Harakiri (1919).avi

Harakiri (1919) The most difficult to see of the extant Fritz Lang films, "Harakiri" was believed lost until 1987, when a print was discovered in Amersterdam. Fishing on the Mule, I came across this anonymous rip of what appears to be a much-dubbed VHS tape made from that original print, with vintage subtitles in Dutch. I don't believe the film has been released commercially anywhere in the world; so this must be from a TV broadcast, or perhaps a cam job from the audience. In any case the image is NOT TERRIBLY GOOD -- but it is, however, an invaluable if imperfect representation of a film that remains beyond reach. The Dutch subtitles are dense but the plot is easily followed if you've seen "Madame Butterfly". Apparently, this was not a personal film for Lang (see below) but his his apparent in every shot, "bringing out the hidden geometry of the image" to borrow the phrase of a German critic. In the 1918 / 1919 season, the Decla Film Company announced a film called "Madame Butterfly", directed by Otto Rippert, to be shot in September 1918. But the film was not finished, and Rippert was hired to shoot the "World Class Series" films of Decla's ambitious 1919 programme. When Rippert got behind schedule on the shooting of Decla's most ambitious film of 1919, DIE PEST IN FLORENZ, Decla announced "Butterfly" again, now to be directed by Joseph Coenen, director of Decla's "Women Class Series". The Japanese settings were supposed to be shot on Decla's new lot at Carl Hagenbeck's zoological garden in Hamburg-Stellingen. Finally, the film now named HARAKIRI was shot by newcomer Fritz Lang, who was busy at Hagenbeck's zoological garden anyway, shooting two parts of Decla's "Adventurer Series" THE SPIDERS. Lang used some of the personnel of THE SPIDERS again: Lil Dagover, Paul Biensfeldt, Georg John, Rudolf Lettinger, Harry Frank. Dagover once again impersonated an exotic woman who dies at the end of the picture, this time the beautiful japanese O-Take-San, who commits suicide (hara-kiri). Long time presumed lost, a print of HARAKIRI was discovered in Amsterdam and restored by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv Koblenz, so that in 1987, the film could be presented to the public again. IMDB: 7.8/10 http://imdb.com/title/tt0010208/

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