Miss Else ( Fräulein Else )

Miss Else (DVD) (*)

~~$27.99~~ $24.98

Original Title: Fräulein Else
Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
German ( Subtitles )
Italian ( Subtitles )
Silent ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Italy ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
90 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Behind the scenes
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Black & White
Booklet

Movie filmed in 1929 and produced in:
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Paul Czinner

Written By:
Arthur Schnitzler
Paul Czinner

Actors:
Elisabeth Bergner ..... Else Thalhof
Albert Bassermann ..... Dr. Alfred Thalhof
Albert Steinrück ..... Von Dorsday
Adele Sandrock ..... Tante Emma
Else Heller ..... Dr. Thalhofs Frau
Jack Trevor ..... Paul, Tante Emma's Sohn
Irmgard Bern ..... Cissy Mohr
Antonie Jaeckel
Gertrude De Lalsky
Paul Morgan
Jaro Fürth
Carl Goetz
Grit Hegesa
Alexander Murski
Ellen Plessow

Synopsis:

In deciding to adapt Arthur Schnitzler's controversial 1924 novella Fräulein Else-told as an interior monologue-for the screen, Paul Czinner directed the dazzling Elisabeth Bergner in one of her greatest performances, as a young woman forced to confront sexual and psychological humiliation and degradation in an attempt to save her father (Albert Bassermann) from disgrace. Finding a cinematic correlative to the lacerating mental deconstruction endured by Schnitzler's literary Else, Czinner's dissecting camera angles, oppressive focus on Bergner, and wintry emotional reserve that refuses to pass easy judgment combine to achieve a devastating portrait of a vulnerable character whose sense of self is shattered by the mores of a soulless society. Bergner, Czinner's wife, became his frequent collaborator and later the two went on to flee the Nazis, emigrate to London, and find great success together and separately in both film and theater. However, in each of their careers, neither ever surpassed the haunting chill of Miss Else and its existential gaze.

During the immediate post-war period, Else, the daughter of an Austrian lawyer, is on vacation in the Dolomites. One evening, she receives a letter from her mother announcing that financial catastrophe looms over their family because of the father's gambling habit. Else's mother tells her to ask rich Mr Dorsday, who is staying at their same hotel, for a loan. Else overcomes her pride and asks him for money: the man agrees on the condition that he be allowed to see her naked for a few minutes. Indignant but oppressed by her mother's request, Else undresses in front of all the hotel guests gathered in the lobby. Beside herself, she faints and when she regains consciousness she commits suicide.

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 25 January, 2013.

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