When Irmgard becomes pregnant of Georg, a free love disciple, she decides, for the sake of her child, to pretend they are married. The secret plan is to wed his twin brother, John, who will pretend to be Georg in front of the priest. Soon after that happens, Georg disappears and is declared dead. Years later Irmgard is trying to escape John, who is obsessed with her. In the mountains she finds a stranger willing to protect her.
La imagen errante, The Wandering Shadow, L'Image vagabonde, Depois da Tempestade, 移动的影像, Vaeltava kuva
Germany12
Germany
The only copy of this early Fritz Lang that exists is severely compromised. A large chunk of it is lost forever and those scenes that have survived jump and spasm erratically, giving a poor impression of Lang's choices in continuity and scene duration. With overly verbose intertitles, it's a frustrating viewing experience.
Content-wise though, it's fascinating. I don't recall Fritz Lang taking an interest in Catholicism in other films but in Das Wandernde Bild there is a definite strand of belief which could potentially be interpreted ironically but in context seems more sincere. It's a plot that unfolds in flashback - intriguingly the viewer is a long way into the film before discovering what's going on - and involves a rejection of marriage, twin brother subterfuge and mountain-top catastrophe. Demure heroine assailed by dastardly villain strand is present and correct according to early silent film requirements.
A partly lost film, although enough survives to remain coherent if explanatory intertitles are added.
Well, I say coherent: It is a rather convoluted plot, and it is told in non-linear style, which must have been unheard of in cinema 100 years ago.
It's certainly quite an achievement.
Exists only in truncated form, so I'll refrain from rating it. What we have (about 70% of the original) is a decent, if unexceptional, melodrama about a woman fleeing an abusive husband only to run into his twin(?) brother, a proponent of free love and the father of her child. The most interesting stuff happens in Act 3 when you get the backstory between the woman and her child's father. The rest of it was fine, I guess. Would have been nice to not have the final scene be an explanatory intertitle, though. Definitely lesser Lang, but as with many films over a hundred years old, I'm thankful we have what we do.
A woman fleeing her violent husband goes through multiple mishaps until she finds love once again. The convoluted plot and some redundant action prevent this to really work its intentions of redemption and spirituality, but it’s sufficiently well shot to remain functioning.
J'ai vraiment, vraiiiiment de la misère avec les premiers films de Fritz Lang, j'ai toujours tendance à perdre mon attention, comme si ça traînait trop (et ça dure qu'une heure, et je suis pas sûr que les scènes perdues auraient aidées!). Au moins celui-là a l'air d'avoir mariné un peu dans les intérêts de Lang et Thea von Harbou plutôt qu'être pitché à l'écran (même si The Spiders avait aussi ce côté roman de gare d'aventure exotique qui leur plaît) et les décors sont absolument splendides, mais quelle parade de personnages insupportables dans un mélodrame dont on ne saisi pas très bien l'intérêt. Chaque film de bébé Lang est un progrès par rapport au précédent mais ils ont tous leurs problèmes propres à eux.
L'image qui erre, quel titre quand même. Le 'Bild' évoque même plutôt l'idée d'un double, d'une ombre inquiétante. Le film sort un an après la parution de L'inquiétante étrangeté de Freud.
La twist est très langienne, le personnage à l'image errante ayant un double qui le suit à la trace, un jumeau jaloux, aux idéologies contraires et qu'on ne découvre qu'à mi-chemin dans l'intrigue.
C'est aussi un drôle de film sur le mariage et « le mariage comme prison pour le coeur », d'autant plus que le personnage cocufié dans le film est joué par Rudolf Klein-Rogge (futur Mabuse, futur maître de Metropolis, grand acteur au nez crochu), lui même cocufié pendant le tournage, par Lang qui s'amourache de la…
I'm in the middle of reading DeLillo's Zero K and I thought there was a weird sort of overlap here in the great first half with the visuals in particular, though even elements of the themes seem tied up in a really satisfactory way. In fact despite its incomplete nature I found myself liking this a great deal. Maybe it doesn't come together in this butchered form, but there's so many strange happenings and just plain incredible visual concepts it really has me begging for more. This felt like a really complete Lang film ironically whereas Harakiri and Spiders are clearly nascent. Some of the film is done under by how Destiny covers some of the same ground, but I would still call this easily the best mountain film I've seen. The second domestic portion makes no sense to me whatsoever, but even with that in mind there's an enjoyable logic to the weirdness that works for me.
Rétrospective Fritz Lang - Film #4
Ce film m’a fait beaucoup réfléchir sur qu’est-ce qui fait qu’un film muet survit au test du temps. Disons-le, il y a beaucoup de films qui ont été fait dans les années 1910-1920 qui resteront enfermé dans les archives sans que l’on s’en souvienne, malgré qu’ils ont sûrement eu un succès honorable à l’époque. Ce film que je viens de voir présente un drame social, avec beaucoup de scènes de discussion dans des pièces ordinaires et c’est principalement ça qui fait avancer l’histoire et l’arc des personnages. Pour nous, qui sommes habitués à un langage cinématographique développé, tel que des gros plans pour accentuer les émotions des personnages ou alors tout simplement du son…
Parts of The Wandering Image/The Wandering Shadow are lost, which is too bad because this is a surprisingly wacky story with the soap opera melodrama on full blast. some expository intertitles have been added to the restoration to let you know what happens in the lost parts of the film, at least.
Primarily, Mia May is amazing in this, and her wardrobe is too fucking cool - there are a couple scenes where she's wandering aimlessly thru the snow-covered alps, despondent, hopeless, and draped in what appears to be a large piece of tulle (in place of a winter coat, i guess?) it's just divine.
I found this to be an very enjoyable surprise. It dwells within that region before Europe has fully abandoned the rustic and specific for the streamlined efficiency of the “Modern” but its imprints can be felt everywhere. I also got a better understanding of how the mountaineering movie became a genre for a time. The missing gaps give the film a nice unmoored feeling and I think it would function as a fine precursor for anyone who enjoyed the House of Psychotic Women boxset.
The Wandering Image is hard to fully evaluate in its fragmentary state, but thankfully, what seems to be its most beautiful elements have survived: breathtaking location shooting against lakes and mountains that underpin a story of self-discovery and spiritual healing. Mia May's performance is a bit overwrought, especially against Lang's subtler filmmaking this early in his career, but the rest of the small cast, as well as the images themselves, balance her out.
🇬🇧 Fritz Lang recounts the escape of a woman from her lover through splendid evocative shots that make the mountain landscape spectacular. The plot isn't gripping, but the charm of Lang's direction makes The Wandering Image a good experience.
🇮🇹 Fritz Lang racconta la fuga di una donna dal proprio amante attraverso splendide inquadrature evocative che spettacolarizzano il paesaggio di montagna. La trama non è appassionante, ma il fascino della regia di Lang rende The Wandering Image una bella esperienza.
