We watched another silent film last night—Der Müde Tod (Weary Death) from 1921. Wow. What a lovely movie. It is visually stunning, presumably because Fritz Lang directed it, and the special effects are amazing. (And not just “amazing for 1921,” but really great.) Sadly, as far as we can tell, the original musical score no longer survives. The edition we got our hands (inexplicably titled Destiny) had a replacement score based on German folk songs and contemporary film music, and we never knew the difference. There were also English replacements (in period-appropriate fonts) for the original German titles. It tells four stories—the bracketing main plot is about a young woman trying to convince Death to give her beloved back. She enters his domain and Death sets her the challenge of saving at least one of three other young men whose candles are about to flicker out. The film quality is less than ideal, which has the unfortunate effect of reducing some of the detail, and the story includes a little bit of rampant Orientalism and racism, but we found the story very gripping. There’s something particularly sad about watching German films from before the war: it’s hard not to think of how much of the world depicted, and of the artistic world behind it, no longer survives. Matt quoted me Johnny Cash’s line that “the culture of a thousand years is shattered with the clanging of a prison door behind you,” and I imagine something similar might be said (and probably has been said) about war. Anyway, here are some stills.
(Thanks to a Polish film blog, found at http://mojaoaza.blox.pl/html)
And I’m sure you’re all on tenterhooks to find out what our next card will be!
We have just drawn the Queen of Diamonds: identify seven species of tree in one area. (We had to veto an Ace because Matt is shopping classes this week.) Looks like we’re going for a hike! We’ll probably be spending some time in Mt. Auburn Cemetery
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