The Merry Jail
About The Merry Jail
Alex von Reitzenstein wakes drunk under his desk, and a postman tells him he must spend a night in jail. His wife Alice goes to a masked ball at Prince Zsbrschowsky's palace. While she shops, Egon Storch follows her home. Prison director Quabbe then arrests Egon, thinking he is Alex. At the ball Alice flirts, in disguise, with her own husband, who does not know her, and the mix-ups end with Alex back beside her.
Cast & crew
More about The Merry Jail
Ernst Lubitsch directed. He and Hanns Kräly wrote the script, drawing on Johann Strauss II's operetta Die Fledermaus. Paul Davidson produced it for PAGU. Union Film distributed it. Theodor Sparkuhl photographed it. Kurt Richter designed the sets. Wikipedia dates the release November 1917 and times it at 56 minutes. Harry Liedtke plays Alex. Kitty Dewall plays Alice. Erich Schönfelder plays Egon. Emil Jannings plays Quabbe. Agda Nielson plays the maid Mizi. Paul Biensfeldt, Käthe Dorsch, and Lubitsch himself are also billed. The German title is Das Fidele Gefängnis.
Themes
Making
The plot machine is the Fledermaus one: a jail night, a masked ball, and a wife testing her husband.
Look
Theodor Sparkuhl shot the jail mix-up and the palace ball.
Notes
- Alex gives Alice money for a new hat to make peace, and that shopping trip is where Egon picks her up.
- Mizi uses the masks to take up with a rich drunk guest.
- Locarno Film Festival showed the film in 2010 in a Lubitsch retrospective.
- Wikidata also lists Ossi Oswalda in the cast. The Wikipedia role list does not give her a part.
Scenes
- Quabbe hauls Egon off in Alex's place.
- Alice flirts with Alex at the ball and he does not recognize her.
Influenced by
- Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-merry-jail)
