Destiny (1921)
(Der müde Tod)
Country: GER
Technical: bw 105m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Bernhard Goetzke
Synopsis:
A pair of young lovers are parted by Death, and she pleads for the life of her beloved, wagering on the outcomes of three analogous stories from across the ages.
Review:
An early Lang effort, this Death and the Maiden fable takes as its premise the Song of Solomon quotation: 'Love is stronger than Death'. After a slow start, the bulk of the film concerns itself with three lives about to reach their term, though in reality the time context of the Arabian, Italian and Chinese settings for these stories make such an idea hard to sustain. They are each of them pacy, colourful, and at times witty, forays, however, featuring the same actors in their allotted roles, although the outcomes seem a foregone conclusion (the heroine presumably is thought to be resisting Death through the efforts of her three doughty avatars). In the end, she attempts to convince beggar and invalid alike to relinquish their meagre existence to redeem her lover's life, but all vehemently refuse (one of many glimpses of Lang's favoured character types: eccentric, despotic, egotistical, dissipated; youth definitely has a claim on innocence).
(Der müde Tod)
Country: GER
Technical: bw 105m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Bernhard Goetzke
Synopsis:
A pair of young lovers are parted by Death, and she pleads for the life of her beloved, wagering on the outcomes of three analogous stories from across the ages.
Review:
An early Lang effort, this Death and the Maiden fable takes as its premise the Song of Solomon quotation: 'Love is stronger than Death'. After a slow start, the bulk of the film concerns itself with three lives about to reach their term, though in reality the time context of the Arabian, Italian and Chinese settings for these stories make such an idea hard to sustain. They are each of them pacy, colourful, and at times witty, forays, however, featuring the same actors in their allotted roles, although the outcomes seem a foregone conclusion (the heroine presumably is thought to be resisting Death through the efforts of her three doughty avatars). In the end, she attempts to convince beggar and invalid alike to relinquish their meagre existence to redeem her lover's life, but all vehemently refuse (one of many glimpses of Lang's favoured character types: eccentric, despotic, egotistical, dissipated; youth definitely has a claim on innocence).
(Der müde Tod)
Country: GER
Technical: bw 105m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Bernhard Goetzke
Synopsis:
A pair of young lovers are parted by Death, and she pleads for the life of her beloved, wagering on the outcomes of three analogous stories from across the ages.
Review:
An early Lang effort, this Death and the Maiden fable takes as its premise the Song of Solomon quotation: 'Love is stronger than Death'. After a slow start, the bulk of the film concerns itself with three lives about to reach their term, though in reality the time context of the Arabian, Italian and Chinese settings for these stories make such an idea hard to sustain. They are each of them pacy, colourful, and at times witty, forays, however, featuring the same actors in their allotted roles, although the outcomes seem a foregone conclusion (the heroine presumably is thought to be resisting Death through the efforts of her three doughty avatars). In the end, she attempts to convince beggar and invalid alike to relinquish their meagre existence to redeem her lover's life, but all vehemently refuse (one of many glimpses of Lang's favoured character types: eccentric, despotic, egotistical, dissipated; youth definitely has a claim on innocence).