Der falsche Dimitry

Hans Steinhoff: Der falsche Dimitry (1922).

THE STEINHOFF PROJECT
DER FALSCHE DIMITRY (ed. it: BORIS GODUNOFF) (Gloria-Filmgesellschaft, D 1922)
Vale-Dimitri.
    Dir: Hans Steinhoff; prod: Hanns Lippmann; sc: Hans Steinhoff, Paul Beyer; ph: Helmar Lerski; des: Walter Reimann, Alfred Junge, Hans Lück; cost: mainly supplied by Dresdner Staatsoper; artistic advisor: Leo Witlin; technical advisor: Hans Lück; technical assistants: Kiekebusch, Steinert, Schmidbauer;
    cast: Alfred Abel (Iwan der Grausame), Agnes Straub, Eugen Klöpfer (Boris Godunov), Paul Hartmann, Gina Relly, Joseph Klein, Eduard von Winterstein, Leopold von Ledebur, Hanni Weisse, Friedrich Kühne, Ilka Grüning, Wilhelm Diegelmann, Hans Albers, Harry Hardt, Erhard Siedel, Arthur Bergen, Hugo Döblin, Wassilij Wronski, Josef Klein, Fritz Achterberg, Heinrich Schroth, Kl. Hoschek, Lothar Müthel, John Gottowt, Georg Baselt, Tatjana Tarydina, Oscar Sabo, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Jaro Fürth, Franz Egenleff; Georg Schnell, Georg John;
    premiere: 15.12.1922, Ufa-Palast, Berlin; orig. length: 2694 m; restored version: 35 mm, 2042 m, 82’ (22 fps), tinted, Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv.
    German intertitles.
    Grand piano: Donald Sosin.
    20 min from the beginning viewed at Teatro Zancanaro, Sacile, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Fuori quadro – The Steinhoff Project, 15 Oct 2004

Horst Claus (GCM): "Following the critical success of his debut film Kleider machen Leute, Steinhoff was signed up to direct three films for Hanns Lippmannís prestigious Gloria Film Company, a subsidiary and “Jewel in the Crown” of Ufa.  The first of these was this costume drama set in Russia at the turn of the 16th century. Deliberately avoiding references to literary and musical adaptations by Pushkin, Schiller, and Mussorgsky, it is a liberal adaptation of events surrounding the Russian usurper Boris Godunov. The film was shot in the studios of Staaken between early June and the end of August 1922. To reduce costs, designer Walter Reimann used painted backdrops for several of the more spectacular scenes rather than expensive three-dimensional sets."

"Der falsche Dimitry is the third work in a programme of the restoration and preservation of the silent films of Hans Steinhoff, undertaken by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin, with partial support of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board, and the University of the West of England, Bristol. It is based on a tinted nitrate print with Italian intertitles held by the Fondazione Cineteca Italiana, Milan. The German original aimed at a broad panorama of the period, starting with the last years of Ivan the Terrible and covering aspects of the reign of his successor Fyodor II. Cutting it by approximately 700 metres, the editors of the Italian print concentrated on (and called their version) Boris Godunov. Among their changes, they reduced the role of Fyodor to two brief appearances at the opening of the film and the end of Reel 2, shortened scenes relating to predictions about Ivan’s death, and re-edited the murder sequence of his young son Dimitry and the abduction of the latterís friend Peter Grigory (who subsequently becomes the “wrong Dimitry”). Sequences reflecting Godunov’s brutal dictatorship appear to have also fallen victim to the ravages of time. Though the Italian print retains a verbatim translation of almost all the German intertitles, its editors added ten titles in order to cover gaps in the visual narrative caused by their interference. As their main aim was to tighten and speed up the plot, they retained the film’s original narrative structure."

"The reconstruction follows the information and sequence of events as contained in the German censorship records. Added Italian titles have been ignored, and re-edited shots have been put back into their original context. Though shortened by a third, the result retains the atmosphere and most of the action of the original 1922 print." – Horst Claus (GCM)