Kohlhiesel's Daughters
About Kohlhiesel's Daughters
Innkeeper Mathias Kohlhiesel will not let pretty Gretel marry until her rough older sister Liesel does. Seppl tells Peter Xaver to marry Liesel, divorce her, and then take Gretel. Xaver plays the brutal husband. Liesel turns into a fond wife, so the scheme flips, and Seppl marries Gretel. Henny Porten plays both sisters.
Cast & crew
More about Kohlhiesel's Daughters
Ernst Lubitsch directed Hanns Kräly's Bavarian reworking of The Taming of the Shrew, with Theodor Sparkuhl on camera. Messter Film produced it and UFA released it on 9 March 1920. Wikipedia gives 40 minutes, the Murnau Stiftung lists 1,129 meters, and later German prints run longer.
Themes
Look
Theodor Sparkuhl photographed the Bavarian inn and the double role, with Porten as both daughters.
Preservation
The Murnau Stiftung holds a version at 1,129 meters. A print is also on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Emil Jannings plays Peter Xaver. Gustav von Wangenheim plays Paul Seppl. Jakob Tiedtke plays Kohlhiesel.
- A peddler is welcomed by Gretel and driven off by Liesel with his suitcase, which opens the contrast.
- Porten also starred in a 1930 sound remake. Two further remakes followed.
- Aljoscha Zimmermann, named on some later credits, scored a revival print, not the 1920 release.
Scenes
- Liesel throws the peddler's case out while Gretel buys a brooch.
- Xaver's roughness backfires and Liesel becomes the wife he keeps.
Influenced by
- Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
Also available
- Internet Archive (ErnstLubitschskohlhieselTotcherakakohlhieselsDaughters-1920)
- Wikimedia Commons (Kohlhiesels Töchter (1920).webm)
