Wilhelm Tell
About Wilhelm Tell
Emperor Albrecht sends Wolfenschiessen, Landenberger, and Gessler to tax the western cantons. Heinrich von Melchthal refuses a further levy. His son Arnold is seized and escapes. Konrad Baumgarten kills Wolfenschiessen for attacking Armgard, and Wilhelm Tell helps Baumgarten across the lake in a storm. Gessler sets his hat on a pole and orders a bow. Tell refuses, shoots an apple from his son Walter's head, and is arrested. In a second storm he gets free, kills Gessler with the arrow he had kept back, and the cantons rise.
Cast & crew
More about Wilhelm Tell
Rudolf Dworsky and Rudolf Walther-Fein directed Willy Rath's script from Schiller's Wilhelm Tell. Gabriel Levy produced. Aafa-Film distributed it. The 2,885-meter version passed censorship on June 22, 1923, and opened at the Marmorhaus in Berlin on August 23, 1923.
Themes
Look
Guido Seeber and Toni Mülleneisen photographed the cantonal exteriors and the storm crossings.
Preservation
A print is in circulation; an Internet Archive copy is catalogued under this title.
Notes
- Hans Marr plays Wilhelm Tell and Conrad Veidt plays Gessler. Erich Kaiser-Titz plays Emperor Albrecht.
- Xenia Desni plays Hedwig Tell, Erna Morena plays Berta von Bruneck, and Otto Gebühr plays Heinrich von Melchthal.
- Ernst Stern designed the sets and costumes. Rudi Feld carried them out.
- On November 11, 1924 the film received the rating "volksbildend" and was afterward used in schools.
- Guido Seeber and Toni Mülleneisen are both named on the camera.
Scenes
- Tell shoots an apple off Walter's head.
- He kills Gessler with the second arrow after escaping the boat in a storm.
Influenced by
- Wilhelm Tell (Friedrich Schiller)
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-wilhelm-tell)