Der König der Bernina

Ernst Lubitsch had directed his last silent movie earlier in 1929, his May 1929's "Eternal Love." John Barrymore stars as a Swiss mountain man who lives off the land by hunting prey with his trusty rifle. He finds himself in trouble when the French army demands everyone in the city turn in their firearms. He refuses, sending its entire city's residents against him. The Hans Kraly script, adapted from Jakob Christoph Heer's novel, 'Der Korig der Bemina,' involves a love-triangle. German actress Camilla Horn pays Ciglia, who loves Marcus (Barrymore). However, the lusty Pia (Mona Rico) literally throws her body at Marcus. In a weak moment, he succumbs to her advances. This was Mona Rico's cinematic debut. The Mexican-born actress was in ten films before leaving the industry in 1941.

The storyline, despite not being a typical Lubitsch rom-com, had its advantages in production. The German director got to film in the stunning mountains of Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, bringing home memories of his days in the Alps. As with most directors in the last year of silent movies, Lubitsch showed an extreme comfort level by photographing one of his most visually stunning features he ever made. "Eternal Love" demonstrated that cameras without the hindrance of early cumbersome sound equipment could be transported to any geographical setting to achieve eye-popping results.

I'm pretty familiar with Barrymore's silent work, but other than "Lady Windemere's Fan" I had never seen a silent Lubitsch film before. It was not what I was expecting and that does not mean I was unpleasantly surprised. Lubitsch is well known for his unique "touch", and in my experience of watching his sound films that meant incorporating clever dialogue with insinuation. Without the power of speech, this Lubitsch silent film has all of the power of one of his talking films by using facial expression and some well-placed props.

Barrymore plays a hunter who is basically a loner who is in love with Ciglia, the niece of the town priest. How two such different people could fall in love is not shown in the film, but early on they do declare their love to one another, the occupying French army is driven from the area, and all seems to be well. The problem is that there is a wild girl of the village that has her heart set on capturing Barrymore by any means. Compounding difficulties is a respectable but bland fellow who also loves Ciglia and wants to marry her. These two rivals can't seem to understand that love can't be bought and it can't be trapped. The French being driven from the town is the cause of a great celebration that involves a masked ball and a great deal of liquor. It is this celebration that sets off a series of catastrophes for the young lovers.

What really stood out for me in this film were the very few intertitles used. The film really doesn't need them. Remember that 1929 was the last year that silent films were being made in the U.S. with the exception of a few holdouts like Murnau and Chaplin. It's interesting to look at this film and then compare it to "The Love Parade", a Lubitsch sound film made at the end of the same year - 1929. It is so sophisticated in its technique you'd think Lubitsch had been making sound films for ten years. His special touch was not hindered by the coming of sound - he didn't miss a step.

Eternal Love (1929)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A strong cast saves this melodrama from pretty much killing itself. Set in Switzerland, the rebel Marcus (John Barrymore) would do anything for the woman (Camilla Horn) he loves but in a drunken state he sleeps with another. The Reverend makes Marcus marry this woman, which might be the end of his relationship with his true love but soon fate steps in. This later day silent isn't nearly as bad as one might think but there's no question that the screenplay goes overboard on the melodrama and the questionable ending almost kills things. I think fans of the stars as well as the director will want to check this film out but it's questionable what impact it will have on them. We'll start with Barrymore but he once again turns in a very strong performance and you can't help but feel that he is this character. I thought he handled the more athletic aspects of the film quite well and he certainly knows how to milk every ounce of drama out of a scene. Just check out his eyes during the scene where he's forced to marry the woman he doesn't love. Horn is also very good in her role as she perfectly captures the innocence of her character and Mona Rico is pitch-perfect as the "other" woman with the more sexual nature. Speaking of sex, this film offers quite a bit of stuff that would certainly not be film-able in upcoming years including the sexual act while Barrymore is drunk off his mind. We even have the two married people coming together towards the end, which is yet another act that would have been looked down on. Lubitsch's direction handles everything fairly well but what really impressed me were the visuals. There are several tracking shots that look incredibly good including one where we follow Barrymore walking through the mountains. The performances and direction make this worth sitting through but I'm sure many will be howling at the ending. The silent film was released with a Movie Tone track, which includes the music as well as several sound effects including wind gusts, knocking, gun shots and a few other things.

It has only been in recent years that some of Ernst Lubitsch's silent films have become available on video. They prove that "the man with the golden touch" certainly had it before his more famous films of the 30's and 40's. I was unfamiliar with ETERNAL LOVE until this VHS/DVD incarnation and based on the few reviews I had seen I wasn't expecting much. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found myself totally captivated. I thought the four principals all gave fine performances (especially John Barrymore) and the photography (shot in the Canadian Rockies) was some of the best I've seen in an American silent film. The ending ,while not unexpected, still managed to have a terrific impact. Of the 3 Lubitsch silents I have seen (THE STUDENT PRINCE IN OLD HEIDELBERG and THE MARRIAGE CIRCLE are the other 2), this one tops the list. My thanks to the UCLA Film and Television Archive and to Milestone Films for making it available on video.

I saw this screened at the Bay City/Saginaw show, and although I was skeptical and even jaded about it while I was watching it, the imagery, the atmosphere, and the intensity of the subject (not to mention of the performances) provided me with my most powerful memories of the festival. Barrymore is not a dapper figure here, but his appeal and his talent for projecting smoldering fire is 100% intact. He is ably abetted by the angelic blonde, Camilla Horn, and the fiery, wildly uninhibited Mona Rico (a late silent discovery quickly forgotten, but who does turn up dancing a bit in John Carroll's ZORRO serial.) Horn is a delicate beauty suspiciously strung together with steel wire, while Rico goes some lengths to out-spitfire Lupe Velez, and does she ever wear a jacket? Rico's character is sooooo hot, that she is hardly ever seen wearing costuming that can contain her writhing, lusting, scheming torso. That she is supported in her efforts every step of the way by her mother is no vote for quality parenting, not by any stretch of the imagination, and Heaven help poor John. Poor, poor John. There is something about physical attraction in silent cinema, it can be obvious, nostril-flaring, eye-popping (or, as in the case of Miss Rico, breast-heaving) but when it's subtle, as with Barrymore and Horn, it can scorch the screen along with your eyes and imaginations. They are met subtlety for subtlety by the second male lead, handsome Victor Varconi, a fine actor often underused in the talking era, and are matched in color by Hobart Bosworth as Horn's Reverend father, and Bodil Rosing as their housekeeper. Evelyn Selbie, who portrays Mona Rico's horrible hag of a mother, seems to have had quite a career playing mothers in the Silents, and parlayed such roles into lesser talking picture assignments such as "Screaming woman" or "Immigrant woman," or "Tenement Woman."