Vanina (1922) (2024 restoration)

Arthur von Gerlach: Vanina (DE 1922). The finale with Asta Nielsen as Vanina Vanini. Photo: Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum.

Die Galgenhochzeit (AT) / Notte di fuoco / La Noce au pied de la potence / Verihäät Turinissa / Blodsbröllopet i Turin.

    DE 1922 Union-Projektions A.-G. 

    Dir: Arthur von Gerlach. scen: Carl Mayer, based on the novella by Stendhal [Marie-Henri Beyle], Vanina Vanini (1829). photog: Frederik Fuglsang, Willibald Gaebel. des: Walter Reimann. 

    Cast: Paul Wegener (Governatore/The Governor), Asta Nielsen (sua figlia/His Daughter), Paul Hartmann (Octavio), Fritz Blum (aiutante del Governatore/The Adjutant), Bernhard Goetzke (sacerdote/The Priest), Raoul Lange (boia/The Executioner), Hans Waßmann, Hans Studen (due soldati/Two Soldiers), Sigmund Nunberg (domestico/A Servant). 

    Dist: Ufa. Première: 6.8.1922 (Sedlingertor-Lichtspiele, München). 

    Finnish premiere: 30 Oct 1922 - 11867 - 1450 m - Astoria - distributed by: Ab Maxim Oy.

    Copy: DCP (4K), 73', col. (from 35 mm, 1450 m, orig. l. 1550 m, 18 fps, tinted); titles: GER. Source: Det Danske Filminstitut, København. Restored by Cinémathèque royale de Belgique, Filmmuseum München, Det Danske Filminstitut.

    Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM), Pordenone: Rediscoveries.

    Grand piano: Daan van den Hurk.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi with e-subtitles in English/Italian, 9 Oct 2024

Stefan Drössler (GCM Catalogue 2024): "Featuring a prominent cast by combining for the first time the top stars Paul Wegener and Asta Nielsen, Vanina marked the film directing debut of Arthur von Gerlach. He came from the theatre and had spent ten years as the artistic director of the Elberfelder Stadttheater. In 1919, he joined Union-Film in Berlin and succeeded Paul Davidson as General Director. Today his name is largely forgotten, as he died of a heart attack in 1925 at the age of 49 while preparing his third film. The obituary in Der Kinematograph (Nr. 964, 9.8.1925) noted his tenure at Union-Film: “He arrived at a time of trials and tribulations and, in his own way, could hardly assert himself as an administrative man. He was an artist, perhaps too straightforward for the complex world of film.” "

"The screenplay for Vanina was written by Carl Mayer (1894-1944), at the time already one of Germany’s most respected film authors. He freely adapted Stendhal’s novella into a dark kammerspiel (chamber drama) ballad exploring themes of revolution and resistance, love, hatred, and death, all unfolding over the course of a single night. Illustrierte Filmwoche (Nr. 42/43, 1922) described Vanina as an experiment blending theatre and film: “Director von Gerlach has created excellent cinematic images here with stage-like means. Throughout this night of fate, an incessant battle rages between insurgents and the vassals of Governor Paul Wegener. Bombs, gunshots, detonations, weapons swaying back and forth explode incessantly. Lovers Vanina (Asta Nielsen) and Octavio (Paul Hartmann) are thrown into the middle of this chaotic scene and must inevitably perish that night.” "

"Vanina premiered on 6 August 1922, as part of the German Film Art Week in Munich, and was promoted as an “art film”. Münchner Neueste Nachrichten (9.8.1922) wrote, “The way in which the director has brought together all the gestures from the mimic (Wegener, Nielsen, Hartmann) and architectural realms to create dramatic expression touches on genius.” Der Kinematograph (Nr. 808, 13.8.1922) commented, “Technically, the film offers the highest level imaginable; the lighting, elaboration of the images, photography, settings, and tinting are master pieces!” However, when the film was released in German cinemas on 6 October, some reviews were less positive. In the Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger (9.10.1922), Alfred Rosenthal gleefully enumerated all the improbabilities of the plot’s logic: “The whole story now appears exceedingly improbable on film, losing interest, especially towards the end.” In an open letter to Arthur von Gerlach published in Film-Kurier (Nr. 222, 8.10.1922) under the title “Der Irrweg von Vanina” [The Wrong Path of Vanina], Paul Ickes called Vanina “stylized kitsch” [“stilisierter Kitsch”]: “The images are uninteresting because they leave you cold, because no life lives in their mannerism, no pulse pulsates, no breath breathes.” "

"Vanina was exported to many countries. In France it was appreciated as “a film that tells us a great deal about cinematographic developments in Germany, and proves to us not only a willingness to make an effort, but a strength of personal, original expression, which has nothing to do with sentimental nonsense.” (Léon Moussinac in Le Crapouillot, 16.2.1923)"

"Today only differently abridged and edited foreign-language versions have survived, sourced from two different camera negatives. The reconstruction is based on a tinted nitrate print with French and Flemish intertitles and a black & white nitrate dupe negative with French intertitles, both from the collection of the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique. Filmmuseum München provided the internegative of a tinted and hand-colored fragment with French titles. The wording of the original intertitles was taken from the German censorship card dated 26 July 1922. Contemporary reviews and articles helped to sort out details of the continuity."

"The greatest difficulty was the editing, which was designed like a piece of music, with recurring motifs and repetitions. Single shots were shifted concealing jumps in time and plot continuity caused by cuts. Determining which shots and intercuts were alternatives or variants of repetitions was challenging, and remains somewhat speculative until further prints, the original script, or detailed production documents are found. The restoration of Vanina is a collaborative project involving the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique, Det Danske Filminstitut, and Filmmuseum München. In Brussels, the three film materials were scanned in 4K including color grading and coloration. In Munich, the philological work was carried out, the editing plan was created, and the German intertitles were designed. In Copenhagen, image restoration and retouching were done. The restored version is 100 metres shorter than the German censorship length of 1550 metres, which corresponds to about 5 minutes." – Stefan Drössler

AA: It was with great anticipation that I visited the screening of the restored Vanina. Arthur von Gerlach directed only two films: Vanina and Zur Chronik von Grieshuus. Both are masterpieces. Of Vanina I had previously only seen and programmed in 1988 the surviving colour fragments that Enno Patalas made available at Filmmuseum München.

But those fragments were unforgettable in their visual poetry, enhanced by their fantastic, incandescent colour world.

Carl Mayer completely changed Stendhal's plot and transformed it into a cinematic ballad. Arthur von Gerlach created a mise-en-scène with an irresistibly operatic drive. Each shot is like a painting charged with Stimmung. Von Gerlach excels both in crowd scenes and intimate encounters.

What emerged was an archetypal Weimar classic. Paul Wegener embodies the crippled governor of Turin with furious, atavistic abandon. Yet again, he creates a sadistic monster in the lineage of the épouvante.

This is the age of the Counter-Revolution. To crush the people's rebellion in Turin, the governor instils a bloodbath and sentences the leader, Octavio (Paul Hartmann) to death. But his daughter Vanina (Asta Nielsen) loves Octavio and tries to save him by marrying him. The governor agrees to the marriage but orders the sentence to be carried out anyhow. 

The escape in the labyrinthine castle transforms into a nightmarish psychic journey, in which "every new passage is another mysterious and ghostly mark of destiny" (Béla Balázs). The sense of space in the castle built by Hans Reimann is haunting. With her anti-realistic pantomime, Asta Nielsen is at the height of her powers as the bride of the blood wedding. Arthur von Gerlach brings everything together in his vivid visual tapestry, conveying an unrelenting landscape of terror. Forces of freedom and love never die, but this time the battle is lost. The final images convey infinite sorrow and pain.

Thanks to this restoration, for the first time in my lifetime, von Gerlach's masterpiece makes full sense again.

...

Stendhal published the short story "Vanina Vanini" in 1829 in Revue de Paris. After his death, it was collected in Chroniques italiennes (1855).

Roberto Rossellini filmed Vanina Vanini in Technicolor in 1961, starring Sandra Milo (Vanina Vanini), Laurent Terzieff (Pietro Missirilli) and Paolo Stoppa (Prince Vanini).