When the mask falls

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Movie
Original title When the mask falls
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1912
Rod
Director Urban Gad
script Urban Gad
production German Bioscop
for PAGU
camera Guido Seeber
occupation

When the Mask falls is a German silent film drama in three acts by Urban Gad from 1912. It is one of the director's fragmentary films.

action

Bank director Hardner is a shrewd businessman who hides his unscrupulousness behind a mask of friendliness. So he gets General von Warden and her son Willi to invest their entire fortune in the purchase of a cement factory.

At a Hardner mask party, Willi meets the actress Sanna, who is said to be in a relationship with Hardner. Willi is fascinated by the kind hearted woman. Their conversation is abruptly interrupted by the jealous Hardner and an argument ensues between Sanna and Hardner. A few days later Sanna separates from Hardner and she and Willi become a couple. Hardner, in turn, decides to destroy Willi. He bribes Warden's accountant and he forges Willis' books, making it look like Willi is bankrupt. Thereupon he is denied the inclusion of his company in the cement ring, which means Willis ruin. Hardner, in turn, cancels his loan. Willi and his mother are ruined and Hardner hides the forged papers in his desk.

Hardner writes to Sanna that he ruined Willi, but that he can undo it just as quickly if she spends an evening with him. Sanna goes to Hardner's, but remains indifferent through the evening. She learns about the forged papers in the desk through Hardner's secretary Barmer and takes them away. When Hardner notices this, he rushes at her, but she and the papers can be saved by Willi who has been summoned. The future of the Warden family is saved.

production

When the mask falls was shot in the summer of 1912 in the Bioscop studio in Neubabelsberg within a week . On August 30, 1912, the censors put a youth ban on the film. When the Mask Falls was premiered on November 1, 1912 in Berlin. After The Dance of Death and The General's Children , it was the third film in the Asta Nielsen / Urban Gad series in 1912/13. A 662-meter-long copy of the original 963-meter-long film has been preserved in the Cinemateca Romana in Bucharest .

It was the first time Nielsen appeared in a movie in a trouser role. During the masked ball, "Sanna" appears as a male hunter. Nielsen took on other trouser roles, for example in Jugend und Tollheit (1913), Zapatas Bande (1914), Das Liebes-ABC (1916) and Hamlet (1921).

criticism

The criticism praised Nielsen's presentation. “The almost unlimited versatility and versatility of this actress's mimic art come to the fore in these two films [The General's Children, When the Mask Falls]. I have to acknowledge that the individual scenes were played true to life and warm and that these two films in particular show the Nielsen in the light of their great art. "

“Ms. Asta Nielsen [...] easily holds the attention to her slim and peculiar person. Their teammates also deliver good art, ”wrote the Danish Politiken .

literature

  • When the mask falls . In: Ilona Brennicke, Joe Hembus: Classics of the German silent film 1910–1930 . Goldmann, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-442-10212-X , p. 234.
  • When the mask falls . In: Karola Gramann, Heide Schlüpmann (ed.): Nachtfalter. Asta Nielsen, her films . Volume 2 of Edition Asta Nielsen . 2nd Edition. Filmarchiv Austria Verlag, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902531-83-4 , pp. 89-93.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heide Schlüpmann, Eric de Kuyper, Karola Gramann, Sabine Nessel, Michael Wedel (eds.): Impossible love. Asta Nielsen, her cinema . Volume 1 of Edition Asta Nielsen. 2nd Edition. Filmarchiv Austria Verlag, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902531-83-4 , p. 465.
  2. ↑ Heide Schlüpmann, Eric de Kuyper, Karola Gramann, Sabine Nessel, Michael Wedel (eds.): Impossible love. Asta Nielsen, her cinema . Volume 1 of Edition Asta Nielsen. 2nd Edition. Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902531-83-4 , p. 79, FN 12.
  3. ^ Lichtbild-Theater , November 21, 1912.
  4. ^ Politiken , November 4, 1912.