Ankunft des Fürsten Wilhelm I. zu Wied in Durazzo (Albanien) März 1914

[ANKUNFT DES FÜRSTEN WILHELM I. ZU WIED IN DURAZZO (ALBANIEN) MÄRZ 1914] [Arrivo a Durazzo di Guglielmo di Wied, principe d’Albania, marzo 1914 / Arrival of Prince William I of Wied in Durazzo (Albania) March 1914] (FR 1914) prod: Éclair. copia/copy: 35 mm, 88 m, 4'56" (16 fps); did./titles: GER. fonte/source: Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin.

    Music interpretation: Mauro Colombis, Frank Bockius, Romano Todesco.

    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Ruritania 2, 9 Oct 2023

Jay Weissberg (GCM 2023): " Reading the opening of Duncan Heaton-Armstrong’s memoir, published in 2005 as The Six Month Kingdom. Albania 1914, one would be forgiven for thinking it’s from an Anthony Hope novel: “How I, an Irishman, came to be mixed up in the Albanian adventure, really wants some explanation.” Explain he does, in a writing style so closely aligned to any number of Ruritanian adventures that it’s hard to believe it’s real, yet Albania has always been where the West projected its Balkan fantasies. Even before gaining independence, it was having others impose their choice of ruler, but getting the major European powers to agree when all they really wanted was their own puppet candidate was beyond the skills of most diplomats. In November 1913 they finally selected a ruler in the thoroughly ill-suited Wilhelm, Prince of Wied (1876-1945). "

" Wied may ring a bell with catalogue readers from last year: it’s the small German principality whence came Queen Elisabeth of Romania, known as Carmen Sylva. This is no coincidence, for it was Elisabeth, in all her misguided yet well-meaning meddling, who lobbied her nephew’s cause thanks largely to her Svengali-like control over his wife Sophie, Princess of Schönburg-Waldenburg. In the always perceptive words of Princess Marie Radziwill, writing about Princess Sophie, “His wife has more intelligence than her husband, but she has even more ambition than intelligence, and to be called majesty has turned her head.” (Lettres de la Princess Radziwill au Général de Robilant, 1889-1914, vol. IV, 1934) "

" This newsreel fragment shows the arrival of the newly minted royal couple in Durrës, then more generally known as Durazzo, on 7 March 1914, brought to their principality (or kingdom, depending on who’s translating the Albanian word “mbret”) by cruisers from the Great Powers. Heaton-Armstrong, glimpsed in his smart grey Albanian uniform with plumed shako, admitted none of them knew much about the country, but Wilhelm was keen to make an impression with his self-designed uniforms, which Radziwill called “very grotesque.” A revealing article by André Tudesq in Le Journal (27.2.1914), reprinted in Le Courrier Cinématographique (7.3.1914), details the Prince’s understanding of the movie camera’s role in crafting his image, describing how Wilhelm (“as agile as Fregoli”) posed in various guises for the cameraman before setting off on his ill-fated adventure. "

" The Freiburg-based company Express-Films claimed to have made an exclusive deal with the Albanian government for all moving images of the royal couple’s entry (Der Kinematograph, 11.3.1914), so it’s possible that they licensed footage to other companies, like Éclair; Gaumont, Pathé, Mutual, and Universal, which all included films of Wilhelm in their weekly actualities. "

" His reign lasted a mere six months; as his private secretary Heaton-Armstrong wrote, “The Powers were quite justified in not having a very high opinion of him, but still he was doing his best and trying to keep his government clear of any undue foreign influence.” " – Jay Weissberg

AA: A grandiose ceremony including a delegation from Teheran. Huge crowds, military presence, representatives of the Church, politicians singing childen in uniforms. The women are strewn with flowers. The uniforms look impressive.