Tickets for the 2024 Hong Kong International Film Festival :)
Kohlheisel's Daughters (Germany, 1920)
- Ernst Lubitsch, director and co-scriptwriter (along with Hanns Kräly)
- Starring: Henny Porten, Emil Jannings, Gustav von Wangenheim
- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Restored Classics program
It used to be that I'd be able to get a ticket for at least one of the opening films (there usually are two) of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. For the fourth year in a row though, I was unable to do so -- as tickets for screenings of Hong Kong films (which the opening films tend to be, though there have been exceptions (e.g., in 2018)) tend to get snapped up pretty quickly these days; thanks in some part to there Hong Kong films having reconnected with local audiences in recent years, and also to some extent because people have come to worry that certain local films won't get screened outside of the HKIFF (cf. Stanley Kwan's First Night Nerves (2018)).
Thus it was that my HKIFF-ing began on the second day of this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival: with a screening of the 4K restored version of Ernst Lubitsch's silent comedy, Kohlheisel's Daughters; with live musical accompaniment courtesy of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. An adaptation of the play Kohlhiesel's Daughters by Hanns Kräly, Lubitsch's frequent collaborator, this 1920 film went on to be remade three times; a testament to the original's success, and the story of two very different sisters and the main men in their lives striking a chord with audiences of the day.
In view of the film now being 104 years old, it's fair to say that Kohlheisel's Daughters show its age; with a storyline that involves daughters requiring their father's permission to marry, characterisations of women that are on the sexist side by today's standards, and a depiction of a travelling salesman that looks to have an anti-Semitic tinge. At the same time though, the passing of more than a century cannot prevent viewers from admiring the talent of lead actress Henny Porten -- who portrayed not just one but both of Kohlheisel's daughters... and invested them with such distinct personalities that there was no mistaking one for the other!
Porten is first seen as Gretel, a maiden who cares about her appearance and attracts the attention of many men, including Xavier (played by Emil Jannings), who falls so hard for her that he seeks her hand in marriage. Papa Kohlheisel (essayed by Jakob Tiedke) refuses to let Gretel marry before her rough, tough sister Liesel (also played by Henny Porten) though; leaving Xavier frustrated, until his friend Seppl (played by Gustav von Wangenheim) suggests that Xavier marry Liesel, then acts so awful to her that she will leave him, so he's cleared to then marry Gretel!
Suffice to say that things don't go as Xavier expects. Still, things do end up in a way that he and a number of others find quite satisfactory! Speaking of satisfactory: it's actually quite hard for me to see why any woman would want the physically strong but generally oafish Xavier for a husband. I guess what got a man appearing to be a good catch was very different in 1920s rural Germany to now, even -- I'd wager -- in the same land!
My review for this film: 7.0
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