Die Pratermizzi (literally, "Mizzi of the

Prater The Prater is a 6 km² public park in Vienna's 2nd district, Leopoldstadt. The name "Prater" is often used to refer to the Wurstelprater, an amusement park within the area. History Royal hunting ground The Prater was first documented in ...

") is an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

silent

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

Gustav Ucicky Gustav Ucicky (6 July 1899 – 27 April 1961) was an Austrians, Austrian film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He was one of the more successful directors in Austria and Germany from the 1930s through to the early 1960s. His work cov ...

in 1926, released in January 1927, and starring

Anny Ondra Anny Ondra (born Anna Sophie Ondráková; 15 May 1903 – 28 February 1987) was an Austrian (German) and Czech film actress. She began her career in 1920 and appeared in Czech, German, Austrian, French and English films. In 1933, she married ...

Igo Sym Karol Juliusz "Igo" Sym (3 July 1896 – 7 March 1941) was a Polish actor and collaborator with Nazi Germany. He was killed in Warsaw by members of the Polish resistance movement. Early career Sym was born in Innsbruck, the son of Anton Sym, ...

and

Nita Naldi Nita Naldi (born Mary Nonna Dooley; In this reference Naldi's birth name Nonna is mistakenly cited “Donna”. Naldi's birthname in this reference is also incorrectly cited as “Donna”. November 13, 1894 – February 17, 1961) was an Ameri ...

. The film was long believed lost until its rediscovery in 2005. The film's

art direction 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 super ...

was by

Artur Berger Artur Semyonovich Berger (, ; 27 May 1892 – 11 January 1981) was an Austrian-Soviet film architect and set designer. He was active in Austria between 1920 and 1936, during which time he worked on about 30 feature films. In 1936 Arthur Berger ...

and

Emil Stepanek Emil Stepanek (21 February 1895 – 12 April 1945) was an Austrian set designer and film architect. Biography Stepanek was born in Vienna, the son of a carpenter, and received a training in stage set construction, in which he worked for severa ...

. This was the last major film role of Nita Naldi, whose career did not survive the advent of the talkies.

Plot

Marie, a cashier in the tunnel of love ''Zum Walfisch'' on the Prater in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and Baron Christian von B. fall in love, but their relationship is disrupted by the willful involvement of the dancer Valette, who always wears a mask. Christian eventually follows Valette to Paris. When he tears the golden mask from her face he is shocked to discover that she is disfigured by a disease. He returns to Vienna with the intention of putting an end to his life, but at the last minute Marie is able to save him. The ride through the tunnel of love is associated in this film with the journey into one's own self.

Cast

as Freiherr Christian von B. *

as Marie *

as Valette, the dancer with the mask *Hedy Pfundmayr as the dancer's double *

Carl Götz Carl Goetz (10 April 1862 – 15 August 1932) was an Austrian stage actor, stage and film actor. He appeared in around seventy films during the silent film, silent and early sound eras. Goetz was of a Jewish background.Prawer p.213 He is particul ...

as Herr von Z. *

Ferdinand Leopoldi Ferdinand Leopoldi, real name Ferdinand Israel Kohn (20 August 1886 – 20 December 1944) was an Austrian pianist, hit composer and cabaret manager. Life Born in Vienna, Leopoldi was the eldest son of the musician Leopold Kohn (the official ch ...

as Adam Lorenz Stingl, owner of the tunnel of love *

Hugo Thimig Hugo August Thimig (16 June 1854 – 24 September 1944) was a German actor, director, and the director of the '' Burgtheater'' in Vienna. Biography Thimig was the founding father of one of Austria's most famous theatrical families, but was ...

as Matthias Veitschberger

History of the film

In 2005 a print of the ''Pratermizzi'' on a base of the inflammable

cellulose nitrate Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

was discovered in the archives of the ''

Centre national de la cinématographie Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

''. It was successfully copied and restored in time to be shown at the opening of Prater Film Festival the same year. Excerpts from the film were published by the

Filmarchiv Austria The Filmarchiv Austria ("Austrian Film Archive") is an organisation for the discovery, reconstruction and preservation of Austrian film record material: films themselves, literature about film and cinema, or film-related periodicals. With over 260 ...

on the DVD "Der Wiener Prater im Film" in July 2005.

References

Sources and external links

*
Österreichisches Filmarchiv

Stummfilm.at
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratermizzi, Die 1926 films 1927 films 1926 drama films Austrian black-and-white films Austrian silent feature films Films directed by Gustav Ucicky Films set in Vienna Wiener Film 1920s rediscovered films 1927 drama films Rediscovered Austrian films Silent romantic comedy films Silent Austrian drama films 1920s German films 1920s German-language films