Der Fall Rosentopf / The Rosentopf Case (2011 restoration Bundesarchiv)

Ernst Lubitsch: Der Fall Rosentopf / The Rosentopf Case (DE 1918). Poster design: Josef Fenneker.

Ernst Lubitsch: Der Fall Rosentopf / The Rosentopf Case (DE 1918). Ernst Lubitsch. La Cinémathèque française,

Der Fall Rosentopf : Lustspiel in 3 Akten.

Ernst Lubitsch / Allemagne / 1918 / 20 min / DCP / INT.FR. deutsche Zwischentitel / Version restaurée

Avec Ernst Lubitsch, Trude Hesterberg, Ferry Sikla.

Fragments of 361 m restored in 4K in 2011 by Bundesarchiv. Original length: 1083 [Vorspann, Filmportal] or 1163 m [Zensurkarte].

E-sous-titres français Marc Ullrich.

Grand piano Abel Saintbris (classe d'improvisation de Jean-François Zygel)

Vu lundi, le 14 avril 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Rétrospective Ernst Lubitsch, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

La Cinémathèque française: " Une comédie policière, pour laquelle Lubitsch reprend son rôle de Sally Meyer, dans l'enquête sur l'affaire Rosentopf, littéralement du « pot aux roses ». Le film est constitué de fragments restaurés. "

AA: I see for the first time Der Fall Rosentopf, or the 361 meters that remain. The original length of the comedy was 1083 or 1163 m. The restoration makes sense of the surviving footage. I enjoy the attractive sepia toning. There is also a lila passage.

The film belongs to Ernst Lubitsch's Sally comedy series. Sally is a tough careerist and go-getter, eager to please and easily distracted if attractive women are around. The name Sally is an abbreviation from Salomon, and the Sally series can be compared with the Jewish self-parodies of Max Davidson (the Izzy series for Reliance and the classic Hal Roach series). When we screened Sally films in Helsinki, the audience reaction was: "when they do it themselves, who needs antisemitism?".

Der Fall Rosentopf is a detective story, and the mystery is about a lost rosepot. Commissioned by the rentier Klingelmann (Ferry Sikla), the detective Ceeps (Fritz Niemand) assigns the case to Sally who is eager in securing a sizable advance and keeping a meticulous record of expenditures but phlegmatic in pursuing the mission otherwise.

Lubitsch is never the best actor in his cast, but fortunately we have here the wonderful Margarete Kupfer as Klingelmann's maid and Trude Hesterberg as the life-affirming dancer Bella Spaketti. Sikla and Kupfer are familiar from other Lubitsch films. For the wonderful Hesterberg this was her sole Lubitsch appearance.

Frankly, Lubitsch's performance is often grating, and nobody told him so. This is a small film, but there is an appealing relaxed atmosphere in many scenes, particularly with Trude Hesterberg. "Spitzentanz or Bauchtanz?" "Wie weit sind sie?" We are far from the Lubitsch touch, but the innuendo is amusing.