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Voidsville Follies

Works from Carl Mayer (4)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Robert Wiene (director)
Willy Hameister (cinematographer)
Carl Mayer (writer)
Hans Janowitz (writer)
Werner Krauss (lead)
Conrad Veidt (lead)
Friedrich Feher (lead)
Lil Dagover (lead)
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (lead)
Decla (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Feb 1920
Minutes: 72

“Mother Of All Noir”? “The Big Source”? Whatever you call it, no denying that this is like so Noirsville. Music for this 1996 restoration is by Timothy Brock.

Featured elements:

: abstraction; alter ego; carnival; chase; crime; detective; flashback; manipulator; mind control; narration; noir; psycho; rescue; unreliable narrator

Shattered (Scherben)

Lupu Pick (cameo/director/writer)
Carl Mayer (writer)
Friedrich Weinmann (cinematographer)
Werner Krauss (lead)
Edith Posca (lead)
Hermine Straßmann-Witt (lead)
Paul Otto (lead)

Language: Silent, German titles, English and French subtitles, released in May 1921
Minutes: 61

Though neither entertaining nor enlightening, still a somewhat interesting experiment in minimalist melodrama.

Featured elements:

: agent of discontent; alienation; family; forsaken; homme fatale; melodrama; neglected spouse; revenge; train

New Years Eve (Sylvester)

Lupu Pick (director)
Carl Mayer (writer)
Karl Hasselmann (cinematographer)
Guido Seeber (cinematographer)
Eugen Klöpfer (lead)
Edith Posca (lead)
Frida Richard (lead)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Jan 1924
Minutes: 57

A collection of largely unintelligible disjointed fragments, linked by frequent blackouts. Don't know if this was intentional, or the result of the ravages of time. Shame, because the central conflict (only fully revealed after 30 minutes) held potential interest.

Featured elements:

: abstraction; boozy-woozy; catfight; family; mama's boy; melodrama

Der Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh)

F.W. Murnau (director)
Carl Mayer (writer)
Karl Freund (cinematographer)
Emil Jannings (lead)
Emilie Kurz (lead)
Georg John (lead)
Erich Pommer (producer)
UFA (production)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Dec 1924
Minutes: 88

There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear. Stunning on first view, this lingers in the mind, then gets even better when seen again.

Featured elements:

: aging; forsaken; melodrama; metatheatre; modernism; social commentary; urbanization

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