Two Friends (1915)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Two friends |
| Country of production | Austria-Hungary |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1915 |
| length | approx. 74 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hubert Marischka |
| script |
Ernst Marischka Hubert Marischka |
| production | Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky |
| occupation | |
| |
Zwei Freunde is an Austro-Hungarian silent film made immediately before the outbreak of the First World War with Otto Tressler , Hubert Marischka and Fern Andra in the leading roles.
action
The classic love triangle is told by a woman between two men. One, Robert Bogemann, is an artist, a sculptor. The other, Fritz Drübenau, serves his country as a naval officer. Lilly likes both young guys who have been good friends for a long time, but can't really decide which of them to go. When the officer has to leave hastily one day because he is called to action, the decision falls to chance for her, and Lilly gives Robert her yes. Soon the young couple will have a daughter named Mädi.
Fritz only returned home after years from serving on the ship. To his great misfortune he found out during his visit to his friend Robert that he had married his childhood sweetheart Lilly. While Fritz accepts Lilly's decision for Robert with a heavy heart, she has recently had doubts. Because her husband Robert is an artist with body and soul and is totally into sculpture at the expense of his family. He has even forbidden her to visit his studio. And so Lilly, who feels neglected as a wife, turns more and more to Fritz, although this is entirely in Robert's sense, since he believes that his wife is in good hands with his best friend. There is great inner harmony between Lilly and Fritz, even when their little daughter is there. One day the conversation turns to a farewell letter that Fritz, who was too shy to speak openly at the time, once sent her, and the naval officer asks Lilly frankly why she hadn't answered it. After all, he made a confession of love to her back then. He put the letter in a medallion hanging on a bouquet of roses. It turns out that Lilly found the bouquet, but the medallion was gone because it got stuck on a tree branch while the bouquet was being transported. Only later, when Lilly and Fritz stroll to the said tree, do they see that the medallion is still hanging in the branches. With trembling hands, Lilly reads Fritzen's declaration of love at the time, very late.
Things take a dramatic turn when Robert catches Fritz and Lilly in a precarious situation that gives rise to all sorts of speculations and speculations. Is Lilly cheating on him? Beside himself, Robert gets a revolver and shoots his former best friend. The little girl rushes in between and is hit by the bullet. Believing to have killed his daughter, Robert runs away, “falls” and becomes a drinker. Lilly searches for him unsuccessfully and one day believes that Robert took his own life out of a feeling of guilt. He gradually loses his memory of his former life, hangs around in cheap pubs and stays in an accommodation of the lowest category. It takes a long time for Robert, mentally and mentally weakened, to find his way back to his old, orphaned studio. When his daughter, who was believed dead but has long since recovered, rushes back into his arms, all of this is too much for Robert, and he collapses and dies of a heart attack. Lilly and Fritz, who promises to be a good surrogate father to little girl, shake hands on his corpse.
Production notes
Two Friends was shot in the late spring of 1914 and completed in the early summer of the same year. The film was only released in Austrian cinemas at the beginning of 1915 because the production company, surprised by the outbreak of war in August 1914, had originally planned this ambitious production with the Hofburg actor Otto Tressler, who had barely appeared on film, until after the end of the war to publish. Two friends was premiered in Vienna on February 5, 1915. The film was four acts by 1,350 feet long.
The pictures in the sculptor's studio were taken in Tressler's studio in Döbling , who worked as a sculptor in his spare time. One of the film recordings shows a bust of Josef Kainz , which Tressler once made himself.
criticism
“Otto Tressler's performance in the main role of the sculptor is in places downright overwhelming and even without the word he has remained the artist he is on the stage of the Hofburgtheater. In the first two acts his amiable play captivates, in the dramatic scenes he grabs with irresistible violence. […] The other actors, initially Hubert Marischka, and the female lead, an American actress of captivating grace, showed themselves to be worthy partners of their great master. The direction is unique and is particularly beneficial because the recordings were made outdoors in the most beautiful parts of Kobenzl and Laxenburg . "
Web links
- Two friends in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Two friends at The German Early Cinema Database
- Two friends at filmportal.de