Four Around the Woman
About Four Around the Woman
Broker Harry Yquem, disguised, buys jewelry for his wife Florence from the fence Upton and pays with counterfeit notes. He thinks he has seen Werner Krafft, Florence's old lover. Werner, broke, asks his twin William for money. Yquem shadows the wrong twin, sends a fake message that Florence wants to meet him, and follows William home with a gun. Meunier, Yquem's man, makes his own pass at Florence. Upton learns the money is fake and comes to kidnap her. Werner follows. A shootout and the police end it, and the twins are sorted out.
Cast & crew
More about Four Around the Woman
Fritz Lang directed Vier um die Frau, also called Kämpfende Herzen and, in English, Four Around the Woman. Thea von Harbou and Lang wrote the script from a play by Rolf E. Vanloo. Erich Pommer produced it for Decla-Bioscop. Hans Jacoby designed the sets. It was shot at Babelsberg and opened at the Marmorhaus in Berlin on February 3, 1921.
Themes
Look
Otto Kanturek photographed the Babelsberg sets, including Upton's cellar and the Yquem house.
Music
Silent, with German intertitles. The restored copy's titles were translated back from Portuguese.
Preservation
Long treated as lost. A Portuguese reel was found in 1986 at the Cinemateca Brasileira and restored for the 1988 Berlinale. The reconstruction runs 1,618 meters.
Notes
- Ludwig Hartau is Harry Yquem. Carola Toelle is Florence. Anton Edthofer plays both Werner Krafft and William Krafft. Rudolf Klein-Rogge is the fence Upton. Robert Forster-Larrinaga is Meunier.
- Hermann Böttcher is Florence's father. Lilli Lohrer is her maid. Gottfried Huppertz, later Lang's composer, plays the head chef.
- A Portuguese reel turned up in 1986 at the Cinemateca Brasileira in São Paulo, in a local distributor's estate, along with Lang's The Wandering Image. Walther Seidler of the Berlin Kinemathek found it. After two years of work it was shown at the 1988 Berlinale. The reconstruction is 1,618 meters, with intertitles translated back from Portuguese.
Scenes
- Yquem buys the jewel from Upton with fake notes and thinks he has seen Florence's old lover.
- He sends William a false message and follows him home armed.
- Upton comes to kidnap Florence, and the police arrive during the shooting.
Influenced by
- A play by Rolf E. Vanloo
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-vier-um-die-frau)
