Rejected by his lover, Bela Lugosi, in the role of Maelzer, he commits treason and attempts sabotage. He is electrocuted before the authorities can capture him.Rejected by his lover, Bela Lugosi, in the role of Maelzer, he commits treason and attempts sabotage. He is electrocuted before the authorities can capture him.Rejected by his lover, Bela Lugosi, in the role of Maelzer, he commits treason and attempts sabotage. He is electrocuted before the authorities can capture him.
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- TriviaParts one and two of this two part film, each originally five reels in length, were combined and re-edited into a shorter six reel version and released in USA as Daughter of the Night (1920), which is all that now seems to survive.
- ConnectionsFollows Daughter of the Night (1920)
Featured review
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I am appalled at the two reviews that call this a film to be discarded by all but the most hardcore Lugosi fans. This is a wonderful little film that suffers from a) being cut from two films into one and b) being released on DVD with a horrible score. The acting is not only typical of 1920 Germany, but is truly remarkable in many places. The camera-work is quite varied, such as in the top shot a la Busby Berkley of dancers -- animated cutting (a brief fade out/fade in/fade out of the dancer as Bela recalls her -- a tracking shot aside a troika--all very striking). The compositions are well thought out, and the story isn't that hard to follow, for anyone with the intent to do so. People who don't understand silent films really should study up more on it before reviewing them--especially those from this early on, and this is early for Germany; this was the year of Dr. Caligari, after all. What would our reviewer above think of the character Cesare the somnambulist in that film ("terrible acting, it was like he was asleep!")
This was a lavish production, one that has many intricate parts to enjoy. So far as its weaknesses go, yes: Lugosi was never a great actor! Never. I think his best role was in "Son of Frankenstein." But here he is trying to be very subtle. He is not over emoting; he is playing it very cool. Remember in Dracula he didn't do much emoting--it was the voice that carried him. He hasn't got that advantage here. What is remarkable is that there are scenes in which he looks and acts exactly as he does in -- "Glen or Glenda!" He never really grew as an actor.
However, I do feel this is a very enjoyable film, but you can't appreciate it as well now on DVD because it's a 1930 re-edit, probably to capture the market after Dracula. Yes, it is clumsily edited; the titles are very obviously ham-handed; we can only speculate what they originally looked like. That's one thing that we can't do anything about. The many handwritten notes seen in closeup should have been redone, as they are all but illegible now. But worse, is the score that's been released with the DVD; it is truly pathetic. About as passionate as a block of ice, I am not sure the accompanist was even watching the film. And that hurts tremendously. With an engaged score, even this edit of the film could be brought back to life and enjoyed by more people.
This was a lavish production, one that has many intricate parts to enjoy. So far as its weaknesses go, yes: Lugosi was never a great actor! Never. I think his best role was in "Son of Frankenstein." But here he is trying to be very subtle. He is not over emoting; he is playing it very cool. Remember in Dracula he didn't do much emoting--it was the voice that carried him. He hasn't got that advantage here. What is remarkable is that there are scenes in which he looks and acts exactly as he does in -- "Glen or Glenda!" He never really grew as an actor.
However, I do feel this is a very enjoyable film, but you can't appreciate it as well now on DVD because it's a 1930 re-edit, probably to capture the market after Dracula. Yes, it is clumsily edited; the titles are very obviously ham-handed; we can only speculate what they originally looked like. That's one thing that we can't do anything about. The many handwritten notes seen in closeup should have been redone, as they are all but illegible now. But worse, is the score that's been released with the DVD; it is truly pathetic. About as passionate as a block of ice, I am not sure the accompanist was even watching the film. And that hurts tremendously. With an engaged score, even this edit of the film could be brought back to life and enjoyed by more people.
helpful•11
- J_Mucci
- Sep 20, 2010
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- Daughter of the Night
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- Runtime50 minutes
- Color
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- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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