''Der Müller und sein Kind'' (''The Miller and His Child'') is a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

released in 1911 and is the oldest

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n drama film to survive in its entirety. It was produced by the ''Österreichisch-Ungarische Kinoindustrie'', which later in 1911 changed its name to the

Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie Wiener Kunstfilm, in full Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie (English language, English: "Vienna Art Film Industry"), was the first major Austrian film production company. Founded in 1910 in film, 1910 as the Erste österreichische Kinofilms-Industrie, it ...

. The same company had filmed the same plot the previous year, but no footage from that earlier version survives. The film is based on the late Romantic supernatural melodrama by German

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Ernst Raupach Ernst Benjamin Salomo Raupach (21 May 178418 March 1852) was a German dramatist. Biography He was born at Straupitz ( pl, Strupice), near Liegnitz in Silesia, a son of the village pastor. He attended the gymnasium at Liegnitz, and studied theol ...

, a very popular work that was first performed to great acclaim in 1830 at the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Thereafter it was performed in many theatres at Halloween well into the 20th century. The film had its premiere on 21 October 1911 in Vienna. According to the producers the film had a length of around 600 metres, on 35 mm

nitrate film Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

. The drama was filmed in 19 scenes, and at a projection speed of 16 frames per second, common in early silent films, lasted 21 minutes and 50 seconds. Although the

Filmarchiv Austria The Filmarchiv Austria ("Austrian Film Archive") is an organisation for the discovery, reconstruction and preservation of Austrian film record material: films themselves, literature about film and cinema, or film-related periodicals. With over 260, ...

, which preserves the film, has 150 metres less, the action of the film is nevertheless complete, although the ends of the individual reels are too abrupt, and the end of scene 19 is missing. Technical direction was by

Joseph Delmont Joseph Delmont (8 May 1873 as Josef Pollak in Loiwein, Austria – 12 March 1935 in Píšťany, Slovakia) was an Austrian film director of some 200 films, largely shorts, in which he was noted for his innovative use of beasts of prey. He was ...

, later a director of animal films and crime films, who among other things operated the camera by hand crank.

Plot

Konrad, a poor

miller A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...

's son, wants to marry Marie, the daughter of a rich miller. Marie's father, who is a

widower A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...

, is malicious and avaricious, and he tricks the young lovers in a despicable way. The imminent demise of the miller and his innocent daughter is foreshadowed by the appearance of the bird of death and the graveyard ghost.

Cast

* Max Bing as Konrad, son of a poor miller *Else Heller as rich miller's daughter Marie *Theodor Weiß as rich miller *Ernst Lunzer as the landlord *Herr Ludwig as the priest

Notes

External links

* Fritz, Walter, 1997: ''Im Kino erlebe ich die Welt – 100 Jahre Kino und Film in Österreich''. Vienna: Christian Brandstätter * 1911 films 1911 drama films Austrian silent short films Austrian drama films Austrian black-and-white films Films shot in Austria Austrian films based on plays 1911 short films Austro-Hungarian films Silent drama films {{Austria-film-stub