DE FIRE DJÆVLE
Scen.: Carl Rosenbaum, dal romanzo “Les Quatres diables” di Herman Bang; F.: Alfred Lind; M.: Alfred Lind; Int.: Edith Buemann, Robert Dinesen, Tilley Christiansen, Carl Rosenbaum, Antoinette Winding, Einar Rosenbaum, Alfred Lind; Prod.: Kinografen; 35mm. L.: 774 m. D.: 42’ a 16 f/s. Col.
Film Notes
De fire Djævle was produced by a small Danish production company. The original negative is missing. This new print was struck from existing positive materials: a black and white print struck from a complete original print that is no longer in existence and an incomplete color print. The latter was useful for establishing the color for the print. In the absence of the original negative, this print is the best that could be made, although it shows traces of wear from the print that was used to create it.
Marguerite Engberg, in Cinémemoire 1991
De fire Djævle led to the circus film genre, which became a specialty of Danish cinema and carried with it new possibilities for formal story development. The film was inspired by Danish writer Herman Bang’s story, quite famous at the time, which dealt with a love tangle within a group of trapeze artists and its consequences during the circus performances. The sequences set in the circus tent, especially during the most dramatic moments, were often filmed from extremely high or low angles, in a manner that was entirely unknown in fiction films up to that time. Following the worldwide triumph of this film (three hundred copies were sold internationally), Nordisk produced films with similar themes.
Barry Salt, in Schiave bianche allo specchio, edited by Paolo Cherchi Usai, Ed. Studio Tesi, Pordenone 1986