Two stories, presented as a film within a film, complement each other beautifully. In the outer one, a housekeeper (Rosa Valetti) is slowly poisoning her employer (Hermann Picha) after convincing him to disinherit his grandson. In the inner, a pared down telling of Molière's play, a religious zealot (Emil Jannings) is duping a rich man (Werner Krauss) out of his money, to the horror of his wife (Lil Dagover). She hatches a plan to expose him by tempting him with her cleavage and ankles, and one of the interesting little footnotes is that Camilla Horn was used as a "foot double" for her.
I love how Murnau puts the camera on the actors, and their performances, Jannings and Dagover in particular. The lighting and Expressionist set designs are fantastic, and the satire of religious hypocrisy is brilliant for all ages - 1664, 1925, and today. The stories are straightforward, but I thought 65 minutes was a good length, and that this focused the film into a very satisfying narrative. Definitely worth checking out.
I love how Murnau puts the camera on the actors, and their performances, Jannings and Dagover in particular. The lighting and Expressionist set designs are fantastic, and the satire of religious hypocrisy is brilliant for all ages - 1664, 1925, and today. The stories are straightforward, but I thought 65 minutes was a good length, and that this focused the film into a very satisfying narrative. Definitely worth checking out.