Mysteries of a Barbershop
| Mysteries of a Barbershop (Mysterien eines Friseursalons) | |
|---|---|
 Karl Valentin as the Barber. | |
| Directed by | Erich Engel |
| Written by | Bertolt Brecht, Karl Valentin |
| Produced by | unknown |
| Starring | Erwin Faber, Karl Valentin, Max Schreck, Blandine Ebinger, Josef Eichheim, Annemarie Hase, Kurt Horwitz, Liesl Karlstadt, Hans Leibelt, Carola Neher, Otto Wernicke |
| Cinematography | unknown |
| Music by | silent |
Release dates | 1923 (created, but not released until rediscovered in 1972) |
Running time | 16 min. (one reeler) |
| Country | Weimar Germany |
| Language | (subtitles) German |
| Budget | unknown |
Mysteries of a Barbershop (Mysterien eines Friseursalons)
A comic, slapstick "one reeler" German film of 16 minutes, created (if not also written) by Bertolt Brecht and directed by Erich Engel and starring the Munich cabaret clown, Karl Valentin. Althought the film was not considered a success by any of its creative team, and was not ever released as a profit making film to the public, it has been recognized and acknowledged - since its re-discovery in a Moscow archive in the 1970's - as one of the 100 most important German films of all times.[1]
"Just a Little Joke"
Mysteries of a Barbershop was created during a month-long pause before the beginning of rehearsals for Bertolt Brecht's early drama, In the Jungle of Cities at the Munich National Theatre, in February of 1923. Brecht and Erich Engel (the director of In the Jungle), assembled a cast that included Karl Valentin, Liesl Karlstadt (Valentin's cabaret partner), Erwin Faber (the leading actor in Munich at the time and star of Brecht's three staged plays in Munich - Drums in the Night, In the Jungle of Cities, and the forthcoming Edward II), Max Schreck (soon to be a leading film actor in such films as Nosferatu), comic actor Josef Eichheim, character actor Kurt Horwitz, and the cabaretist (and wife of song writer, Friedrich Hollaender), Blandine Ebinger. The group improvised a series of comic and mock-romantic scenes, which, according to one critic, "contains enough cruelty jokes to have made WC Fields envious."[2]
The Plot
The plot revolves around Dr. Moras (Faber) who goes to a barber (Valentin), who mistakenly cuts off a rival's head (Horwitz, photo, right), which is sewn back on by the barber's assistant (Ebinger), and ends with a sword duel and happy ending in a mysterious Senegalese Salon.[3] One critic aptly called the short film "dadaesque absurdity combine[d] with clownesque slapstick."[4]
In an interview with Erwin Faber, who played Dr. Moras - the "romantic star" of the film - it was clear that Mysteries of a Barbershop was intended by Brecht in this, his first film, to be nothing more than "just a little joke."[5]
The Production
- Director: Erich Engel (with a little help from Bertolt Brecht)
- Script: Bertolt Brecht (with Karl Valentin and quite possibly Erich Engel}
- Actors: Erwin Faber, Karl Valentin, Max Schreck, Blandine Ebinger, Josef Eichheim, Annemarie Hase, Kurt Horwitz, Liesl Karlstadt, Hans Leibelt, Carola Neher, Otto Wernicke.
References
- ^ "A Brecht-Valentin Production: Mysteries of a Barbershop", W. Stuart McDowell, Performing Arts Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Winter, 1977), pp. 2-14.
- ^ Acting in the Cinema, James Naremore. (Performing Arts, 1988), 115.
- ^ For a detailed account of the plot of the film, as well as its creation, see "A Brecht-Valentin Production: Mysteries of a Barbershop", W. Stuart McDowell, Performing Arts Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Winter, 1977), pp. 2-14.
- ^ "Carnivalesque meets Modernity in the film of Karl Valentin and Charlie Chaplin," David Robb, Remapping World Cinema: Identity, Culture and Politics in Film. (Performing Arts, 2006), p. 93.
- ^ "Acting Brecht: The Munich Years," by W. Stuart McDowell, in The Brecht Sourcebook, Carol Martin, Henry Bial, editors (Routledge, 2000) p. 71 - 83.