Tartüff / Tartuffe (1973 ZDF reconstruction by Gerd Luft and Jürgen Labenski, music arranged from the original Giuseppe Becce score)

F. W. Murnau: Tartüff / Tartuffe (DE 1925) with Lil Dagover (Elmire) and Emil Jannings (Tartuffe). Poster design: Theo Matejko.

013393 / G / DE / 1925 / Murnau, F. W. / / drama

Tartüff / Herr Tartüff / Tartuffe / Tartuffe – tekopyhä / Hycklaren. PC: Ufa. P: Erich Pommer. D: F. W. Murnau. SC: Carl Mayer – based on the play Le Tartuffe ou l’imposteur (1664) by Molière. DP: Karl Freund – silent – b&w. PD: Robert Herlth, Walter Röhrig. CAST: Emil Jannings (Tartuffe), Werner Krauss (Orgon), Lil Dagover (Elmire). Framing story: André Mattoni (The Grandson), Hermann Picha (The Grandfather), Rosa Valetti (The Housekeeper). Kinomusik composed by Giuseppe Becce. 1876 m /24 fps/ 68’. 

    Helsinki premiere: 16 Nov 1925 Civis – Ab Maxim Oy – 1598 m.

    TV-Erstsendung: 27 Feb 1973, ZDF.

    Yleisradio TV2 PAL telecast at midnight on 13 April 1998 of the ZDF reconstruction (1973) by Gerd Luft and Jürgen Labenski, with the score by Giuseppe Becce arranged by Rolf Unkel, with Finnish subtitles by Pirkko Vikkula. Caught on Easter Monday on VHS.

    The print was shown through a wrong gate, cutting people’s heads. The original music was somewhat lethargically interpreted.

”Vielfach ist die Zahl der Heuchler auf Erden! Vielfach die Maske, unter denen sie uns begegnen!” The Grandfather sees through the wily schemes of his housekeeper as his grandson projects for him a film of Tartuffe. Murnau’s meeting with Molière is like the elephant storming the porcelain shop. The first rate actors save what they can from pedestrian direction. Murnau as a storyteller is at his worst. The visual composition is immaculate. As a photo album Tartuffe would be marvellous. Using the freeze-frame on video one can cherish the best effects. – Having written this I notice the harsh judgement of Kracauer: Tartuffe is an example of ”all-pervading paralysis”, ”itself Tartuffish”.

Der letzte Mann / The Last Laugh (1983 ZDF Reconstruction by Gerd Luft and Jürgen Labenski, with score by Giuseppe Becce 1924 and Werner Schmidt-Boelcke 1984)

F. W. Murnau: Der letzte Mann / The Last Laugh (DE 1924) with Emil Jannings (the hotel porter). Poster design: Theo Matejko.

013059 / G / DE / 1924 / Murnau, F. W. / / drama

Viimeinen mies / Sista skrattet. PC: Ufa. EX: Erich Pommer. D: F. W. Murnau. SC: Carl Mayer. DP: Karl Freund. PD: Robert Herlth, Walter Röhrig. CAST: Emil Jannings (The Hotel Porter), Maly Delschaft (His Niece), Hans Unterkircher (The Hotel Manager). Music for live accompaniment composed by Giuseppe Becce. 2315 m /20 fps/ 101’. Silent b&w. 

    There are several original versions of this film.

    Yleisradio TV2 PAL transmission at midnight on 22 March 1998 of a ZDF reconstruction from 1983 by Gerd Luft and Jürgen Labenski, with a score by Giuseppe Becce (1924) and Werner Schmidt-Boelcke (1984), based on a print from Münchner Filmmuseum, with Finnish subtitles by Pirkko Vikkula. Caught on Easter Sunday on VHS.

**** This was the first viewing of this film for the general audience in Finland since its premiere. In the meantime, it has been a part of the basic film archive programming.

The ZDF version is complete, nothing is missing. Probably the pictorial quality has been enhanced in later restorations. The music was not bad, but I was happy to quickly turn it off.

”All the tenants, in particular the female ones, are awed by his uniform, which, through its mere presence, seems to confer a mystic glamour upon their modest existence. They revere it as a symbol of supreme authority and are happy to be allowed to revere it” to quote Kracauer.

As a storyteller Murnau is crude: he hammers home every point, overstating the obvious. As a creator of visions he still reigns supreme. His sense of composition is startling, and the space is kept alive with rain, steam, smoke, and moving reflections. The mobile camera, introduced in Scherben and Sylvester, was perfected here. The roving camera creates a sense of vertigo, which fits the theme of rise and fall – downfall and resurrection.