Madame Dubarry (1919) (1977 ZDF reconstruction Gerd Luft / Jürgen Labenski)

Ernst Lubitsch: Madame Dubarry (1919) starring Pola Negri. Poster by Theo Matejko.

010590 / 08 / DE / 1919 / Lubitsch, Ernst / / historical drama
Madame Dubarry / Madame Dubarry [cinema] / Madame Dubarry – kuninkaan jalkavaimo [this telecast]. © Projektions-AG Union. EX: Paul Davidson. D: Ernst Lubitsch. SC: Fred Orbing [Norbert Falk], Hanns Kräly. DP: Theodor Sparkuhl. CAST: Pola Negri (Madame Dubarry), Emil Jannings (Louis XV), Reinhold Schünzel (Count von Choiseul). B&w silent. Original length 2280 m /18 fps/ 110’. This telecast ca 120’. This was the ZDF 1977 reconstruction by Gerd Luft / Jürgen Labenski, with music by Hans Jönsson. Finnish subtitles by Arja Kataja. Yleisradio TV2 PAL telecast on 1 February 1998, later caught on VHS. ***

Overrated spectacle, not up to Lubitsch’s best comedies of the same time. And the version to show would be the Enno Patalas restoration from Munich Film Museum. For instance, from this TV version, the famous final shock image – the mob playing ball with Dubarry’s severed head – was missing. Also, the interesting use of vignettes could not be appreciated in this version.