director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
year: 1923
country: Germany

In a mountain hut, the young Steyer lives a hard working, simple life with his parents. His second wife, the beautiful Ludmilla, has only married him for his money, however. She really loves the young hunter Lauer, with whom she continues her affair even after her marriage to Steyer. Steyer finds out when he finds the hunter in front of his hut. He confronts his wife about it but she claims that Lauer was only coming because he loves Änne, Steyer’s daughter from his first marriage. That evening, Ludmilla goes dancing with her husband to show everyone how much she loves him. Out of drunkenness, Steyer sells his mountain hut and tries to get Änne engaged to the hunter.
By the time he has realized his mistake, however, it is too late. The hut is lost, and his wife has left him. She has gone off with Lauer, without even mentioning anything to her husband. He comes home to find his parents moving out, for they do not want to spend even one hour under a stranger’s roof. In a single night, Steyer has lost everything.

Screenplay: Thea von Harbou;
based on a stage play by Carl Hauptmann.
Director of Photography: Karl Freund.
Camera Assistant: Robert Baberske.
Music: Joseph Vieth (theatre music for the première).
Set Design: Erich Czerwonsky, Rochus Gliese.
Cast: Wilhelm Dieterle (Lauer, a huntsman), Aud Egede Nissen (Ludmilla Steyer), Carl Goetz (father Steyer), Ilka Grüning (mother Steyer), Eugen Klöpfer (son Steyer), Emilie Kurz (a tailor), Robert Leffler (a clergyman), Lucie Mannheim (Aenne Steyer, the daughter), Jakob Tiedtke (a clerk).
Production Company: Decla-Bioscop AG, Berlin, for Universum-Film AG (UfA), Berlin.
Producer: Erich Pommer.
Unit manager: Eduard Kubat.
Initial Distributor: Decla-Bioscop-Verleih GmbH, Berlin.
Shoot: Feb 1923.
Locations: studio, Riesengebirge (Schlingel and Hampel farm).
Length: 4 acts, 1557 m.
Format: 35 mm, 1:1.33.
Picture/Sound: b/w, silent.
Censorship Details: 10 Aug 1923, B.07535, ban for young people.
Première: 23 Oct 1923, Berlin (U.T. Kurfürstendamm).
Copyright Holder: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden

Source notes
Deutsche Kinemathek - Museum für Film und Fernsehen

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