''Marizza'' (full title ''Marizza, called the Smuggler Madonna'', ) is a 1922 silent

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also 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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

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 is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era. An e ...

. The film is considered to be lost, 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 Johan ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

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 as Marizza *

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

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 hor ...

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 Ellen Hutter, Thomas Hutter's wife and the cause of Count Orlok's destruction in ''Nosferatu'' (1922). In the fictionalized 2000 film ''Sha ...

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 Hitle ...

as Old Yelina *

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 used in several European countries as well as among individuals with ancestry from these countries outside Europe. In Spanish language, Spanish, Italian language, Italian, Croatian language, Croatian an ...

as Gendarme Haslinger *

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, (190 ...

as Mirko Vasics

References

External links

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

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links