Der getäuschte Pierrot - 1917
ABOUT THE FILM : Der getäuschte Pierrot
Filmmuseum MünchenThe Cuckolded Pierrot
Year: 1917
Pierrot searches for his Columbine who is being embraced by the handsome Harlequin. This tinted film without intertitles charmingly retells the well-known story of the amorous trio.
Playing the clavichord, Columbine sends Pierrot to sleep. She is as graceful as he is noisily snoring. His head nods backwards. Seduced by Harlequin's advances, the young woman disappears faster than her shadow.
Taking his inspiration from the Munich tradition of illustrated broadsheets, Ludwig von Wich developed a unique new shadow play technique. The white screen was illuminated from behind. The objects and actors appeared as shadows on the screen.
Nationality: German
Length: 6' 20"
Genre: fiction
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: tinted
Producer: Münchner Kunstfilm Peter Ostermayr
Composer: Antonio Coppola (2008)
Original language: German
A BRIEF HISTORY : Der getäuschte Pierrot
Produced in the middle of the First World War, this animated film takes up the story of Pierrot and Columbine, a standard of the Commedia dell’arte. The ingenuous and affectionate Columbine allows herself to be seduced by Harlequin.
Little is known about the work of Ludwig von Wich. The name of the Munich-based painter appears in the early 1920s as a decorator for the silent films of the Emelka company. The only document that provides information about the production of Getäuschte Pierrot is an article that appeared in the magazine Der Kinematograph:
"Mr von Wich the painter, who has already made a name for himself with his black and white creations, has produced this shadow show, and has been sufficiently intelligent and prudent to legally protect his work. You may think that he has had his actors play in front of a screen that is illuminated from behind. Yet these silhouettes appear in black and white and are of such grace and finesse that one can almost smell the perfume and touch the moonbeams.
The graceful play of this pleasant little commedia dell’arte, the serene and generous corpulence of Pantaloon, the weakness and beauty of Columbine, the impudence of Pantaloon and the bitter melancholy of Pierrot: all this contributes to a dance inspired with a marvellous limpid beauty, which touches the heart, such that its effect exceeds the simple artistic meaning."
Peter Ostermayr (1882-1967) was a pioneer of the German film industry. He founded the Munich film industry and became a central figure of the Emelka company (M.L.K for Münchner Lichtspielkunst), later to become Bavaria Film AG. Der Getäuschte Pierrot was the prelude to a whole series of shadow films of a length of 200 metres, destined "especially for secondary programmes" and which "given their inoffensive charm, procured true artistic pleasure." However, there are no traces remaining to suggest that the series was continued.
This film comes from the collections of the Filmmuseum München.
The original music for this film was composed by Antonio Coppola in 2008.
