See: https://youtu.be/EiPUo7tvATo
(Reel 5 of 5 of a Canadian 9,5mm Pathé-Baby print with notched titles. )
" Wong doesn’t disappoint in the title role, as a lowly nightclub dancer in some vague Eastern city (Istanbul was suggested) who finds herself early on being attacked by a group of ruffians and saved by surly Jack (Heinrich George), a man seemingly on the down-and-out. Soon, Song forms an affection for Jack as they go into work together… for it turns out he is a knife-thrower! This is, however, where the film’s great weakness is exposed, for the script is full of this kind of scarcely believable whimsy, as it introduces a long-lost love for Jack in the form of the haughty ballerina Gloria (Mary Kid), her boyfriend, a rich impresario, and a plot line about Jack losing his eyesight after a heist gone wrong — although this does at least lead to some tension when he’s doing his knife act. By the time the impresario has promoted Song to lead dancer at his swanky club (shades of Piccadilly) and is asking her to choose between him and the cruelly-abusive Jack (who still pines for Gloria), the relationship drama has all become a bit ‘whatever’ for this viewer, but at least Anna May’s star still shines bright."
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Mavi Boncuk |
Schmutziges Geld (1928) | August 22, 1928
aka Show Life | aka Song (UK) | Wasted Love
Length 2739 Metres 94 min. (24 fps).| Germany
Directed by Richard Eichberg; Richard Eichberg producer; Original Music by Paul Dessau;nCinematography by Heinrich Gärtner, Bruno Mondi; Editor: Alfred Booth ; Art Direction by Willi Herrmann (as W.A. Herrmann)
Helen Gosewish ; Adolf Lantz writer from Karl Vollmöller [1] book "Schmutziges Geld"
Cast (in credits order) Anna May Wong[2] : Song; Heinrich George: Jack Houben; Mary Kid : Gloria Lee ; Hans Adalbert Schlettow : Dimitri Alexi ; Sam Paul Hörbiger: Sam
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Asian-American icon Anna May Wong flourished in Germany for a brief time in the 1920s. One of her triumphs was this obliquely romantic tale of unrequited love between a waif and a knife thrower, a Madame Butterfly scenario filled with dance and cabaret. Made at the renowned Babelsberg Studios, the film's original title was Schmutziges Geld (Dirty Money). (Richard Eichberg, 1928, English intertitles, silent with live accompaniment by London pianist Stephen Horne, 94 minutes)
Although filmed in Berlin with an all-German cast, Song was financed and distributed by British International Pictures. Anna May Wong plays a Malayan miss who falls in love with a brutish vaudeville knife-thrower Heinrich George. Wong's sweetheart was formerly a renowned painter but was forced to go on the lam after committing a murder. Trouble brews when the woman for whose sake George killed a man suddenly comes back into his life. Hoping to win back the woman's love, George turns to crime to support her in the manner to which she has become accustomed. Alas, his devotion extracts an awful price when he is blinded while participating in a train holdup. Realizing that he will go off the deep end if he discovers that his faithless girlfriend has run out on him, the loyal Wong pretends to be George's ex-lover, even resorting to thievery herself to pay for a sight-restoring operation.
[1] Karl Gustav Vollmõller (May 7, 1878 – October 18, 1948) was a German playwright and screenwriter. Sometimes credited as Karl Vollmoeller.
He is most famous for two works – the screenplay for the celebrated 1930 German film Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), which made a star of Marlene Dietrich, and the elaborate religious spectacle-pantomime Das Mirakel (The Miracle), which he wrote in collaboration with Max Reinhardt, the famous director, and in which he cast his own wife Maria Carmi in the leading role.
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[2] Wong holds a unique place in Hollywood history as the first Asian American screen goddess. The unique career and talent of this Los Angeles native is long overdue for rediscovery and celebration.
Anna May Wong was born Wong Liu Tsong in 1905 in Los Angeles, where her family operated a laundry. Wong began her career as an extra at the age of 14 and had several supporting roles before being cast as the lead in the first two-color Technicolor feature, THE TOLL OF THE SEA (1922). A stunning beauty, Wong was the first Chinese American actress to become an international celebrity and appeared in over 50 films, making the transition from silents to talkies and even to television. However, despite her star power, Wong lost some coveted roles to white actors in “yellowface.”
Diabolical Dragon Lady or fragile Lotus Blossom, villainess or victim, Wong’s Hollywood screen persona seemed to oscillate between these two poles. In a wry and telling quote she later reflected, “I think I left Hollywood because I died so often. I was killed in virtually every picture in which I appeared.” Like many of her African American colleagues, she sought greater opportunities in Europe, where she made three remarkable silent pictures, including the glorious and newly restored PICCADILLY, which opens our program, and two German films, SONG and PAVEMENT BUTTERFLY, with director Richard Eichberg.
In the late 1920s, Wong sailed for Europe, hoping to escape the stereotyped roles being offered her in Hollywood. In her first film with German director Richard Eichberg, Wong plays Song, a down-on-her-luck Malayan dancer who becomes involved with a mysterious knife-thrower after he saves her from two thugs. They form a successful act on their own, and Song soon falls for her partner until the return of his former lover sets off a fatal series of events. Wong enchanted film audiences across Europe with her masterfully subtle performance and electrifying screen presence.
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BERLIN PRAISES MISS WONG.; Her First Film Produced In Germany Acclaimed at Premiere.
Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES. | Published: August 22, 1928
BERLIN, Aug. 21.—Credit is given to China for the success achieved in the Alhambra Theatre last night by Anna May Wong of Hollywood in "Song," the first picture she screened here under the management of Richard Eichberg, independent German producer.
Berlin critics, who were unanimous in praise of both the star and the production, neglect to mention that Anna May is of American birth. They stress only her Chinese origin. She is acclaimed not only as an actress of transcendent talent but as a great beauty. Such phrases as "this exquisite Oriental maiden,""porcelain loveliness" and "exotic pulchritude" are common in all the reviews.
"Song," which will be distributed by the British International Company under its new German joint production contract, is based on a story by Carl Vollmoeller, author of "The Miracle."
Miss Wong interprets the part of a little Chinese waif who sacrifices herself to love for a brutal egotist and wins him away from her white rival in the end.
Hodges, Graham Russell Gao: Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend . Hodges, Graham Russell Gao: Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend. Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2004, S. 83ff, ISBN 0312293194 (engl.) Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2004, p. 83ff, ISBN 0312293194 (English)
(Reel 5 of 5 of a Canadian 9,5mm Pathé-Baby print with notched titles. )
" Wong doesn’t disappoint in the title role, as a lowly nightclub dancer in some vague Eastern city (Istanbul was suggested) who finds herself early on being attacked by a group of ruffians and saved by surly Jack (Heinrich George), a man seemingly on the down-and-out. Soon, Song forms an affection for Jack as they go into work together… for it turns out he is a knife-thrower! This is, however, where the film’s great weakness is exposed, for the script is full of this kind of scarcely believable whimsy, as it introduces a long-lost love for Jack in the form of the haughty ballerina Gloria (Mary Kid), her boyfriend, a rich impresario, and a plot line about Jack losing his eyesight after a heist gone wrong — although this does at least lead to some tension when he’s doing his knife act. By the time the impresario has promoted Song to lead dancer at his swanky club (shades of Piccadilly) and is asking her to choose between him and the cruelly-abusive Jack (who still pines for Gloria), the relationship drama has all become a bit ‘whatever’ for this viewer, but at least Anna May’s star still shines bright."
Schmutziges Geld (1928) | August 22, 1928
aka Show Life | aka Song (UK) | Wasted Love
Length 2739 Metres 94 min. (24 fps).| Germany
Directed by Richard Eichberg; Richard Eichberg producer; Original Music by Paul Dessau;nCinematography by Heinrich Gärtner, Bruno Mondi; Editor: Alfred Booth ; Art Direction by Willi Herrmann (as W.A. Herrmann)
Helen Gosewish ; Adolf Lantz writer from Karl Vollmöller [1] book "Schmutziges Geld"
Cast (in credits order) Anna May Wong[2] : Song; Heinrich George: Jack Houben; Mary Kid : Gloria Lee ; Hans Adalbert Schlettow : Dimitri Alexi ; Sam Paul Hörbiger: Sam
Asian-American icon Anna May Wong flourished in Germany for a brief time in the 1920s. One of her triumphs was this obliquely romantic tale of unrequited love between a waif and a knife thrower, a Madame Butterfly scenario filled with dance and cabaret. Made at the renowned Babelsberg Studios, the film's original title was Schmutziges Geld (Dirty Money). (Richard Eichberg, 1928, English intertitles, silent with live accompaniment by London pianist Stephen Horne, 94 minutes)
Although filmed in Berlin with an all-German cast, Song was financed and distributed by British International Pictures. Anna May Wong plays a Malayan miss who falls in love with a brutish vaudeville knife-thrower Heinrich George. Wong's sweetheart was formerly a renowned painter but was forced to go on the lam after committing a murder. Trouble brews when the woman for whose sake George killed a man suddenly comes back into his life. Hoping to win back the woman's love, George turns to crime to support her in the manner to which she has become accustomed. Alas, his devotion extracts an awful price when he is blinded while participating in a train holdup. Realizing that he will go off the deep end if he discovers that his faithless girlfriend has run out on him, the loyal Wong pretends to be George's ex-lover, even resorting to thievery herself to pay for a sight-restoring operation.
[1] Karl Gustav Vollmõller (May 7, 1878 – October 18, 1948) was a German playwright and screenwriter. Sometimes credited as Karl Vollmoeller.
He is most famous for two works – the screenplay for the celebrated 1930 German film Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), which made a star of Marlene Dietrich, and the elaborate religious spectacle-pantomime Das Mirakel (The Miracle), which he wrote in collaboration with Max Reinhardt, the famous director, and in which he cast his own wife Maria Carmi in the leading role.
Anna May Wong was born Wong Liu Tsong in 1905 in Los Angeles, where her family operated a laundry. Wong began her career as an extra at the age of 14 and had several supporting roles before being cast as the lead in the first two-color Technicolor feature, THE TOLL OF THE SEA (1922). A stunning beauty, Wong was the first Chinese American actress to become an international celebrity and appeared in over 50 films, making the transition from silents to talkies and even to television. However, despite her star power, Wong lost some coveted roles to white actors in “yellowface.”
Diabolical Dragon Lady or fragile Lotus Blossom, villainess or victim, Wong’s Hollywood screen persona seemed to oscillate between these two poles. In a wry and telling quote she later reflected, “I think I left Hollywood because I died so often. I was killed in virtually every picture in which I appeared.” Like many of her African American colleagues, she sought greater opportunities in Europe, where she made three remarkable silent pictures, including the glorious and newly restored PICCADILLY, which opens our program, and two German films, SONG and PAVEMENT BUTTERFLY, with director Richard Eichberg.
In the late 1920s, Wong sailed for Europe, hoping to escape the stereotyped roles being offered her in Hollywood. In her first film with German director Richard Eichberg, Wong plays Song, a down-on-her-luck Malayan dancer who becomes involved with a mysterious knife-thrower after he saves her from two thugs. They form a successful act on their own, and Song soon falls for her partner until the return of his former lover sets off a fatal series of events. Wong enchanted film audiences across Europe with her masterfully subtle performance and electrifying screen presence.
BERLIN PRAISES MISS WONG.; Her First Film Produced In Germany Acclaimed at Premiere.
Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES. | Published: August 22, 1928
BERLIN, Aug. 21.—Credit is given to China for the success achieved in the Alhambra Theatre last night by Anna May Wong of Hollywood in "Song," the first picture she screened here under the management of Richard Eichberg, independent German producer.
Berlin critics, who were unanimous in praise of both the star and the production, neglect to mention that Anna May is of American birth. They stress only her Chinese origin. She is acclaimed not only as an actress of transcendent talent but as a great beauty. Such phrases as "this exquisite Oriental maiden,""porcelain loveliness" and "exotic pulchritude" are common in all the reviews.
"Song," which will be distributed by the British International Company under its new German joint production contract, is based on a story by Carl Vollmoeller, author of "The Miracle."
Miss Wong interprets the part of a little Chinese waif who sacrifices herself to love for a brutal egotist and wins him away from her white rival in the end.
Hodges, Graham Russell Gao: Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend . Hodges, Graham Russell Gao: Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend. Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2004, S. 83ff, ISBN 0312293194 (engl.) Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2004, p. 83ff, ISBN 0312293194 (English)
