爱恨之约

The likeable and carefree Grand Duke of Abacco is in dire straits. There is no money left to service the State's debt; the main creditor is looking forward to expropriating the entire Duchy. The marriage with Olga, Grand Duchess of Russia, would solve everything, but a crucial letter of hers about the engagement has been stolen. Besides, a bunch of revolutionaries and a dubious businessman have other plans regarding the Grand Duke. With the intrusion of adventurer Philipp Collins into the Grand Duke's affairs, a series of frantic chases, plots and counter-plots begins... This charming film is practically unknown, but it is one of Klein-Rogge's best performances, as he plays a romantic lead with a dash of villainy. Klein-Rogge is the feared Master who lives in a bleak castle on top of a mountain, and the villagers in the valley below dread his ill-omened arrival at every wedding. The story concerns one couple who marries despite the master's baleful influence, only to have him crash their wedding party and bring about the death of the bride. The bride's sister, seeking revenge, tries to kill the Master but instead they fall in love, as she realizes that he is not really evil, but blighted by a loveless existence. Their love is ill-starred, however, as the Master kills an insolent guest at their wedding who takes liberties with his bride, and this is followed by a peasants' revolt, where the castle is stormed and the Master captured. In the end, the lovers escape, but their love is finally doomed. The year before this film, Klein-Rogge had his great triumph as the evil Dr. Mabuse in Fritz Lang's 'Dr. Mabuse, Der Spieler', and his most memorable roles have been as villains. This movie demonstrates what a really wide range he had as an actor - he starts off with his very characteristic glowering villain, but once the girl enters his life he demonstrates both joy and tenderness, as well as grief and pain when he thinks he has lost everything. I don't know if such an obscure film could be a candidate for restoration, but it would be a worthy project, as the sets, costumes and many of the performances are as classic examples of expressionism as one could hope to see. A scientist discovers a death ray and locks it in a box, giving the key to his daughter, who soon finds herself hunted by criminals looking to steal the deadly mineral. Eva lives in the sinister Tower with her father, a mad inventor, and her grandfather. The aviator Wilfred Durian and his lovely wife live nearby in the town. But Durian's famous flight across the Australian desert was not all it seems... and when his 'dead' partner Arved Holl is rescued by Eva and comes to claim his former fiancée's hand, the whole house of cards is about to come tumbling down. Meanwhile, Eva's own family history is not quite as she had always believed... 剧(✒)情(qíng ) A stern indictment of the shabby ways in which society treats it recovering ex-criminal class, Die Verrufenene follows the saga of an engineer recently sprung from prison as he attempts to rebuild his life. Having served out his three-year sentence, Robert Kramer embarks on getting back to work and living a clean, honest life. He finds that getting back into society is more difficult than he bargained for, however, when he is shunned by his father and the wealthy family of his ex-fiancee, Gerda. Scraping by in the city slum, working for an indifferent rag maker who prefers to pay in booze over cash, the dejected Robert decides to end it all. He's saved, however, by a kind-hearted prostitute named Emma, who shelters the man in the modest apartment she shares with her ne'er-do-well brother, Gustav. Eventually, Robert starts to patch his life back together through the help of Emma (who becomes enamoured with Robert) and a generous old photographer who employs him as an assistant. His world gets upended once again, however, when Gustav is implicated in the murder of one of Emma's clients. A French orphan who grew up in a convent sets out to see Paris. It turns out that she is the heir to a fortune but doesn't know it, and has been lured to Paris by one of the heirs who does know who she is; he plans to swindle her out of her inheritance so he can have everything. Written by frankfob2@yahoo.com 剧(🈷)情 Etat-Unis - 1916 - 73’