DIE CHAPLIN-QUELLE | DER KLEINE MUCK

SUN, 5. SEP

6.30 PM
Introduction by Norbert Aping entitled ‘Chaplin comes to Germany’

7.30 PM FILMS

Followed by a discussion with Norbert Aping

»The Cure« (Die Chaplin-Quelle) | LIVE MUSIC Richard Siedhoff (Piano) | Mykyta Sierov (Oboe) // DCP format | black and white | USA | 1917 | 25 min | age 6+ 

It was not until three years after the First World War that it became possible to import American productions again, so Chaplin’s The Cure (Die Chaplin Quelle) only hit German screens in 1921. Chaplin’s prowess was greeted with passionate applause from local audiences. Not only did the comedian’s acrobatic talent shine through, but he also held up a critical mirror to the world with his deeply human characters. The global star, already idolised in Paris and London, who possessed the ‘phenomenal abil-ity to throw a blueberry pie directly into the physiognomy of his adversary with deadly certainty’ (A. A. Sander) made his first guest appearance in Berlin in October 1921.
REGIE Charlie Chaplin DARSTELLER*INNEN Willy Charlie Chaplin | Edna Purviance | Eric Campbell

Introduction — Jens Riederer

»Little Muck« (Der kleine Muck) | LIVE MUSIC Tobias Rank (Piano) // 35 mm format | black and white | Germany | 1920/21 | 75 min | age 6+

“Wilhelm Hauff’s fairy-tale hero has now been truly brought to life.”
These were the words the Weimar press used in 1921 to set the mood for the planned screenings of the film Little Muck (Der kleine Muck). The first film version of the literary tale was a veritable hit with audiences, not just because of the oriental settings that Ernst Lubitsch had originally used when filming his previous work Sumurun. The wondrous adventures of the diminutive hero also offered “a splendid way to reveal the grandeurs of the Orient”.

From a current perspective, the subject and the film’s portrayal of the Orient is sometimes problematic. However, the stirring biography of its German-Sudanese leading actor
Willy Allen acts as a counterpoint. Please take note of the introduction and panel discussion on 6 September at 6 pm.
REGIE Wilhelm Prager DARSTELLER Willy Allen | Conrad Dreher | Rolf Ritter