The Vice of Humanity
About The Vice of Humanity
Tamara becomes addicted to cocaine and moves in with the dealer Mangol so her daughter will not see her. The father tells the girl her mother is dead. Years later the daughter finds Tamara on a stage. Mangol goes after the daughter. Tamara steps in. She dies among the family.
Cast & crew
More about The Vice of Humanity
Rudolf Meinert directed. Leo Birinski wrote it. The German title is Laster der Menschheit. It premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin in 1927. Asta Nielsen, Werner Krauss, and Alfred Abel star, with Elizza La Porta, Charles Willy Kayser, Trude Hesterberg, Maria Forescu, and Ekkehard Arendt. Ludwig Lippert photographed. Willy Schmidt-Gentner wrote the music.
Themes
Making
Meinert staged the story as a Berlin silent with Nielsen in the central role and Krauss and Abel beside her.
Look
Ludwig Lippert photographed the stage scenes and the rooms where Tamara hides from her daughter.
Music
Willy Schmidt-Gentner composed the music.
Preservation
A print is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The premiere house was the Marmorhaus, a Berlin cinema Meinert used for this release.
- Nielsen, Krauss, and Abel are the three leads on the credits. The published synopsis uses the names Tamara and Mangol and does not pin those names to a single billing.
Scenes
- Tamara leaves home and lives with Mangol so the child will not see her.
- The daughter recognizes her on stage years after being told she had died.
- Tamara stops Mangol from taking the daughter, and dies with the family around her.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Laster der Menschheit (1927).webm)
