Madame de Thèbes
About Madame de Thèbes
Ayla, a gypsy cursed by her father, has to deny her illegitimate son if he is to rise. She gives the child to a rich woman who has lost her own. He grows up as Count Robert (Nicolai Johannsen), a politician who does not know that the fortune-teller politicians consult, Madame de Thèbes, is his mother. Ragna Wettergreen plays Ayla in both lives. Baron von Volmar (Albin Lavén) gets the secret and tries to wreck Robert's career. Von Volmar's daughter Louise (Karin Molander) is attacked by a ruffian and has to be rescued.
Cast & crew
More about Madame de Thèbes
Mauritz Stiller directed in May 1915 from a scenario by Martin Jørgensen and Louis Levy. Julius Jaenzon photographed it. The Swedish Filmography calls it Svenska Bio's largest and most ambitious production to that date. It was finished early in August. The world premiere was on 7 August 1915 at Palads Teatret in Kristiania, as Skjæbnens søn. Sweden opened it on 23 August 1915; Stockholm was held back so it could inaugurate the new Röda Kvarn on Biblioteksgatan.
Themes
In film history
The title uses the name of a celebrated French fortune-teller. In the film she is Ayla, a gypsy whose clients include politicians.
Making
Norwegian leads Wettergreen and Johannsen are the reason Wengström gives for the Kristiania opening running ahead of Stockholm. The Stockholm date was tied to the new Röda Kvarn, more than four months after the Norwegian premiere.
Reviews
Svenska Dagbladet said Madame de Thèbes was not outstanding as a literary piece, but that Stiller had staged it very well and that Wettergreen, Molander, Halldén, and Doris Nelson all filled their parts, Molander especially.
Look
Julius Jaenzon was the cameraman.
Preservation
Long treated as lost, apart from frame clippings at the Library of Congress copyright office. A nitrate copy, short several hundred meters, was restored by the Swedish Film Institute and shown again in Stockholm in 2007.
Notes
- In Britain it was Son of Destiny. In the United States it was The Son of Fate.
- Doris Nelson plays Ayla as a girl. John Ekman plays her father. Märta Halldén is Countess Julie.
- On 4 July 1916 the film opened Verdensteatret in Tromsø.
- Svenska Dagbladet wrote that it was not much as literature but was very well staged by Stiller and well acted, and singled out Karin Molander.
- Jon Wengström of the Swedish Film Institute said the recovered copy was short a few hundred meters of an original length of about 1,300.
- It was sold for showing in the United States, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Britain, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, Brazil, Cuba, Australia, and New Zealand.
Scenes
- Ayla gives up the boy so the curse will not block his rise.
- Count Robert consults Madame de Thèbes without knowing she is his mother.
- Von Volmar turns the secret against Robert's career.
- Louise is attacked and has to be pulled clear of the ruffian.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-madame-de-thbes-aka-the-son-of-fate)
- Swedish Film Institute
