The Mysterious X
About The Mysterious X
When war breaks out, naval lieutenant van Hauen is trusted with sealed orders. Count Spinelli, spying for the enemy, gets a look at them. A telegram then marks van Hauen as the traitor, and he is court-martialed. He thinks his wife is Spinelli's lover. She had in fact refused the count, but van Hauen will not explain himself in court and is sentenced to death. She connects an X in the telegram to the wings of a nearby mill, where the agents meet. Spinelli locks himself in the mill cellar and is set on by rats. She finds him dying and brings proof of her husband's innocence minutes before the execution.
Cast & crew
More about The Mysterious X
Benjamin Christensen's first film. He wrote it, directed it, played van Hauen, produced it, and cut it. Emil Dinesen photographed it. The Danish premiere was March 23, 1914, at the Metropolteatret. The negative is listed at 1,977 meters. English release titles include Sealed Orders and Orders under Seal. Fotorama is recorded as a distributor.
Themes
Background
The Metropolteatret opened the film on March 23, 1914, five months before Denmark stayed neutral in the war that the plot treats as already underway.
Making
Christensen was debuting in every main job at once: script, direction, lead performance, producing, and editing. The Danish Film Institute describes the camera and the cutting as being among the most advanced of 1914.
Look
Emil Dinesen shot the 35mm picture. The wife's discovery depends on a match between the X in a telegram and the sails of a mill.
Preservation
Prints survive at the Danish Film Institute and at the Museum of Modern Art.
Notes
- The Danish title is Det hemmelighedsfulde X.
- Karen Sandberg plays van Hauen's wife. Hermann Spiro is Count Spinelli. Fritz Lamprecht is Rear Admiral van Hauen, and Amanda Lund is the nanny, Gamle Jane.
- Otto Reinwald and Bjørn Spiro play the two sons.
- Danish television first showed it on January 15, 1971.
- Prints are held by the Danish Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art.
Scenes
- Spinelli reads the sealed orders and a telegram names van Hauen the traitor.
- Van Hauen refuses to defend himself at the court-martial.
- His wife reads the X as the mill where the agents meet.
- She reaches the firing party with proof taken from the dying Spinelli in the cellar.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-mysterious-x)
