Backstairs
About Backstairs
A maid, played by Henny Porten, is engaged to a builder, played by William Dieterle. He does not come home from work. Weeks pass. The crippled postman who loves her, played by Fritz Kortner, cannot watch her wait, so he writes the letters she wants in the fiancé's name. She catches him at the writing and is moved. They are about to mark an engagement when the builder returns: he had been in hospital after an accident, and his own letters had been sent back. The two men fight. The postman kills him with an axe. The maid is fired for neglecting her work, climbs to the roof, and jumps.
Cast & crew
More about Backstairs
Leopold Jessner's first film, made with Paul Leni. Carl Mayer wrote the script for Jessner. Hanns Lippmann produced it. UFA released it in Germany on 11 December 1921. The New York premiere was 3 June 1926. Karl Hasselmann and Willy Hameister photographed it. Hans Landsberger wrote the 1921 music. The German title is Hintertreppe.
Themes
Making
Leni, who designed as well as co-directed, and Jessner keep the action on the back stairs, the basement, and the roof. Mayer's script gives the three of them almost no one else to speak to until the neighbors break in.
Look
Karl Hasselmann and Willy Hameister shot the staircase, the postman's basement, and the roof. The camera stays close to the three rooms rather than opening onto the street.
Music
Hans Landsberger wrote the music used in 1921. The picture itself is silent.
Preservation
A print survives. Wikimedia Commons holds Backstairs (1921).webm.
Notes
- Mayer wrote it specifically for Jessner, who later directed Erdgeist (1923).
- It is counted as a forerunner of the Kammerspiel films, stories kept to a few rooms and a few people.
- The postman watches her from a basement across the street.
- She rips one of the forged letters in half, then holds his arm and kisses him.
- Neighbors break the door after she hears the fight and cannot get in.
- Eugene Dieterle is also listed in some cast sheets beside William Dieterle.
Scenes
- She catches the postman writing the letter she thought came from her fiancé.
- The builder walks back in on the day they meant to celebrate.
- Neighbors break the door and find the builder dead. She goes up the stairs to the roof.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Backstairs (1921).webm)
