THE MYSTERY FILM
THE FALL OF JERUSALEM (Wholesome Film Service, Inc.?, US?, c. 1920)
Dir: ?; US dist: Wholesome Film Service, Inc.; 35 mm, 4756 ft, 70’ (18 fps), tinted, George Eastman House. Preserved and printed 2001 from a tinted 35 mm diacetate positive print in the collection of Northeast Historic Film, Bucksport, Maine. Color tinting reproduced at the Haghefilm labs using the Desmet process.
Didascalie in inglese / English intertitles.
Grand piano: Antonio Coppola.
20 min from the beginning viewed at Teatro Zancanaro, Sacile, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): The Mystery Film, 11 Oct 2004
Caroline Yeager (GCM): "Here’s a challenge. For years now historians have tried to identify this mysterious feature, a lavishly produced biblical epic reminiscent of Judith of Bethulia, replete with picturesque sets and costumes and a large cast. However, the print shown here lists only the title, and the distribution company, Wholesome Film Service, Inc. No cast is listed and there are no technical production credits. The film’s high production values and feature length indicate that it was the product of a skilled filmmaker. But there are no American-made films that match this title; it is thought to have been produced in Europe, possibly in Germany. The most likely scenario is that Wholesome Film Service purchased the film from a foreign distributor, changed the title, and certainly re-made the intertitles, since they do not match the images in format or style. As the original source material was a diacetate print (it shows decomposition of the nitrate material it was copied from), it suggests that the film was distributed to religious and educational institutions. To date, no one has been able to identify any of the actors in the film, but we hope that this screening may jog someone’s memory, and new information will surface that can help solve the mystery of The Fall of Jerusalem. If the Giornate’s expert audience is unable to identify it, nobody will!" – Caroline Yeager (GCM)
MYSTERY SOLVED (BY GERHILD KREBS):
Jeremias / Der Kampf um Jerusalem / The Fall of Jerusalem
DE 1922. P: Gleissner. Spera-Film Ges. (Berlin).
D: Eugen Illés. SC: Rudolf Kellaren, Paul Lerch. Cin: Hans Mönling, Eugen Hamm. PD: Siegfried Wroblewsky.
C: Carl d V. Hundt (Jeremias), Theodor Becker (Nebukadnezar), Jaro Fürth (Bachur, der falsche Prophet), Werner Hollmann (König Zedekiah von Judea), Georg John (Ägypter Emmissary), Mara Markhoff (Rahel, Jeremias' Tochter), Cordy Millowitsch (Esther, Königin von Judea), Walter Rilla (Amosa, Kapitän der Wache), Sazy von Blondel (Mirjam, Jeremias' Tochter), Wilhelm von Haxthausen (Maskir, Schatzmeister des Königs.
Uraufführung: 26.10.1922 Berlin.
Gerhild Krebs (Internet Movie Database): (...)
"At the screening in Sacile in October 2004 during Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, when everybody was still guessing what this "mystery film" was, I positively recognized juvenile Walter Rilla (=Amosa, captain of the royal guard). I talked to Werner Mohr, a collector of autographed photos from Berlin, who was with me in the identification session held later in the course of the festival, and we agreed it was definitely Rilla."
"I'm researching Rilla's life and work. According to what is known as yet, he was not in films at all prior to mid-1920, and not in co-productions or foreign films prior to 1924–1925 (when he starred in Cutts' The Blackguard, a D/GB co-production). So I simply needed to check titles of German productions post 1919 and prior to 1925 for a film matching the content of the "mystery film"seen in Sacile, and I rapidly arrived at the right title."
"Consequently, the identification of Jeremias aka Der Kampf um Jerusalem, Berlin censorship date Oct 25 1922, has been done very quickly in October-November 2004 by myself (...)."
"The confirmation that I had not only hit upon the right film but that there is also a fragment of it in the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, came from fiction film curator Mrs. Barbara Schütz in an e-mail to me (3.12.2004): The Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv holds act two of the film. The fragment is a partly b/w and partly tinted & toned print, and already transferred to safety stock. Restoration work on the film will soon begin."
"CineGraph has published an entry on Walter Rilla recently, but amongst his credits Jeremias is not mentioned. Thus my identification of Jeremias adds a new and very early film to Rilla's filmography; to be precise, it marks his second appearance in a film." (...) Gerhild Krebs
...
Hervé Dumont: L'Antiquité au cinéma (2009):
1922
Jeremias / Der Kampf um Jerusalem / Die Zerstörung Jerusalems (Jeremias)
(DE) Eugen Illés ; Illes-Film-Spera Film Berlin, 1725 m. / 6 actes. – av. Carl de Vidal Hundt (Jérémie), Werner Hollman (Sédécias, roi de Judée), Theodor Becker (Nabuchodonosor, roi de Babylone), Cordy Milowitsch (Esther, reine de Judée), Mara Markhoff (Rahel), Sacy von Blondel (Miriam), Walter Rilla (Amosa, chef de la garde royale), Georg John, Jarö Fürth, Wilhelm von Haxthausen (Maskir).
– Jérusalem croule sous les impôts, le peuple gronde. Jérémie met en garde plusieurs fois le roi Sédécias, trop occupé à gâter son épouse favorite, la païenne Esther. Lorsque le souverain de Babylone assiège la ville, Sédécias feint de se rendre mais s’allie secrètement avec l’Egypte. Nabuchodonosor apprend la trahison et lance ses troupes à l’assaut des murailles. La cité est prise, le roi tué, Jérémie part en exil à Babylone avec les survivants. Film peu connu, réalisé maladroitement avec cinq ou six décors et une centaine de figurants à Berlin-Staaken
THE FALL OF JERUSALEM (Wholesome Film Service, Inc.?, US?, c. 1920)
Dir: ?; US dist: Wholesome Film Service, Inc.; 35 mm, 4756 ft, 70’ (18 fps), tinted, George Eastman House. Preserved and printed 2001 from a tinted 35 mm diacetate positive print in the collection of Northeast Historic Film, Bucksport, Maine. Color tinting reproduced at the Haghefilm labs using the Desmet process.
Didascalie in inglese / English intertitles.
Grand piano: Antonio Coppola.
20 min from the beginning viewed at Teatro Zancanaro, Sacile, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): The Mystery Film, 11 Oct 2004
Caroline Yeager (GCM): "Here’s a challenge. For years now historians have tried to identify this mysterious feature, a lavishly produced biblical epic reminiscent of Judith of Bethulia, replete with picturesque sets and costumes and a large cast. However, the print shown here lists only the title, and the distribution company, Wholesome Film Service, Inc. No cast is listed and there are no technical production credits. The film’s high production values and feature length indicate that it was the product of a skilled filmmaker. But there are no American-made films that match this title; it is thought to have been produced in Europe, possibly in Germany. The most likely scenario is that Wholesome Film Service purchased the film from a foreign distributor, changed the title, and certainly re-made the intertitles, since they do not match the images in format or style. As the original source material was a diacetate print (it shows decomposition of the nitrate material it was copied from), it suggests that the film was distributed to religious and educational institutions. To date, no one has been able to identify any of the actors in the film, but we hope that this screening may jog someone’s memory, and new information will surface that can help solve the mystery of The Fall of Jerusalem. If the Giornate’s expert audience is unable to identify it, nobody will!" – Caroline Yeager (GCM)
MYSTERY SOLVED (BY GERHILD KREBS):
Jeremias / Der Kampf um Jerusalem / The Fall of Jerusalem
DE 1922. P: Gleissner. Spera-Film Ges. (Berlin).
D: Eugen Illés. SC: Rudolf Kellaren, Paul Lerch. Cin: Hans Mönling, Eugen Hamm. PD: Siegfried Wroblewsky.
C: Carl d V. Hundt (Jeremias), Theodor Becker (Nebukadnezar), Jaro Fürth (Bachur, der falsche Prophet), Werner Hollmann (König Zedekiah von Judea), Georg John (Ägypter Emmissary), Mara Markhoff (Rahel, Jeremias' Tochter), Cordy Millowitsch (Esther, Königin von Judea), Walter Rilla (Amosa, Kapitän der Wache), Sazy von Blondel (Mirjam, Jeremias' Tochter), Wilhelm von Haxthausen (Maskir, Schatzmeister des Königs.
Uraufführung: 26.10.1922 Berlin.
Gerhild Krebs (Internet Movie Database): (...)
"At the screening in Sacile in October 2004 during Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, when everybody was still guessing what this "mystery film" was, I positively recognized juvenile Walter Rilla (=Amosa, captain of the royal guard). I talked to Werner Mohr, a collector of autographed photos from Berlin, who was with me in the identification session held later in the course of the festival, and we agreed it was definitely Rilla."
"I'm researching Rilla's life and work. According to what is known as yet, he was not in films at all prior to mid-1920, and not in co-productions or foreign films prior to 1924–1925 (when he starred in Cutts' The Blackguard, a D/GB co-production). So I simply needed to check titles of German productions post 1919 and prior to 1925 for a film matching the content of the "mystery film"seen in Sacile, and I rapidly arrived at the right title."
"Consequently, the identification of Jeremias aka Der Kampf um Jerusalem, Berlin censorship date Oct 25 1922, has been done very quickly in October-November 2004 by myself (...)."
"The confirmation that I had not only hit upon the right film but that there is also a fragment of it in the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, came from fiction film curator Mrs. Barbara Schütz in an e-mail to me (3.12.2004): The Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv holds act two of the film. The fragment is a partly b/w and partly tinted & toned print, and already transferred to safety stock. Restoration work on the film will soon begin."
"CineGraph has published an entry on Walter Rilla recently, but amongst his credits Jeremias is not mentioned. Thus my identification of Jeremias adds a new and very early film to Rilla's filmography; to be precise, it marks his second appearance in a film." (...) Gerhild Krebs
...
Hervé Dumont: L'Antiquité au cinéma (2009):
1922
Jeremias / Der Kampf um Jerusalem / Die Zerstörung Jerusalems (Jeremias)
(DE) Eugen Illés ; Illes-Film-Spera Film Berlin, 1725 m. / 6 actes. – av. Carl de Vidal Hundt (Jérémie), Werner Hollman (Sédécias, roi de Judée), Theodor Becker (Nabuchodonosor, roi de Babylone), Cordy Milowitsch (Esther, reine de Judée), Mara Markhoff (Rahel), Sacy von Blondel (Miriam), Walter Rilla (Amosa, chef de la garde royale), Georg John, Jarö Fürth, Wilhelm von Haxthausen (Maskir).
– Jérusalem croule sous les impôts, le peuple gronde. Jérémie met en garde plusieurs fois le roi Sédécias, trop occupé à gâter son épouse favorite, la païenne Esther. Lorsque le souverain de Babylone assiège la ville, Sédécias feint de se rendre mais s’allie secrètement avec l’Egypte. Nabuchodonosor apprend la trahison et lance ses troupes à l’assaut des murailles. La cité est prise, le roi tué, Jérémie part en exil à Babylone avec les survivants. Film peu connu, réalisé maladroitement avec cinq ou six décors et une centaine de figurants à Berlin-Staaken
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