''Marizza'' (full title ''Marizza, called the Smuggler Madonna'', german: Marizza, genannt die Schmugglermadonna) is a 1922 silent

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

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 ...

directed by

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 th ...

. The film is considered to be

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

, though the

Cineteca Nazionale Cineteca Nazionale is a film archive located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1949. By law it manages the so-called legal deposit, with the task of collecting, preserving and disseminating the productions of Italian cinema. It is the only Italian ...

film archive possesses a fragmentary print of the first reel. It was shot at the

Johannisthal Studios The Johannisthal Studios were film studios located in the Berlin area of Johannisthal. Founded in 1920 on the site of a former airfield, they were a centre of production during the Weimar and Nazi eras. Nearly four hundred films were made at Joha ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art director

Heinrich Richter Heinrich Richter (1884–1981) was a German painter and art director.Soister p.122 He designed the sets for more than a hundred films during his career. Selected filmography * ''The Confessions of the Green Mask'' (1916) * ''The Sensational Tr ...

Plot

Marizza (Tzwetta Tzatschewa) is a beautiful young woman who works as a potato-picker on a farm owned by an old woman, Yelina (Maria Forescu). They are forced to sell their potatoes to Pietro Scarzella (Leonhard Haskel), a wealthy merchant who has a monopoly on the potato market and takes advantage of all the farmers. To avoid the low prices Scarzella offers, Yelina often sells her potatoes to smugglers. Marizza flirts with smugglers Mirko (Albrecht Viktor Blum) and Grischuk (Max Nemetz) so they will take Yelina's crop. The local police officer, Haslinger (Toni Zimmerer), loves Marizza and is too distracted by her to stop the smugglers. Marizza takes a new job on a farm owned by an impoverished aristocrat, Mrs. Avricolos (Adele Sandrock). Mrs. Avricolos has two sons, the fiery and impulsive Christo (Harry Frank) and the dreamy and scholarly Antonino (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski). Both men fall for Marizza. However, Sadja (Greta Schröder), Scarzella's daughter, is in love with Christo, and if they marry it will save the bankrupt Avricolos farm from Scarzella, to whom Mrs. Avricolos owns a great deal of money. When Mrs. Avricolos finds Marizza talking to Christo in his bedroom late one night, she throws Marizza off the premises. Marizza runs off with Antonino, while Christo agrees to marry Sadja. Mrs. Avricolos hires Mirko and Grischuk to find the runaway lovers. The smugglers find the two living in a frontier village. Both are near starvation and Marizza has an infant. Haslinger, newly appointed to the frontier town, spots Mirko and Grischuk and tries to arrest them. Marizza flirts with Haslinger to distract him while Mirko and Grischuk get away. Overcome with jealousy, Antonino attempts to kill Haslinger. To save Antonino from life in prison for assaulting an officer, Marizza kills Haslinger. More police arrive just after the murder. Antonino tells the police that he killed Haslinger, and is thrown in prison anyway. To save himself, Mirko tells the police that Scarzella is the brains behind the smuggling operation, and Scarzella is arrested. Marizza returns to her home village with her child, and leaves it with Yelina. When soldiers arrive to burn the cottages of all the smugglers, they set fire to Yelina's home as well. Sadja warns Marizza, who flees into the burning house to save her baby. Christo rescues them both.

Cast

Tzwetta Tzatschewa Tzwetta Tzatschewa ( bg, Цвета Цачева, 27 December 1900 – 12 December 1975), also known as Manja Tzatschewa, was a Bulgarian film actress of the silent era.Lotte H. Eisner (1964) ''Murnau''. Ramsay. p. 241 Selected filmography * ...

as Marizza *

Adele Sandrock Adele Sandrock (; born Adele Feldern-Förster; 19 August 1863 – 30 August 1937) was a German-Dutch actress. After a successful theatrical career, she became one of the first German movie stars. Early life Sandrock was born in Rotterdam, Ne ...

as Mrs. Avricolos *

Harry Frank Harry Frank (15 October 1896 – 12 December 1947) was a German actor. Selected filmography * '' In den Goldfeldern von Nevada'' (1920) * '' Das wandernde Bild'' (1920) * ''The Wandering Image'' (1920) * '' Four Around a Woman'' (1921) * '' The ...

as Christo *

Hans Heinrich von Twardowski Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (5 May 1898 – 19 November 1958) was a German film actor. Career in Germany Twardowski was born in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin in Poland). He made his first film appearance in the 1920 Robert Wiene-directed horr ...

as Antonino *

Leonhard Haskel Leonhard Haskel (7 April 1872 – 30 December 1923) was a German stage and film actor and drama teacher. Haskel was born in Seelow, in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, and died in Berlin. Selected filmography * ''Europe, General Deliver ...

as Pietro Scarzella *

Greta Schröder Greta Schröder (27 June 1892 – 8 June 1980) was a German actress. She is best known for the role of Thomas Hutter's wife and Count Orlok's victim in ''Nosferatu'' (1922). In the fictionalized 2000 film ''Shadow of the Vampire'', she is port ...

as Sadja, Scarzella's daughter *

Maria Forescu Maria Forescu (15 January 1875 28 October 1947) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian opera singer and film actress. During the silent and talkies era of the German cinema, she appeared in several movies as a supporting actress. When Adolf Hitl ...

as Old Yelina *

Albrecht Viktor Blum Albrecht ("noble", "bright") is a given name or surname of German origin and may refer to: First name *Albrecht Agthe, (1790–1873), German music teacher *Albrecht Altdorfer, (c. 1480–1538) German Renaissance painter *Albrecht Becker, (1906� ...

as Mirko Vasics *

Max Nemetz Max Nemetz (7 September 1886 – 2 July 1971) was a German film and stage actor. He is best known for the role of the Captain in the 1922 silent film ''Nosferatu''. Filmography as actor: *1921: ''The Graveyard of the Living'' *1921: '' Ma ...

as Grischuk *

Toni Zimmerer Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name. In Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Finnish, it is a masculine given name used as a short form of the names derived from Antonius like Antonio, Ante or Anttoni. In Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegi ...

as Gendarme Haslinger

References

External links

* {{F. W. Murnau 1922 films 1922 drama films Films of the Weimar Republic German silent feature films German black-and-white films Films directed by F. W. Murnau Lost German films German drama films Films shot at Johannisthal Studios Silent drama films 1920s German films