When the Heart Glows with Hate
(Wenn das Herz in Haß erglüht) (Projektions-AG Union, Germany, 1917)
Dir.: Kurt Matull; scen.: Hans Brennert, Hans Kräly; cast: Pola Negri (Ilja Vörösz), Tilli Bébé (Lydia Bébé), Harry Hopkins (circus director), Hans Adalbert Schlettow (Graf von Hohenau), Magnus Stifter (Baron Ilfingen), Anna von Palen (Baroness Ilfingen); 35 mm, 50’ (18 fps), Desmetcolor; intertitle/subtitle language: IT/PL; source: Filmoteka Narodowa - Instytut Audiowizualny.
This film – which had been distributed in Italy as ”Vampa d’odio” following Pola Negri’s rise to super-stardom – was first shown at the Giornate del Cinema Muto in 1994, when it was confidently but incorrectly identified as a Polish production, ”Jego ostatni czyn” (1917). Only in 2008, thanks to the Polish historians Marek and Małgorzata Hendrykowski, was its true identity established. (…)
”When the Heart Glows with Hate” finds her at 21 years old, the diva supreme, fully fledged and wholly self-conscious. Beautiful, with astonishing, mascara’d eyes, the unique quality which sets her apart from her contemporary dive is her movement. She is always the dancer, as the director Kurt Matull intelligently appreciates, giving her extended scenes where she gathers roses in the garden, or simply moves around her apartment, to show off her balletic flow. In dramatic scenes, her body as well as her face are fiercely expressive: her head thrusts forward hungrily in seduction; she freezes in an undesired embrace; or commands rapt attention simply toying with a cigarette. Matull gives her the diva’s ultimate prop and partner – a large writhing snake, with which she dances, or affectionately embraces. This snake finally has a crucial role in the drama: as the intertitle says, “The snake saves its charmer.”
The director Kurt Matull is an obscure figure in German cinema history. His career in films lasted barely 6 years, from 1914 to 1920, during which time he made some 20 films for various companies, before abruptly disappearing from the record. Saturn seem to have hired him specifically to direct Negri, with whom he made 5 films: ”Die toten Augen” (1917), „Nicht lange täuschte mich das Glück” (1917), „Rosen, die der Sturm entblättert” (1917), „Wenn das Herz in Haß erglüht” (1918) and „Küsse, die man stiehlt im Dunkeln” (1918). It seems safe to assume that he was the same Kurt Matull (1872-1930?) who is better known as a pulp-fiction writer, the creator of a long Nick Carter series and of the Lord Lister series (1908-1911).
The surviving version of the film shown is from an Italian distribution print, with Italian intertitles and some changed character names. Negri’s character, Ilya Vörösz in the original, becomes Hilka; the villainous Count von Hohenau becomes Holfer.
The first reel and two brief fragments are missing from the print, but the story, despite the sparing intertitles, remains quite comprehensible. The missing opening scenes would have established Ilya/Hilka as a snake dancer, the star performer in Hopkins’ circus. Jealous of Hopkins’ amorous interest in Ilya/Hilka, Lydie Bébé, the alligator handler, plots to get rid of her, and is successful when Baron Ilfingen takes llya/Hilka under his protection and arranges an audition for her as a dancer at the Palm Garden club. In the first of the other missing fragments, Hohenhau/Holfer and Hopkins discussed their plot to undo Baron Ilfingen; in the second, Ilya/Hilka revealed to the Baron’s mother the truth about the false accusations against him.
David Robinson
The print of “When the Heart Glows with Hate” from the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute was made using the Desmet method. Restoration work, using analog process in order to obtain a broad palette of vivid colors, was conducted by Istituto Luce-Cinecittà in Rome, where the film’s only original print is held.
Sun, Apr 22 | 6pm | Kino Iluzjon
music: Drekoty