Moral
(Moral)
dir. Willi Wolf, Niemcy, 1928
cast: Ellen Richter, Jakob Tiedtke, Ralph Arthur Roberts, Harry Halm and others
DCP, 81'; reconstruction 2020
source: Deutsche Filminstitut & Filmmuseum
Berlin-based revue artist Ninon d'Hauteville, arrives in a small conservative town, where she faces harsh criticism from the local Society for the Protection of Morals. Although she has been publicly stigmatised, all the perpetrators of the scandal secretly start courting her. Ninon decides to expose the ageing hypocrites and teach them a lesson in morality.
The film is a screen adaptation of a 19th-century comedy by Ludwig Thoma. The motif of an artist condemned for her alleged promiscuity, who decides to rub in the noses of her hypocritical moralists, was not uncommon in comedies of the time (in Poland, an excellent example was the vaudeville The Soldier of the Queen of Madagascar). For the purposes of the film, the plot has been modernised, including the then very modern motif of the hidden camera, with which Ninon records the actions of his accusers.
The film was digitally reconstructed in 2020, based on the surviving, unfortunately incomplete, original camera negative. Missing scenes were completed from a Spanish screening copy from the Filmoteca Valenciana collection. One scene, which was not preserved in any of the known copies, was reconstructed using stills, while the missing section of act four was reconstructed using repeated, re-edited shots from other scenes in the film. The content of the missing panels was reconstructed using Czech censorship documentation from the collections of the Národní Archiv in Prague, while their graphic design was reconstructed at the Berlin Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft. The frontispiece was reconstructed on the basis of promotional material and Dutch and Swedish censorship documents.
section: Treasures of Silent Cinema
introduction to the film: Michał Pieńkowski
live music: Mario Forte, Ernst Reijseger
SUNDAY | OCTOBER 23 | 19:00 | screening room: STOLICA
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