Das fidele Gefängnis

Fortunately the summer season has almost ended and consequently the aristocratic situation has returned to normal, having in mind the aristocrat's parameters, obviously…, so it's time to resume the exclusive silent season, now that this Herr Graf has returned from one of those luxurious spa retirements in Switzerland full of decrepit and sickly guests and where only horrible water is served. For that reason this Herr Von missed very much his silent films together with a cocktail in his hands, but now, happily the perfect atmosphere and depressed autumn mood is coming.

But meanwhile until the autumn cold and darkness knock at the Schloss door, why not watch a hilarious silent film as a contrast to the usual bad-tempered aristocratic mood of the whole year?... so the screening at the Schloss theatre of "Das Fidele Gefängnis", was an excellent choice.

It is an early Herr Ernst Lubitsch film so characteristic of the German period of that great German director; a mid-length oeuvre, full of irony and sarcasm depicting with a special Teutonic sense of humour the marital troubles of a German bourgeois couple.

Herr Lubitsch intertwined different characters in the story with three parallel situations ( the bourgeois couple, their maid and the admirer of the wife ). The characters will suffer particular adventures, from a typical decadent soirée to a particular Teutonic jail, until finally everything will be more or less settled.

The wicked and masterful irony of the German director that made him famous in the whole world, is demonstrated during the beginning of the film when an amazed wife is searching for her husband (who spent the night outside and alone) through the whole house with the help of her maid but without success; they check every room in vain when maliciously the maid suggests, with a wicked look, her own room; that's pure and unique Lubitsch's style, ja wohl!.

The film has many malicious and delicate misunderstandings so common in Herr Lubitsch early oeuvres; there is a chaotic soirée and a frantic ball. This is pure aristocratic Teutonic decadence, certainly.

"Das Fidele Gefängnis" it is not a great film but has many recognizable Herr Lubitsch elements much to the joy of silent film fans who admire the mastery of the German director ( perfect stars and supporting actors, careful designs, splendid cinematography ); a small picture of the German director, full of "joie de vivre", so necessary in Europe during the First World War, the time when the film was made.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must search through the Schloss for a Teutonic rich heiress.

Critics who write about Ernst Lubitsch's great romantic comedies often refer to the "European" flavor of his Hollywood work, so it's especially intriguing to view this recently rediscovered silent comedy Lubitsch made in his native Germany in 1917. Ein Fideles Gefängnis ("The Merry Jail") is an adaptation of the libretto from Johann Strauss' operetta Die Fledermaus, and while it lacks the sophistication and nuance of the director's mature work, it's an interesting film in its own right, distinctly different from the Hollywood product of the time -- or later, for that matter. In some respects, this movie looks primitive compared to concurrent American productions, but in others (such as the bluntly presented homosexuality of one character), it goes beyond anything Hollywood filmmakers, including Lubitsch himself, were permitted to explore for many years to come.

Even if you're unfamiliar with the Strauss operetta this adaptation may feel familiar, for it uses a frequently recycled plot device: this is the story of Alice, a rich but neglected wife, who disguises herself and follows her drunken playboy of a husband to a society gala, where she leads him on. Ignorant of her true identity, he flirts happily, unaware that he's contemplating an "extra-marital" affair with his own wife. (And he certainly must be blotto, as her disguise consists of little more than an evening gown and a Lone Ranger-style mask.) Meanwhile, other frolics are under way: there's a light-hearted flirtation between Alice and Egon Storch, the odd little man who admires her; there's outright carousing by Alice's maid and a sloshed aristocrat; and there's even more boisterous behavior by a drunken jailer named Quabbe towards various men who capture his fancy. Quabbe is played by Emil Jannings, whose makeup suggests Keystone comic Chester Conklin gone to seed. Even today, viewers might be startled when he kisses one inmate on the lips, strokes the arm of another, and tells the warden that he really, really likes him. This is a Merry Jail indeed! (But wouldn't "The Gay Jail" have been a better translation for the title?)

This movie paints a colorful but rather disturbing picture of Germany during the Great War. Film textbooks pay lots of attention to the postwar Weimar era silent classics such as Caligari and Nosferatu, and they are frequently screened and widely available, but it isn't often one encounters a German production produced during the war. No direct reference is made to the conflict, but during the masked ball it's noticeable that several of the dancing pairs are women, suggesting a lack of available men. It's also noticeable that most of the males we see are extremely drunk, suggesting an exhausted culture in search of alcoholic oblivion. Most of these characters are both privileged and idle, protected from having to serve in the military by their social positions. I wonder if this movie was seen by German soldiers, and how they felt about fighting for the sake of these frivolous people.

The acting technique on display in Ein Fideles Gefängnis is one of the film's drawbacks. The actors mug, over-react, and occasionally turn to the camera to rattle off silent speeches, a silly device one finds in such early comedy features as Mack Sennett's Tillie's Punctured Romance of 1914, but which most filmmakers outgrew by the late 'teens. An even bigger drawback is the leading man's sheer grossness. (And I don't mean his appearance.) Harry Liedtke, the actor who plays Alex Von Reizenstein, is not bad looking, but his character is totally unappealing. Who could care about this guy or his marriage? He's a spoiled, irresponsible, hopelessly wasted cad who vomits in his hat, bribes his wife to silence her complaints, and flirts shamelessly while claiming to be a bachelor -- although, frankly, he appears far too dissolute to actually consummate an affair. This guy isn't merely a naughty rogue, he's a slob, and his wife Alice the cheerful collector of bribes isn't much better. The most likable characters are Mizi the maid and funny little Egon Storch, two people who are at least candid about their desires, in contrast with Alex and Alice, whose relationship seems to be built entirely on deceit. The supporting players give this comedy its best moments.

At any rate, despite its flaws, this film provides a rare glimpse into a dying culture in its final days, and a fascinating introduction to a great director at the dawn of his career.

"The Merry Jail" is a primitive German farce from Ernst Lubitsch and a far cry from the director's sophisticated romantic comedies he later made in Hollywood, or even his later German features. Interestingly, however, the director would return to the same and similar material when adapting some of his earliest more sophisticated pictures in America, namely the very first such film, "The Marriage Circle" (1924), its remake "One Hour with You" (1932) and, in particular, "So This is Paris" (1926). All base their humor around flirting with marital infidelity and in the case of "The Merry Jail" and "So This is Paris," at least, around masquerade and mistaken identity, which was also a common theme in the rest of Lubitsch's German oeuvre, as well as part of some of the American pictures.

While credited as as adaptation of the Johann Strauss operetta "Die Fledermaus" ("The Bat," which refers to a costume worn in it) and released in Germany during the Great War, "The Merry Jail," which takes its title from the third act of the Strauss operetta, may have its origins traced back to France, one of the nations, of course, that Germany was at war with at that time. As Ben Brewster ("The Circle: Lubitsch and the Theatrical Farce Tradition," from "Film History") has detailed, "Die Fledermaus" was a German adaptation reset in Vienna, where it premiered, of the French play "La Réveillon" (the title referring to the French-style New Year's Eve party), which was set and opened in Paris, and which would later be credited as the source for Lubitsch and scriptwriter Hanns Kräly's 1926 adaptation "So This is Paris." While Brewster claims that "So This is Paris" more closely follows the plot of "Die Fledermaus," he suggests that it may've cited the Parisian play to either avoid rights issues or comparisons to "The Merry Jail," and 1917 surely wasn't an opportune time for a German film to credit the French even if Lubitsch were aware at the time of its Parisian origins. For the 1926 production, however, Paris was a convenient location to suggest sexual promiscuity, even though the place has no real relevance to the film's narrative. "One Hour with You" would later exploit Paris for the same purpose, whereas "The Marriage Circle" resorted to a title card in an attempt to justify its Viennese setting, claiming it "still the city of laughter and light romance." Yet, regardless of the locale, Lubitsch was bound to bring his own Berliner sensibilities to whatever production.

Although "The Marriage Circle" and "One Hour with You" are based on another play, which as Brewster points out, was a comedy-drama, rather than a farce like "La Réveillon," and concerned with the fallen woman problem (similar to Oscar Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan," which Lubitsch also adapted in 1925), they share similarities with "The Merry Jail" and "So This is Paris." All feature circular re-couplings surrounding a central married couple who reunite and, in general, as in the somewhat similar endings of this film and "The Marriage Circle," avoid moralizing the subject. "The Marriage Circle" even features a scene where the wife mistakes the other man for her husband, which is kind of a reversal of the masquerade of the wife in disguise to lure back her husband in this film and in "So This is Paris." In any event, dramatic irony based on characters' misconceptions is a device employed in all four films, as well as in other Lubitsch works. Unlike "So This is Paris," "The Marriage Circle" and "One Hour with You" also feature a similar cab scene to the one here, although in those films the characters share the ride, whereas here the driver leaves during the two's prolonged dispute. Additionally, the name Mizi, the maid in this one, is similar to the Mizzie/Mitzi name of the other woman in the other two films. I don't think there is a character with such a name in "So This is Paris," though. The final acts of the 1926 semi-remake, however, are quite similar to "The Merry Jail," as they also involve an arrest of the wrong man, due to the man's attempts to woo the other man's wife, while the husband goes to a ball and gets drunk, instead. And, again, the wife discovers where her husband is and wears a mask, tricking him into having an affair with his own wife. All of the films feature parties, too.

Lubitsch's sensibilities weren't as refined in 1917 as they later would be, and that's especially evident in the broad gesticulation and general mugging of the actors here. There's also quite a bit of positioning for them to appear in a frontal position before the generally-immobile camera. On the other hand, they do look as though they were having a good time, including future-Oscar-winner Emil Jannings as a drunk prison guard, with a fake mustache that makes him look like a Keystone Kop and who seems to rather enjoy kissing other men. The rest of the production is dated and theatrical, including title cards declaring the three-act structure, and even with the "opening up" of the play, it still mostly takes place within three interiors, although the extensive crosscutting helps to alleviate the staginess. A couple exceptions are the scene in the hat store, where the wife sees the other man, first, through his reflection in a mirror and, then, through a window; and the comical series of reverse-angle shots for when they argue over the taxi ride. The latter effect would be too showy for Lubitsch's later style, but the importance of looks, as in the former example, would become dominant, especially in the director's best silent films, such as "The Marriage Circle," "Lady Windermere's Fan" and "So This is Paris."

This is a two-reel silent comedy from Ernst Lubitsch early in his career--long before he left Germany for Hollywood. For an early film, the production values are very good. The sets and acting are just fine, though this REALLY confused me. After all, this movie came out in 1917--in the middle of WWI. Yet despite this, the film makes no mention of the war and everyone seems happy and well-fed--something that would NOT have mirrored Germany in 1917. About the only way you notice something is amiss is at the party. Some of the lady dancers are actually dancing with women dressed up as men! I assume this was due to a shortage of available able-bodied young men (most had been killed in the war or were serving at the front). So this film is very interesting from a historical standpoint.

Unfortunately, while this is a decent film, I must also admit that it isn't all that funny. It reminds me of a more sophisticated and cerebral version of a Sennett film. And while this isn't bad, it definitely could have used an infusion of a few more gags to liven it up a bit. This film is probably best seen by huge cinephiles (film lovers) who want to see an early film by Ernst Lubitsch to see what he was before he hit Hollywood.

"The Merry Jail", which now appears on the wonderful Criterion DVD edition of Ernst Lubitsch's comic masterpiece "Trouble In Paradise", serves as an

interesting introduction to the director's early years as a German silent film director and a first look at his handling of complex, comic relationships between men and women.

The roughly fifty minute film, involves a couple and their maid who all sneak off to the same party to rekindle, confront and find new love. It's not a great film by any stretch, and is often confusing with humor that is dated. However, the real treat of the film is the last fifteen minutes when Lubitsch ties together the stray threads of the story and ties them into (a not necessarily neat) bow.

For an introduction to Lubitsch's work, please stay away from this film and watch "Trouble In Paradise" or "The Shop Around The Corner", but to see the

beginnings of an influential director, "The Merry Jail" is an adequate classroom.

5/10