Die schwarze Loo

1917 Directed by Max Mack

About Die schwarze Loo

Loo, a dancer without a home, works in cheap barracks. A young composer with little success writes down her dancing. Before he dies he leaves her an unpublished piece. She later marries an orchestra leader, who finishes the music and tries to take the credit.

Cast & crew

More about Die schwarze Loo

Max Mack directed. Hans Brennert wrote the screenplay. Jules Greenbaum produced it in Berlin. Maria Orska plays Schwarze Loo. Theodor Loos plays Fred. Bruno Kastner is also billed. Filmportal records a three-act version of 985 metres, censored in August 1917 (B.10558) and barred to young viewers, with a 1917 premiere at the Marmorhaus in Berlin. A second censorship entry, B.40880, is 1,389 metres and also barred to young viewers.

Themes

  • A dance written down
  • A score left at a deathbed
  • Credit taken by the man who finishes it
  • Loo
  • dancer
  • composer
  • orchestra leader
  • unpublished music
  • Marmorhaus

Background

The August 1917 censorship card is a wartime Berlin release, shown at the Marmorhaus.

Making

Greenbaum's Berlin company put Orska, a stage star, in a three-act story about a score that changes hands after the man who wrote it dies.

Preservation

Filmportal lists an analog print available for loan.

Notes

  • The character name on Filmportal is Schwarze Loo, played by Orska.
  • Loos's role is listed only as Fred. The composer and the orchestra leader are not given actor names on that page.
  • The company is Greenbaum-Film, not Deutsche Bioscop.
  • Both censored lengths were refused a youth certificate.

Scenes

  • The composer writes down Loo's dancing in the barracks.
  • He leaves her the unfinished piece when he dies.
  • Her husband, the orchestra leader, completes it and wants the credit.