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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
Is this worth watching today? Honestly, only if you already like silent films or if you have a thing for circus aesthetics from the twenties. It is definitely not for someone who needs fast action or a plot that makes 100% sense. If you like melodramatic staring and people wearing fancy hats while looking miserable, you will probably enjoy it.
I sat down with this one because I was curious how you make a silent movie out of an operetta. Operettas are usually all about the music, right? Without the songs, it's just a bunch of people in high-society outfits being mean to each other.
The story is about this guy Mister X. He wears a mask and does stunts on a horse in the circus. He is very mysterious and everyone is obsessed with who he actually is.
Harry Liedtke plays him and he has this way of looking into the camera that is almost too intense. It's like he is trying to blink a hole through the screen. I remember him from Adventure Mad and he is just as dramatic here.
There is this Princess Fedora who is being pressured to marry. A bitter Prince who got rejected by her decides to trick her into marrying the circus guy. It is a very complicated way to get revenge, but I guess people had more free time back then.
The circus scenes are actually the best part. You can see the dust in the air. The horses look beautiful but also kind of tired.
There is a shot where the crowd is cheering and it feels real. Not like those empty crowd scenes you see in cheaper movies from this era. It reminded me a bit of the energy in The Patent Leather Kid, though obviously a different genre.
One thing that bugged me was the mask. It’s just a tiny little strip of fabric. Everyone should be able to recognize him.
He walks into a restaurant later and nobody knows it's the same guy. I guess back in 1929, if you took off your hat, you became invisible.
The makeup on the women is very heavy. Their lips are painted into these tiny dark hearts. It makes them look like they are permanently surprised or maybe just had a very sour lemon.
I noticed a scene in a hotel kitchen that went on way too long. There’s a waiter and some comedy bits with food. It felt like it belonged in a completely different movie, maybe something like Ossi hat die Hosen an.
The pacing gets weird in the middle. They spend a lot of time on letters. People writing letters, reading letters, dropping letters. So many letters.
I think the director forgot we can't hear the music. There are moments where characters are clearly singing or dancing to a beat we can’t perceive. It creates this awkward silence that feels accidental rather than artistic.
By the time we get to the big reveal, I kind of stopped caring about the royal inheritance stuff. I just wanted to see more of the circus acts.
The ending is very rushed. It’s like they realized they were running out of film and just decided everyone should be happy now.
It’s a fine movie if you want to see what big-budget German films looked like right before sound changed everything. It’s beautiful to look at, even if the story is a bit silly.
If you’re looking for something more grounded, you might prefer The Burden of Race, but if you want sparkly costumes and circus horses, stay here.
The print I saw had some scratches, which actually made it feel more authentic. Like I was watching something that barely survived. 🤡
IMDb 5.6
1924
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