenge, but accidentally hits Elena's husband. Duras blows up the dam, which costs many lives. Robledo almost drowns while trying to stop the tidal wave. Angry, he returns to Elena to tell her that he now finally wants to break up with her, but then lets her change his mind and seduce him again. Elena realizes that Robledo can never be happy with her and leaves him the next morning while he is still asleep and returns to Paris. Robledo completes the dam.

Seven years later he returns to Paris. He's got engaged in the meantime. As he gets into a taxi, he recognizes Elena on the sidewalk. He follows her to a bistro. She's run down and drunk and doesn't seem to recognize Robledo anymore. She wants him to pay her a drink. Robledo goes on his way sadly.

In an alternative version, Elena and Robledo meet again and are happy together.

background

The film was based on the novel La Tierra de Todos by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez . It is Garbo's only joint work with her mentor Mauritz Stiller in the USA, but after a few weeks he was replaced by Fred Niblo and is not mentioned in the opening credits .

The shooting of Demon Woman , better known as the Dance of Death of Love , was a turning point in both Greta Garbo's and Mauritz Stiller's careers. After Garbo had surprised most critics with her intense portrayal with the filming of another Ibañez story Floods of Passion shortly before, the studio used the actress again as a South American vamp who destroyed the men in rows. At the same time, the direction should be taken over by Mauritz Stiller, who had been practically unemployed since his arrival in Hollywood.

Filming was chaotic. Stiller, who could only speak rudimentary English, was unable to get used to the different production methods in America. While in Europe as a director he was the undisputed master of the set, at MGM he had to bow to the wishes of executive producer Irving Thalberg . The sometimes excessive repetitions of individual scenes and the costly furnishing of the sets meant that the costs exploded and the filming also fell completely behind schedule. Eventually Stiller was fired and replaced by Fred Niblo, who finished the film after a total of 83 days of shooting. The material shot by Stiller is considered lost.

For Greta Garbo, filming was an emotional torture. Four days after shooting began, she received news of the death of her sister Alva, who had died of consumption in Sweden shortly before her breakthrough as an actress . When Stiller was also deprived of the direction, her condition deteriorated and she confessed to confidants that she had endured the following weeks as if in a trance.

Theatrical release

The film premiered on October 10, 1926.

Production costs of $ 693,000 were well above the average for an MGM production. The grossing results of $ 587,000 in the US and $ 378,000 worldwide meant a cumulative total of $ 965,000. However, the studio ended up losing $ 43,000.

criticism

Most of the critics praised Greta Garbo. Mordaunt Hall stated in his October 11, 1926 review in the New York Times :

“Greta Garbo, the talented Swedish actress, is gaining new recognition with her performance (…) Miss Garbo is not only surprisingly well suited for the role, she also manages every scene in which she appears with minimal effort and unusual restraint in her gestures occurs to transform into something special. She is attractive and has a slim appearance and gives an unusually intense impression of Elena's heartlessness. "

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Stiller filmed many great scenes but his directed footage is lost. After Stiller was fired, director Fred Niblo re-shot all of Stiller's scenes.
  2. ↑ Greta Garbo, the accomplished Swedish actress, (...) wins new honors (...) Miss Garbo is not only remarkably well suited is the role, but with a minimum of gestures and an unusual restraint in her expressions, she makes every scene in which she appears a telling one. She is attractive and svelte of figure and gives an emphatically effective impersonation of Elena's heartlessness.