This is Dr. Alfred Toth. I would like to present here some specifications about "Die Ahnfrau":
Direction and screenplay by Luise Kolm (Vienna Aug. 1st 1873 - Vienna March 15th 1950) and Jakob Fleck (Vienna Nov. 8th 1881 - Vienna Sept. 19th 1953) on the basis of the famous tragedy by Franz Grillparzer (1791-1872).
Produced by "Wiener Kunstfilm".
Genre: Drama/Horror.
Plot Summary: "Die Ahnfrau" (The Ancestress) is filmed as a theater play in 6 (!) acts. Graf (Count) Von Borotin is the last male of his family and hence allows his daughter Berta to choose her future husband by herself. And she already found him: The nobleman Jaromir Von Eschen, who saved her life, when she was almost killed by robbers in the forest. But the Ancestress appears to the count, and she will not get peace, until the last human being of the family is dead. Now, the haunters of the count, in looking for the robbers to hang them up, find out, that Jaromir is in the robber-chief. But Jaromir's stepfather, the robber Boleslav, tells the count, that his stepson is in realty the son of the count, who was believed to have had a lethal accident in his childhood. Therefore, Jaromir is the brother of Berta, and they can not get married. At the end, the Ancestress wins after the dead of the count, Berta, and Jaromir.
User Comment: Clearly structured, excellently played and brilliantly directed movie. A highlight of the silent-movies-time. The "ancestor" of all ghost-movies and "hauted houses", resp., yet untypical for it's time, since not really expressionistic.
Cast: Karl Ehmann (Vienna, Aug. 13th 1882 - Vienna, Nov. 1st 1967)as Graf Idenko Von Borotin; Liane Haid (Vienna Aug. 16th 1895 - Berne, Switzerland, Nov. 28th 2000) as Berta/Ahnfrau; Max (i.e. Massimiliano) Neufeld (Guntersdorf, Austria-Hungary, Febr. 3rd 1887 - Vienna, Dec. 2nd 1967) as Jaromir Von Eschen; Josef Recht (personal data unknown) as Boleslav, stepfather of Jaromir.
Running time: 40 minutes. Sound Mix: Silent with German titles.
Trivia: The only available copy was edited by the "Cinemateca Brasiliana" (Sao Paulo), where this movie was recently re-detected. The Portuguese titles were retranslated in German by Dominik Horn.
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