Shattered (1921 film)

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Shattered
Scherben.avi snapshot 00.56.37.jpg
Werner Krauss in Shattered
Directed by Lupu Pick
Written by Carl Mayer
Lupu Pick
Produced byLupu Pick
Starring Werner Krauss
Edith Posca
Hermine Straßmann-Witt
CinematographyFriedrich Weinmann
Music by Giuseppe Becce
Alexander Schirmann
Production
company
Rex-Film GmbH
Distributed byFilm Arts Guild
Release date
  • 27 May 1921 (1921-05-27)
Running time
50 minutes
CountryGermany
Language Silent film

Shattered (German : Scherben) is a 1921 German silent Kammerspielfilm directed by Lupu Pick, written by Carl Mayer, and is considered to be the earliest example of the kammerspielfilm. [1]

Contents

Plot

It is winter. A railway worker's family lives a monotonous and impoverished life next to a railway line. A telegram announces the arrival of an inspector who also intends to live with the family.

No sooner has he arrived than the railway worker's daughter succumbs to his temptations. Alerted by noises, the mother forces her way into the inspector's locked room with an axe and discovers her daughter. Shocked, she seeks solace in her faith and runs to a cross with a holy image at the edge of the woods, where she freezes to death while praying. The railway worker notices her absence the next morning, finds her dead, and is devastated.

The daughter begs the inspector for a marriage proposal, but he coldly rejects her. She then tells her father what happened. Politely, he knocks on the inspector's door, but when the inspector refuses to budge, he strangles him.

The next day, the railway worker stoically goes about his duties. He stops a train and confesses to the driver: "I am a murderer!" His daughter wanders around the snowy landscape, bewildered, and watches the train depart.

Cast

References

  1. Silberman, Marc (1995). German Cinema. Wayne State University Press. p. 253. ISBN   0814325602 . Retrieved 10 September 2012.