''Hohe Schule'', also known by its subtitle ''Das Geheimnis des Carlo Cavelli'' (
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
: ''The Secret of Cavelli'') is a 1934
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
Erich Engel
Erich Gustav Otto Engel (14 February 1891 – 10 May 1966) was a German film and theatre director.He is often confused with another German film director called Erich Engels, who specialised in comedy, and crime films.
Biography
Engel was ...
. The English-language version was released in the UK between 1935 and 1939, and in the US in 1939. An outstanding specimen of the genre of the ''
Wiener Film
Wiener Film (German; plural: ''Wiener Filme''; literally, "Viennese film") is an Austrian film genre, consisting of a combination of comedy, romance and melodrama in a historical setting, mostly, and typically, the Vienna of the late 19th and early ...
'', this story of love set in the Austrian officer classes was one of the most successful German-language film releases of 1935. The English-language version was released in the UK between 1935 and 1939, and in the US in 1939.
Plot
"Carlo Cavelli" is the professional name of a world-famous
dressage
Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...
rider (
Rudolf Forster
Rudolf Forster (30 October 1884 – 25 October 1968) was an Austrian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1914 and 1968. His autobiography ''Das Spiel, mein Leben'' was published by Propyläen Verlag in 1967. He was born in Grà ...
), who always wears a mask in his public performances and whose real name is unknown. He is about to appear in Vienna, which causes a sensation. At the dressage competition he comes to the attention of Irene von Ketterer (
Angela Salloker), a young woman who after a fight with her mother (
Camilla Gerzhofer
Camilla may refer to:
People
* Camilla (given name), including a list of people with the name
** Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), wife of King Charles III
Places
* Camilla, Georgia, a city in the United States
* Camilla Castle, an alternativ ...
) has gone to stay with a friend. She is so impressed with him that she decides that she too will become a dressage rider. After a time she manages to obtain personal tuition from the normally unapproachable Cavelli. At first their relationship is very friendly, but when he discovers the name of his pupil, Cavelli attempts to distance himself from her. This is because his life was totally changed by a duel in which he shot and killed his best friend's son, Franz, Irene's brother (
Paul von Hernried), an action the memory of which still tortures him. Nevertheless, after an interval, he acknowledges his great attraction to Irene and after establishing that her feelings for him are reciprocated, he decides to ask for her hand in marriage. At the same time however he also asks her to travel to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
with him the very next day.
Irene enthusiastically accepts and goes to her father's to gather her papers. While she is there, she comes across a photograph of Cavelli with her brother. When she asks her father, General von Ketterer (
Hans Homma
Hans Homma (1874–1943) was an Austrian stage and film actor. He also directed a number of silent films.
Homma was known for his work at Vienna's Burgtheater.Shand p.222
Filmography Actor
* ''Queen Draga'' (1920) - Dr. White
* ''The Hands of Or ...
), about it, he tells her the story of the duel in which Count Werffen, who later called himself Cavelli, killed her brother. When the general realises from what Irene says in her distress that this is the man who wants to marry her, he fetches his pistols in order to kill him. Only Irene's threat of suicide dissuades him.
Cavelli visits Irene's father that evening with three friends, who bring with them various documents from which it becomes clear that Irene's brother Franz had been unmasked as a spy and that Cavelli had only set up the duel to spare the von Ketterer family the shame of the otherwise inevitable
court martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
and execution. General von Ketterer accepts the truth of this and he and Cavelli are reconciled. The incriminating documents are burnt and the way stands open for Irene's marriage to Cavelli otherwise Count Werffen.
Background
The premiere took place on 31 December 1934 in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. The film went on general release in Germany after the
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
premiere in the ''Gloria-Palast'' on 24 January 1935 and in Austria after the Vienna premiere on 6 February 1935.
The song ''Das Herz von an echten Weaner'', sung by
Hans Moser as Brandler, Cavelli's servant, is based on the melody of ''Wien bleibt Wien''.
Other parts were played by:
Herbert Hübner
Herbert Hübner (6 February 1889 – 27 January 1972) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1921 and 1966. He was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) and died in Munich, Germany.
Selected fil ...
(Schott); Lisl Kinast (Flori Weidner);
Dinah Grace (dancer):
Alfred Neugebauer
Alfred Neugebauer (24 December 1888 – 14 September 1957) was an Austrian film actor.
Selected filmography
* ''Money in the Streets'' (1922)
* ''Money on the Street'' (1930)
* ''Madame Bluebeard'' (1931)
* '' Storm in a Water Glass'' (1931)
* '' ...
(von Radnigg); and Johannes Roth (clown)
Production
The film was produced by the Berlin production company
ABC-Film and shot in the
Rosenhügel and
Sievering Studios
Sievering Studios were film production studios located in Sievering, a suburb of the Austrian capital Vienna.
The studios were established in 1916 by the film pioneer Alexander Kolowrat for use by his Sascha-Film. After the First World War they f ...
of
Sascha-Film
Sascha-Film, in full Sascha-Filmindustrie AG and from 1933 Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG, was the largest Austrian film production company of the silent film and early sound film period.
History
The business was established in 1910 by Alexande ...
in October and November 1934. Because the film was shot in Austria, under the German film import quota regulations it counted as an Austrian production, but under the Austrian regulations it counted as a German film because the producers were German.
The sound system was that of
Tobis-Klangfilm. The set designer and builder was
Julius von Borsody
Julius von Borsody (8 April 1892 in Vienna – 18 January 1960, also in Vienna) was an Austrian film architect and one of the most employed set designers in the Austrian and German cinemas of the late silent and early sound film periods. His youn ...
.
The distribution was undertaken by the ''Neue Deutsche Lichtspiel-Syndikat'' (N.D.L.S.) in Berlin and by Huschak & Co. in Vienna. The film was promoted by the producers, ABC-Film of Berlin, and by the Viennese ''
Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie''.
Censor's decisions and versions
In Germany the film was checked by the censors on 21 December 1934 and forbidden for children's viewing. At its first showing in Germany the film was 2,468 metres long, in Austria 2,500 metres. Today the film is available for viewing to those aged 16 and over. (FSK)
Reception
Writing for ''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' in 1936,
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
gave the film a generally poor review, noting that although he has a general fondness for
Rudolph Foster's films of gentility and breeding, this film showcased "breeding
..gone berserk". By way of an illustration, Greene highlighted the scene of the Count's riding act where the immensely mustachioed and overpoweringly noble Count dances his horse delicately on hoof-tip, characterizing it as "indescribably absurd".
[ (reprinted in: )]
Notes
References
*
External links
*
filmportal.de: Hohe Schule
{{DEFAULTSORT:Secret of Cavelli
1934 films
Austrian black-and-white films
Films directed by Erich Engel
Wiener Film
Films about horses
Films shot at Sievering Studios
1930s German-language films
Films shot at Rosenhügel Studios
Austrian drama films
1934 drama films
1930s German films