Rasputin — Dämon der Frauen (1932)

[scifirenegade]

With a title like "Rasputin — Demon of Women", this poster



and Conrad Veidt as the lead, you would think it would this film would've been more exciting.

It isn't.

It's pretty close to a German equivalent of those literary adaptations the BBC made during the 70s and 80s. Sometimes, the editing is playful and fast-paced, but it's chill most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, this is the closest film has ever gotten to the real Rasputin. Sure, he fucks, drinks and parties, but he's not the devil. It's also a standout performance of our good Connie, just with his body language he tells the audience so much about our main character. It appears to be, for German audiences of the time and today, his BIG performance when it comes to German talkies. A shame it cannot be found in higher quality, and isn't in the important films list, so I doubt it will be propeely digitised in HD for the Förderprogramm Filmerbe.

Next, Der Schwarze Husar. Which appears to be a musical (joy), but with more "Deutschland über alles" (not joy).

Comments

[igenlode]

What a pity(?) it wasn't more dramatic -- but maybe pulpier wouldn't have been a good thing!
Sounds as if the title was maybe an attempt by the marketing department....

[scifirenegade]

Certainly! There's a sort of balance when it comes to making a biopic: too fantastical, it becomes silly misinformation; too close-to-life, it becomes boring. Life just doesn't make a good film as is, even the lifes of those we deem extraordinary.

What struck me as odd (and it only came up in conversation with an acquaintance) was the lack of scenes between Rasputin and the Romanovs. We get a little scene in the beginning, when Rasputin cures Alexander, and that's it!

The title screen in the film only reads Rasputin and nothing else. Could be that.

[igenlode]

The trouble with real life is that it tends not to have a neat narrative structure... (as well as being sometimes a bit *too* wildly coincidental or disjointed to be credible as fiction!)

It does seem odd that they largely ignore the links between Rasputin and the Imperial Family, since that's pretty much the only reason that anybody outside Russia has ever heard of him. I wonder if it was felt to be tasteless at that date to bring the 'martyred' Romanovs into it, particularly if they were going for a schlocky market?

[scifirenegade]

The trouble with real life is that it tends not to have a neat narrative structure...

Certainly!

Who knows! There doesn't seem to be a lot of info on the production (and the little that may exist is probably on the hands of people unwilling to share it). Most of it is about the lead actor.