Harakiri
About Harakiri
In Nagasaki, Daimyo Tokujawa comes home from a post in Europe. A Buddhist monk wants Tokujawa's daughter O-Take-San as a priestess and sends the mikado a letter accusing the daimyo of a plot. The mikado sends a sword, and Tokujawa kills himself. The monk takes O-Take-San. A temple servant helps her escape to a tea house, where she becomes a geisha. Danish officer Olaf Anderson marries her for 999 days, then goes home. She has his son and refuses Prince Matahari. When the term ends and the state is to take the child, Olaf returns with a European wife. The wife offers to raise the boy. O-Take-San will give the child only to Olaf. While the wife is persuading him to come, O-Take-San kills herself with her father's sword.
Cast & crew
More about Harakiri
Fritz Lang directed. Max Jungk is credited with the script. Erich Pommer produced it. Max Fassbender photographed it. Decla-Bioscop handled distribution. It opened on December 18, 1919. The English Wikipedia times it at 80 minutes. It is based on the play by David Belasco and John Luther Long that also fed Puccini's 1904 opera. Abroad it was often called Madame Butterfly.
Themes
Background
Puccini's Madama Butterfly had opened in 1904. Lang's film uses the same Belasco and Long material and was sold outside Germany under that title.
Making
Lang staged the Japanese story on German sets, with Lil Dagover as O-Take-San.
Look
Max Fassbender photographed the Nagasaki sets, including the tea house and the sword scene.
Preservation
A print is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Lil Dagover plays O-Take-San. Niels Prien plays Olaf Anderson.
- Paul Biensfeldt, Georg John, Meinhart Maur, Rudolf Lettinger, and Erner Huebsch are also billed.
- The marriage in the story is set for 999 days, after a custom the film presents as Japanese.
- The intertitles are in German.
- Wikidata lists a 60-minute duration. The Wikipedia film page says 80 minutes.
Scenes
- The mikado's sword arrives and Tokujawa kills himself.
- Olaf marries O-Take-San for 999 days.
- She uses her father's sword when he comes back with another wife.
Influenced by
- Madame Butterfly (play by David Belasco and John Luther Long)
Also available
- Internet Archive (Harakiri1919fritzLang)
