''The Lost Shadow'' (German: ''Der verlorene Schatten'') is a 1921 German

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

directed by

Rochus Gliese Rochus Gliese (6 January 1891 — 22 December 1978) was a German actor, director, production designer, and Academy Award-nominated art director of early films from the 1910s and 1920s. He was born in Berlin. He is most remembered in the Uni ...

and starring

Paul Wegener Paul Wegener (11 December 1874 – 13 September 1948) was a German actor, writer, and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema. Acting career At the age of 20, Wegener decided to end his law studies and conce ...

Wilhelm Bendow Wilhelm Bendow (29 September 1884 – 29 May 1950) was a German film actor who appeared in many films during his career. Bendow made his debut in the 1913 film '' Aus eines Mannes Mädchenzeit''.Elsässer p.106 Selected filmography * '' Lust for ...

and

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 ...

. The cinematographer was

Karl Freund Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. (; January 16, 1890 – May 3, 1969) was a German Bohemian and American cinematographer and film director. He is best known for photographing ''Metropolis'' (1927), ''Dracula'' (1931), and television's ''I Love Lucy'' (1 ...

. 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 ...

Kurt Richter Kurt Paul Otto Joseph Richter (24 November 1900 – 29 December 1969) was a German chess International Master (IM) and chess writer. Chess career In 1922, Richter for the first time won the Berlin City Chess Championship. In 1928, he tied fo ...

. It was shot at the

Tempelhof Studios The Tempelhof Studios are a film studio located in Tempelhof in the German capital of Berlin. They were founded in 1912, during the silent era, by German film pioneer Alfred Duskes, who built a glass-roofed studio on the site with financial back ...

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 ...

. For some reason, the film was only released in the US in 1928. It is today considered a lost film. This film was a remake of sorts of Paul Wegener's 1913 film ''The Student of Prague'', which he had starred in, only this time giving the story a happy ending. The screenplay also incorporated the legend of the famed violinist

Niccolò Paganini Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; ; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices ...

who was said to have murdered his wife and imprisoned her soul in his violin. Director Gliese had previously designed the sets for Wegener's 1915 film ''The Golem'', and later directed Wegener in ''The Golem and the Dancing Girl'' in 1917. He later also worked as a costume designer on Wegener's 1920 film ''The Golem: How He Came into the World''. Thus Gliese was the only person to collaborate on all three of Wegener's "Golem" movies. The film co-starred

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 ...

, who later starred in

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 ...

's ''

Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' () is a 1922 silent film, silent German Expressionism (cinema), German Expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau from a screenplay by Henrik Galeen. It stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who ...

'' (1922). Cameraman Karl Freund later emigrated to the US and worked on many of the classic 1930s Universal horror films, including ''Dracula'', ''Mad Love'' and Karloff's ''The Mummy''.Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). ''Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era''. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 240..

Plot

A homely but brilliant violinist named Sebaldus (Wegener) makes a bargain with a mysterious stranger (Sturm). He trades his shadow for the love of a young woman whom he is attracted to, and a magic violin. When the woman sees he has no shadow, she becomes terrified and enters a convent. The local townspeople run him out of town, thinking he is possessed. In the end, however, Sebaldus uses the magic violin to play a wonderful melody and the woman he loves returns and falls in love with him.

Cast

as Sebaldus, der Stadtmusikant *

as Vetter Theobald *

as Äbtissin *

Hedwig Gutzeit Hedwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Hedwig (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Grzegorz Hedwig (born 1988), Polish slalom canoeist * Johann Hedwig, (1730–1799), German botanist * Romanu ...

as Frau des Bürgermeisters *

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 Bürgermeister *

Lyda Salmonova Lyda Salmonova (born Ludmila Vilemina Anna Salmonova; 14 July 1889 – 7 November 1968) was a Czech stage and film actress who appeared primarily in German films. She was married to the actor Paul Wegener and appeared alongside him in a number of ...

as Dorotheas Pflegeschwester Barbara *

Werner Schott Werner Schott (20 November 1891, in Berlin – 6 September 1965) was a German actor. Selected filmography * ''Gefesselt'' (1920) - Allan * ''Das vierte Gebot'' (1920) - Weltpriester Eduard * ''Wie Satan starb'' (1920) * ''Golgatha'' (1920) - Jos ...

as Graf Durande *

as Gräfin Dorothea Durande *

Hans Stürm Hans Stürm (1874–1933) was a German actor, screenwriter and playwright. He worked with the director Richard Eichberg on a number of films either in acting of scripting roles.Paietta p. 64 His stage play ''The Unfaithful Eckehart'' was turned int ...

as Zauberkünstler Dapertutto

References

Bibliography

* Eric Rentschler. ''German Film & Literature''. Routledge, 2013.

External links

* 1921 films 1920s fantasy films German fantasy films Films of the Weimar Republic Films directed by Rochus Gliese German silent feature films UFA GmbH films German black-and-white films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios 1921 lost films Lost German films Lost fantasy films 1920s German films {{1920s-Germany-silent-film-stub