Heimkehr

I am a fan of Lars Hanson and when I found a copy of this movie of his in a private collection I decided to buy it even though I was told the print was only of fair quality. As it happened, the print was pretty poor, but, it was good enough to see what a marvellous movie this is. It is the story of two German prisoners of War in the First world War, who have spent two years running a ferry in a remote part of Siberia. Richard (Hanson) is desperately homesick and longs to see his wife, Anna (Dita Parlo) again. Escape from where they are is considered near impossible and those who have tried and failed are returned to work in the lead mines. Richard and his companion Karl (Frohlich) attempt to escape, however Richard is recaptured, but, Karl makes it back to Hamburg and decides to see Anna, of whom Richard has told him all about. Initially they are friends, but, it slowly deepens into something more, though neither does anything about it. In the meantime the war has ended and Richard is free to return home. I will leave the synopsis at this point, but, what I will say is that it was an excellent film, typical of the German cinema in the late silent days, well acted and imaginatively filmed. I would dearly love a decent print of this to be found and remastered and released for a wider audience as it is a gem of a movie as are many movies from the silent era that languish unloved and forgotten while bilious tripe made more recently is readily available.

Jut to correct another reviewer's comment. Lars Hanson is in fact Swedish not German. He was one of the top theatrical actors in Sweden for many years and made several Swedish films with a very young Ingrid Bergman.

I have little to add to the views expressed by two reviewers who have recognised what a marvellous film this is. As for the other chap...well, less said the better.

Joe May figures high in the long list of "silent" directors whose work has only recently become known and appreciated once more. An eclectic film-maker, he managed to excel in a variety of genres - the Monumentalfilm (the two-part 1921 Indische Grabmal, the original and quite the best version of the three, including Lang's), the 1929 Hitchcockian thriller Asphalt (before Hitchcock had himself got very far in the genre to which it is misleading but convenient to give his name) and this riveting drama of 1928.

There is in fact a not too bad version of the film but I would recommend anyone looking for it to search out the full-length German version which is over two hours long. The hour-long version is a US abbreviated one. Curiously this is a perfect film to appreciate the process of cutting that went on in the twenties and thirties to produce different versions for different audiences and for home-viewing because there are also two 9.5m versions extant (one a Super-Pathé of about fifty minutes and a regular Pathé-Baby of only 35 minutes.

It is not always the case that the longest version of a film is necessarily the best (the cult of the "director's cut" is often misguided) but, in the case, the cinematography is so excellent and the relatively slow pace so crucial to the unfolding of the story and to the sense of the passage of time that the two hour version is unquestionably the one to go for. The gentle, elliptical account of the developing relationship between Karl and Anna is beautifully done and worthy of the great master of ellipsis, Max Ophuls (as opposed to the fake master of ellipsis Ernest Lubitsch who used ellipsis from necessity in a US context).

If you have to learn German to watch, consider that a bonus.

"Heimkehr" it is a superb masterpiece, a beautiful and bitter film that depicts a love triangle during the World War I post-war period. It's an oeuvre that this German count likes particularly since he saw it during the Weimar era for the first time. In the film, Herr May's skilfulness and craftsmanship are showed superbly in many technical aspects. These include the developing of the film's love story that shows the prompt and personal consequences of the disasters of war that the main characters suffer. They are played by three very important German silent actors of that time, Herr Lars Hanson (Richard), Dame Dita Parlo ( her first film )(Anna) und Herr Gustav Fröhlich (Karl).

Remarkable use of camera-work is used in order to depict time passing inexorably and in different ways for their two main characters. Flashbacks and shots with combined images or in real time are incorporated with parallel stories that join together in a dramatic manner. Varying different sceneries, Hamburg and Siberia, are shown in a remarkable way with varied nuances. For example, the thrilling urban life of Hamburg is combined with the Anna's ordinary life in her neighborhood (an excellent example of those Weimar films where the hard daily nature are shown without false embellishments). Contrasting are the cold and deserted Siberian sceneries combined with the prisoners' hard labour in the mine. They match perfectly and dramatically for a story in where human basic impulses (those that this German aristocrat lacks) such as instinct for survival, sexual desire, becomes a major theme in this film.

Unfortunately it seems that this film only has survived in a very poor condition and this German count wouldn't mind to donate his fat heiress' fortunes in order to restore and clean up this nitrate. Then in would be possible to appreciate the full-length original quality of the magnificence of this film.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must to whip again his servants now that it's very homely here.

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