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"Meyer from Berlin" ("Meyer aus Berlin" 1919) makes a nice bookend with "Shoe Palace Pinkus" (" Schuhpalast Pinkus" 1916) from three years earlier. "Pinkus" was Ernst Lubitsch's first appearance as the little Berlin Jew with the big plans, and "Meyer" was his last appearance in the role. Between the two, Lubitsch played the character under various names in a popular series of films that made him a favorite comic actor in Germany.
Lubitsch would direct himself in only two more films: Briefly in the witty prologue to "The Doll" ("Die Puppe" 1919) and as a featured character, the tragic hunchback Yeggar, in the Arabian Nights fantasy "Sumurun" (1920), based on a pantomime originally staged by Lubitsch's mentor Max Reinhardt. After "Sumurun" Lubitsch stayed behind the camera.
If you watch "Shoe Palace Pinkus," also available on my channel, you'll see in "Meyer" a real advance in Lubitsch's skills. He's much more relaxed as both actor and director, and more willing to let the other performers build their characters, especially Trude Troll as the smart, charming lady he chases around the Swiss Alps. It's a very funny film. I added English subtitles to the German intertitles. The rest is Lubitsch.
29 июл 2024
