Afgrunden

"Afgrunden" is a clearly primitive movie. It isn't stylistic revolutionary, and doesn't invent any new way to tell a story. However.... Though "Afgrunden" is from 1910 there is one scene I just can't seem to forget. It sticks to me in some strange way. The famous dancing scene with Asta Nielsen clearly has a sexual context. Even compared to modern films tendency to make sexual contents seem as dirty as possible, "Afgrunden" represents the same standard with a lot more modest use of effects and 'moves'. Try to see it, just for that one scene.

This film, "The Abyss", was, reportedly, very popular--sort of inaugurating an important, although often overlooked, period in film history--that of Danish sensational melodramas, which was at its height during the early 1910s. What I consider the best qualities of this era and genre are not really evident in this particular picture: that is, interesting lighting effects, use of mirrors as a self-referential device and impressive mise-en-scène. In "The Abyss", the framing is standard and extremely dated. There's one shot of an approaching train arriving at a station, a la the Lumière brothers' short, which I like to note only because there seem to be many such shots resembling those first films scattered throughout the early silent film era.

What "The Abyss" does have is sensationalism. The sex, including the dance, is part of this, as is "the bad woman" played by Asta Nielsen. And, as with most other such films I've seen, a circus must be involved. Alfred Lind, listed as the cinematographer of this picture, helped further create the sensational circus film genre with "The Flying Circus" (Den Flyvende cirkus) (1912). Moreover, the plotting in these types of films is nearly identical.

Besides being a notably early entry in sensational Danish circus melodramas, "The Abyss" also continues to receive some recognition for launching the screen career of Nielsen, who was an exceptionally popular international star, especially among German audiences. Her acting seems, compared to contemporaries, rather restrained, I suppose-- thankfully forgoing much of the usual theatrics. Overall, "The Abyss" might be worth seeing if you're interested in Nielsen or early Danish cinema.

(Note: Even in the restored Danish Film Institute print, there is considerable deterioration in some scenes.)

A big, two-reel feature picture, naturally acted, with Miss Asta Nielson in the leading role. She is well supported by a large cast. The story is perfectly clear and smooth, demanding no strain on the spectator's attention. It is extremely well photographed, and shows most delightful backgrounds, glimpses of street life in Copenhagen, and glimpses of a village street, with an old church tower, in rural Denmark; also other scenes, among them a wayside beer garden under a grove of pines. The story is sensational and ends very dramatically in a tense climax. It deals with passion in a clean handed, honest way. It opens with a meeting of a young man and woman, shows a glimpse of the courtship and carries us on through a married life without love, to the coming of the man, a circus performer, who excites passion in the wife. The rest of the picture shows a good deal of her sensational experiences with this man. Twice her husband tries in vain to recall her. Their last meeting comes by chance in the piney beer garden and results in a sensational struggle, in which the woman kills her paramour and is led away by the police. - The Moving Picture World, April 27, 1912

All four films made by Asta Nielsen in Denmark (in 1910, 1911 and 1919) , before she became an international superstar, have been released by the Danish Film Institute, which was created a hundred years ago and has taken care of Danish films ever since. Thus we usually get very good, clean and sharp copies of films almost 100 years old. The series is truly amazing, and the Asta Nielsen disk is one of the best. The four features (on one disk) are: Livets storme, Afrgrunden, Den sorte drøm, and Mod Lyset. I had only seen Asta Nielsen's later films, such as Hamlet, before, therefore I was astounded to see that she was a rather beautiful actress in her youth, with a figure of a Barbie doll which she isn't afraid to show. The films are remarkably good as well. In Afgrunden, we see Miss Nielsen as a shy piano teacher who abandons her fiancée in order to elope with a circus artist, who turns her into a harlot and a murderess; in Livets storme she is a dancer whose beauty brings along the ruin of her and of men; in Den sorte drom she is a circus star who does everything for the man she loves, and in Mod Lyset a reckless countess who has to destroy the lives of several men as well as her own before she learns the true values of life. The last tale is a bit moralizing for modern tastes, but the first three (from 1910-1911) are true gems. These films are naturalistic, strong portraits of life before the WW I. Miss Nielsen is a very good actress indeed, as well as a gorgeous clothes horse, wearing the trendiest models of the day around her nonexistent waist. The prints are very sharp, even though the first film shows some decomposition. They should have been released colour tinted and with somewhat more interesting musical accompaniment than the constantly meditating piano, but who cares? These films still were eye openers. When you thought the film wasn't a true art form back in 1910, think again: moving camera, panning camera, closeups, parallel editing, fluent narrative – it's all there, and years before these techniques became accepted in UK, US or Italy.

Magda meets her fiancé, Knud, in a casual way during a tram trip, at that same moment both fall madly in love with each other; few days later, Knud invite Magda to spend a thrilling weekend at a vicarage, where his father works.

Meanwhile Magda are spending so particular weekend with her fiancé, comes to town a circus; Magda will fall in love with a cowboy who performs at the circus, exchanging at once the bored fiancé for the hefty cowboy and running away both without thinking very much this new situation.

The relationship between Magda and her cowboy it will begin to be very problematic, tormented, and full of suspicions, jealousies and humiliations suffered by Magda by her cowboy and despite that the bored fiancé appeared from time to time in her live trying to put an end to such wild passionate abyss, those efforts will be finally in vane.

"Afgrunden" it's a film directed by the great Danish and unfortunately not well known director, Urban Gad and starred by Asta Nielsen, actress whom Herr Gad discovered and married.

Despite the film it's sometimes a simple and exaggerated melodrama, Herr Gad endow always their films with a stunning modernity as in style as in content, being able to diminish those typical deficiencies of the film, in the other hand, standard for an early 1910 film production, not mentioning Damen Nielsen good presence and versatility (it is necessary to emphasize the Damen Nielsen erotic dance scene, in this way you'll see how modern and alluring your grandmothers were ), two reasons, the Herr Gad film direction and Damen Nielsen performance, enough to watch this early Danish film.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because when this Teutonic Count heard about storm relationships, remembered that he must to talk something about it with some of their German fat heiresses.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/