Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2006 Sommario / Contents

A hungry tramp tries to steal money from a newsboy, but changes his
mind. He considers suicide, but the newsboy gives him money to eat.They
both sleep in the street.The tramp begins to work at odd jobs; then he
gets hired as a delivery man. He meets a washerwoman.The tramp and
the boy rent an apartment.The tramp saves the life of a rich man’s little
daughter when she falls out of a window. He is rewarded for his pains,
and can set up house with the washerwoman.
Marguerite Engberg writes of this film: “In terms of both form and
content, it is inferior to the films offered by foreign companies, so it was
not hard to understand why Ole Olsen wanted a new artistic director.”
Viggo Larsen had directed nearly all the fiction films made by Nordisk
until this point, but he soon left for a successful career as an actor-director
in Germany. – CASPER TYBJERG
EKSPEDITRICEN [La commessa / The Shopgirl] (In the Prime of
Life) (Nordisk Films Kompagni, DK 1911)
Regia/dir: August Blom; scen: Lau Lauritzen Sr.; f./ph: Axel Graatkjær;
cast: Thorkild Roose (il ministro/the minister), Ella la Cour (sua
moglie/his wife), Carlo Wieth (il figlio/his son Edgar), Clara Wieth (Ebba
[Ellen]), Zanny Petersen (Lily), Lauritz Olsen (dottore/doctor); première:
12.8.1911; 35mm, 934 m., 45’ (16 fps), Danish Film Institute. Copia
del/Print from 1957.
Didascalie in danese / Danish intertitles.
Un ricco giovanotto, Edgar, prova un’immediata attrazione per una
commessa, Ellen, e le compra dei fiori. I due si incontrano la domenica
successiva e, presumibilmente, in seguito si vedono spesso. Tre mesi
dopo Ellen è incinta. I due decidono di sposarsi, così Edgar informa la
madre. Il padre lo convince a desistere e lo manda lontano, in
campagna, a far visita a degli amici. La figlia di costoro, Lily, scoperto di
Ellen, spinge Edgar a scriverle. Ma il padre di lui si fa consegnare le
lettere dall’ex datore di lavoro della ragazza. Non ottenendo risposta
da Ellen, Edgar ritorna in segreto in città. Nasce il bambino e, poco
dopo, Ellen muore. Lily arriva dalla campagna e Edgar legge su un
quotidiano l’annuncio della morte di Ellen. Edgar e Lily vanno in
ospedale a prendere il bambino decidendo anche di sposarsi.
(Riassunto tratto da Ron Mottram, The Danish Cinema Before Dreyer,
Scarecrow Press, 1988.)
Un esempio eccellente dei primi lungometraggi Nordisk e dei
“drammi sociali” che una delle prime sociologhe del cinema, Emilie
70
Altenloh, identificò nel 1914 come il contributo peculiare del cinema
danese: i film di questo genere mostrano la lotta della donna “divisa
tra i suoi naturali istinti femminili e sensuali e le condizioni sociali in
conflitto con essi” (Zur Soziologie des Kino, p. 58; http://www.unioldenburg.de/kunst/mediengeschichte/allg/altenloh).
Clara Wieth (1833-1975; nata Rasmussen, dal 19056 al 1920 moglie
dell’attore Carlo Wieth, quindi sposatasi con il dott. Pontoppidan e
diventata nota professionalmente come Clara Pontoppidan) fornisce
una prestazione assolutamente deliziosa nei panni della dolce,
civettuola commessa che finisce male, ed il modo con cui il film si
schiera nettamente dalla sua parte è notevole. La direzione di August
Blom è discreta ma attenta. – CASPER TYBJERG
A wealthy young man, Edgar, sees a shopgirl, Ellen, and is immediately
attracted to her. He buys her flowers. They meet the next Sunday, and,
presumably, often thereafter. Three months later Ellen is pregnant. The
couple decide to marry, and Edgar tells his mother. His father convinces
him not to marry Ellen and sends him away to visit friends in the country.
The daughter of the family he visits, Lily, gets him to write to Ellen when
she finds out about her. Edgar’s father, however, has convinced Ellen’s
former employer, to whom the letters have been sent, to turn them over
to him. When Edgar gets no reply from Ellen, he secretly returns to the
city. The baby is born and Ellen dies shortly after. Lily visits from the
country, and Edgar sees a notice of Ellen’s death in the newspaper. Edgar
and Lily go to the hospital to claim the baby, planning also to marry. (Plot
summary from Ron Mottram, The Danish Cinema Before Dreyer,
Scarecrow Press, 1988)
An excellent example of Nordisk’s early feature production, and of the
“social drama” genre that pioneering film sociologist Emilie Altenloh in
1914 identified as the distinctive contribution of Danish cinema, showing
“a woman’s struggle between her natural, feminine-sensual instincts and
social conditions conflicting with them” (Zur Soziologie des Kino, p. 58;
http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/kunst/mediengeschichte/allg/altenloh).
Clara Wieth (1883-1975; née Rasmussen; married to actor Carlo Wieth
[1885-1943] from 1906 to 1920, then to Dr. Poul Pontoppidan, after
which she became known professionally as Clara Pontoppidan) was one
of the finest actresses of Danish silent film. Here she gives an absolutely
delightful performance as the sweet, flirtatious shopgirl who comes to
grief, and the way the film’s sympathy is very clearly on her side is quite
remarkable. August Blom’s staging is unobtrusive but carefully done.
CASPER TYBJERG