''Elisabeth and the Fool'' (German: ''Elisabeth und der Narr'') is a 1934 German
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Thea von Harbou
Thea Gabriele von Harbou (27 December 1888 – 1 July 1954) was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director, and actress. She is remembered as the screenwriter of the science fiction film classic ''Metropolis'' (1927) and for the 192 ...
and starring
Hertha Thiele
Hertha Thiele (8 May 1908 – 5 August 1984) was a German actress. She is noted for her starring roles in then controversial stage plays and films produced during Germany's Weimar Republic and the early years of the Third Reich. After the post-w ...
,
Theodor Loos
Theodor August Konrad Loos (18 May 1883 – 27 June 1954) was a German actor.
The son of a watchmaker and instruments manufacturer, he left secondary school prematurely and worked for three years at an export firm for music instruments in L ...
and
Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Friedrich Rudolf Klein (24 November 1885 – 29 May 1955), better known as Rudolf Klein-Rogge, was a German film actor, best known for playing sinister figures in films in the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a mainstay in director Fritz Lang's ...
.
[Dixon & Foster p.154] The film was the directing debut of Harbou, who was known for her screenplays for directors such as
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
and
F. W. Murnau
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter.
He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at t ...
. Filming began on 12 October 1933 in
Meersburg and the
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...
area. The film's sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
s
Kurt Dürnhöfer and
Walter Reimann
Walter Reimann (2 June 1887 – 8 November 1936) was a German painter and art director. He was an Expressionist and member of the group of artists associated with Zurich magazine, Der Sturm. He worked on the production design of a number of film ...
. The film premiered on 24 January 1934.
Synopsis
It tells the story of a young woman at a girls'
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
connected to a
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
, and the intrigues caused by a man who is obsessed with the monastery's
organ.
Cast
References
Bibliography
* Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. ''The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books, 2009.
* Dixon, Wheeler Winston & Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. ''A Short History of Film''. Rutgers University Press, 2013.
External links
*
1934 films
Films directed by Thea von Harbou
Films of Nazi Germany
German drama films
1930s German-language films
German black-and-white films
1934 drama films
1934 directorial debut films
1930s German films
{{1930s-Germany-film-stub