Waves of fate

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Movie
Original title Waves of fate
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1918
length approx. 75 minutes
Rod
Director Joe May
script Joe May
production Joe May
camera Curt Courant
occupation

Wogen des Schicksals is a German silent film melodrama from 1918. Directed by Joe May , his wife Mia May plays the leading female role.

action

When bank director von Letzow enters an antique shop, the first thing he notices is a young woman who is about to sell a medallion. The medallion is decorated with a portrait of a noble lady. When asked, the young woman, a certain Vera von Bergen, explains that the woman is her deceased mother. Letzow begins to be interested in the background, and so Vera tells him her sad life story:

After the death of her mother, the widowed von Bergen married again, this time his housekeeper, who soon turned out to be the decal of the wicked stepmother. The new wife von Bergen got rid of Vera first and made sure that she had to leave her father's castle and was sent to a girls' boarding school. Soon the father who appointed the still minor as sole heir also died. The court appointed the hated stepmother's brother to be Vera's guardian. Both treated Vera very badly from then on, and so the tormented heiress fled in her helplessness from her own property and hid with her former wet nurse, a poor greengrocer. For a living, Vera eventually sold all of her mother's jewelry, most recently the medallion.

Moved by her terrible fate, von Letzow now decides to protect young Vera from the wicked stepmother and her insidious brother. In order to be able to declare her of age prematurely, Vera would have to be married. Letzow complies with her request and takes her as his wife, but at the same time promises her to get a divorce immediately if her childhood sweetheart Alfred returns from America in order to set her free. Letzow now takes over the castle administration from Vera's stepmother and her brother. Vera returns to her parents' home and finds in a secret compartment of a cupboard a small bottle with alleged “medicine” that the count's second wife had given him last. The suspicion immediately arises that the old woman has gradually poisoned Vera's father.

Letzow takes the bottle and has the contents analyzed by a specialist. His worst guesses are confirmed; the substance found there is a slowly killing plant poison. Soon after, Alfred returns from the USA penniless. Von Letzow is immediately ready to redeem his promise to get a divorce right now. He hires Alfred in his bank, but there the young man turns out to be unreliable, begins to gamble for money and covers his debts with deposits from Letzow's bank accounts. Vera's eyes are only now opened and she realizes what she has in her husband. She does not want to get a divorce and remains Mrs. von Letzow.

Production notes

Waves des Fate was created at the beginning of 1918, was censored in March 1918 and was probably premiered in the same month (possibly also April 1918). The length of the four-act was 1542 meters, after a few cuts made as a result of a re-censorship in 1921, the number of meters was reduced to 1519.

criticism

“A film really to the taste of the large audience! It contains a number of intense conflicts, a good deal of tension, and finally a happily united loving couple. In addition, it is staged brilliantly and effectively, as the name Joe May vouches for. (...) Mia May ... has the female lead, which she embodies with full charm and grace. Erich Kaiser-Titz is her partner, whose genteel calm and noble play of giveaways captivate and delight over and over again. Finally, the photograph must also be mentioned, as it is simply exemplary. "

- Neue Kino-Rundschau of June 29, 1918. p. 100

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to some sources, Leopold Bauer is said to have participated in the direction

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