Short and Sweet
Fräulein Else is a famous German silent film by Paul Czinner, based on the novella of the same name by Arthur Schnitzler. Under Czinner’s direction, his future wife Elisabeth Bergner plays the leading role. The respectable Else Thalhof receives a letter from her mother stating that her father is in great financial distress due to stock market speculation and asks Else to request a loan from the wealthy art dealer Dorsday. Dorsday is willing to help the family, on the condition that he gets to see Else naked…
About:
“Fräulein Else” was Elisabeth Bergner’s final silent film. Her co-star Albert Steinrück, who was already seriously ill, gave his farewell performance before the camera here, unable to complete his role, and passed away four weeks before the premiere. The film was shot during the winter of 1928/29 at the Ufa studios in Berlin, with exterior scenes filmed in Vienna and St. Moritz. One of the three cinematographers, Karl Freund, became famous and immediately departed for Hollywood after completing his work on this film in early 1929.
“Fräulein Else” was awarded the distinction of being “artistic” and premiered on March 8, 1929, at the Capitol Theater in Berlin. The film sets were designed by Erich Kettelhut, who also worked on “Metropolis.” Director Paul Czinner’s deliberate omission of all noisy, theatrical effects allowed him to explore his effects with subtle, dramatic means. He mastered the art of retardations: it was superbly done how Elisabeth Bergner (as Fräulein Else) hesitates to confront the brutal man, follows him, turns away, approaches again, disappears behind a pillar, advances a few steps again – until their eventual encounter feels almost like a dramatic release. Czinner employs the same techniques in the film’s climax, as the protagonist enters the art dealer’s room, fails to find him, pursues him – while the poison slowly consumes her vitality. Bergner emerges as a great interpreter of emotional subtleties, delicate nuances of the spirit fleeting by, a person who with rare artistry expresses her innermost self. Her expression speaks with incomprehensible clarity of the sorrow and joy of her soul.
Musical Score:
Die musical version by Wilfried Kaets for solo organ (alternative version for piano) explores the spirit of the late bourgeois atmosphere, sometimes sliding into the sentimental yet “quiet” ambiance, by incorporating new melodies, harmonies, and sounds. It remains faithful to both the spirit of the late 1920s silent film era and the mood found in Arthur Schnitzler’s literary source material.
In the 1920s, the wealthy society engaged in wild dances like the Charleston, Dixie, or carefree folk songs against romantic mountain scenery during winter vacations in the fashionable St. Moritz, almost as if “dancing on the edge of a volcano in the face of the emerging crisis.”
Alongside these scenes, “musical demons” lurk through noisy sounds penetrating the ears of cinema-goers, gradually disrupting the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic order of the period between the end of World War I and the Great Depression.
This creates an intriguing balance between “old images” and “new sounds,” not merely juxtaposed against or counter to the film, but harmoniously intertwined in a dramaturgically coherent manner, in line with historical silent film music practices.
New musical arrangements for organ, extensive percussion, and live electronics by Wilfried Kaets achieve this dynamic blend.