This movie's title translates as "Rübezahl's Wedding". Rübezahl is a figure in German folklore who has no precise English or American equivalent. He's somewhere between Cropsey, the Boogie Man, Springheel Jack and the Green Man of old English folklore. German peasant wives would warn their children to be good, because Rübezahl would protect good children, but he would carry away the bad children and eat them. Because he's a stock figure in folklore, there are conflicting descriptions of Rübezahl's appearance. The consensus describes him as looking like a rustic man in peasant's garb, with a long red beard and wild hair and big black boots. He is large and brawny: in some accounts, he is a giant or a ghostly figure who can vanish and appear at will. He travels in long angry leaps, hopping up and down and shouting "Hoy! Hoy!" Rübezahl is an elemental spirit of the mountains, rather like an overgrown malevolent leprechaun without the pot of gold.
In this film, the people of a Tyrolean town climb up into the nearby mountains, searching for a place where they can hold a picnic and a spring festival: ideally, a place where they can eventually erect dwellings and cultivate crops. Led by the local nobleman (Arthur Ehrens), they find an appropriate spot, and the festivities begin. Some children briefly perform a charming folk dance.
Suddenly the Rübezahl arrives, played by Paul Wegener in one of his more energetic performances. He threatens to kill all the townsfolk if they don't leave immediately: he also threatens to start an avalanche that will rush downhill and destroy their town. The older people and the children are frightened.
SPOILERS COMING NOW. One person is not frightened: a beautiful dark-haired peasant woman, identified in the title cards as Elfe. (This name suggests that she's an 'Elf', but that's a false cognate.) She and the schoolmaster (Ernst Waldow) realise that Rübezahl is angry because he lives alone in the hills and has no one to love. Elfe agrees to stay in the wild hills with this wild man of the mountains, as his bride. The Rübezahl relents, permitting the townsfolk to finish their festival ... but they may not live here. The wild man needs the wild places. With the Count's approval, the schoolmaster performs the wedding. The children dance.
The special effects in this movie are VERY bad, suggesting the crudeness of Georges Melies but without the painterly effects or the originality which make Melies's films so watchable. Wegener's make-up is rather poor. Lyda Salmonova gives a skilful and sensuous performance: she actually convinces me that she is genuinely attracted to this inhuman supernatural creature. I'll rate this movie 4 points out of 10.
In this film, the people of a Tyrolean town climb up into the nearby mountains, searching for a place where they can hold a picnic and a spring festival: ideally, a place where they can eventually erect dwellings and cultivate crops. Led by the local nobleman (Arthur Ehrens), they find an appropriate spot, and the festivities begin. Some children briefly perform a charming folk dance.
Suddenly the Rübezahl arrives, played by Paul Wegener in one of his more energetic performances. He threatens to kill all the townsfolk if they don't leave immediately: he also threatens to start an avalanche that will rush downhill and destroy their town. The older people and the children are frightened.
SPOILERS COMING NOW. One person is not frightened: a beautiful dark-haired peasant woman, identified in the title cards as Elfe. (This name suggests that she's an 'Elf', but that's a false cognate.) She and the schoolmaster (Ernst Waldow) realise that Rübezahl is angry because he lives alone in the hills and has no one to love. Elfe agrees to stay in the wild hills with this wild man of the mountains, as his bride. The Rübezahl relents, permitting the townsfolk to finish their festival ... but they may not live here. The wild man needs the wild places. With the Count's approval, the schoolmaster performs the wedding. The children dance.
The special effects in this movie are VERY bad, suggesting the crudeness of Georges Melies but without the painterly effects or the originality which make Melies's films so watchable. Wegener's make-up is rather poor. Lyda Salmonova gives a skilful and sensuous performance: she actually convinces me that she is genuinely attracted to this inhuman supernatural creature. I'll rate this movie 4 points out of 10.
