Lil Dagover Movies
Actress Lil Dagover was born in Java to a Dutch family working in that country. She was educated in Baden-Baden and Weimar, Germany. While pursuing an acting career she married a much-older stage performer, Fritz Daghofer. The marriage was brief but it did give Lil her professional last name, which she respelled. Somewhat reminiscent of American film star Theda Bara in her dark-lined makeup and florid acting mannerisms, Dagover was ideal for the surrealistic ambience of her first important film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919), and soon other European actresses were adopting Lil's heavy-lidded, highly stylized technique. Ms. Dagover was a particular favorite of director Fritz Lang, who cast the actress in such exotic silent classics Die Spinnen [Spiders] (1919), Destiny (1921) and Dr. Mabuse der Spieler (1922). Lil made one American film, Warner Bros.' The Woman From Monte Carlo (1931) -- yet another attempt by Hollywood moguls to create a "new" Greta Garbo, even though Dagover preceded Garbo by nearly a decade. Returning to Germany, Dagover avoided overt political involvement during the Third Reich, concentrating on harmless costume musicals and comedies during World War II. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she managed to retain her stature in the post-war years. Lil Dagover's final appearance was a small part in the German-Italian co-production End of the Game (1976)--an appropriate title for the climax of nearly half a century's worth of film roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1928
Love Makes Us Blind was the English-language title of the "all star" German romantic drama Liebe Macht Blind. Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt and Lil Dagover perform their roles in such a capricious fashion that some viewers mistook the picture for a satire of its genre. The story concerns a worldly woman who captivates an impressionable young man. When the heroine makes a fool of her husband, he retaliates in such a way as to convince her to watch her step in all future endeavors. The film was the fourth directorial effort of Lothar Mendes, who would do his best work in Hollywood and England. Filmed in 1925, Love Makes Us Blind didn't get to the U.S. until two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, (more)
How typical of the great German director F. W. Murnau that he used Moliere's scathing satirical comedy Tartuffe as a launching pad for an extended exercise in expressionism. Emil Jannings plays the title character, a religious hypocrite who capitalizes upon the piety of others to line his own pockets. Lusting after Elmire (Lil Dagover), the daughter of gullible millionaire Orgon (Werner Krauss), Tartuffe all but convinces Orgon to hand over Elmire -- and all his land holdings -- on a silver platter in exchange for Divine absolution. On the verge of triumphantly taking over Orgon's mansion and tossing the old man out, Tartuffe is foiled by the deux ex machina arrival of an emissary of the King, who arrests the "hero" for his chicanery (this final scene was imposed upon Moliere by the French censors; originally, Tartuffe got away with his crimes). In his efforts to make the property more cinematic, Murnau adds a framing story concerning an old woman who tries to cheat an old man out of a fortune while the two of them watch a theatrical performance of the Moliere play. Chock full of offbeat camera angles, forced-perspective sets, and spiderlike shadows, Tartuff owes more to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari than it does to Moliere. Emil Jannings went on to collaborate with Murnau in the director's next production, a lavish adaptation of Goethe's Faust. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hermann Picha, Rose Valetti, (more)
- 1923
At the Grey House was the English-language title of the 1925 German drama Zur Chronik von Greishuus. Advertised as "A Romance of the Moors," the film stars Lil Dagover as Barbara, a servant's daughter. Wealthy young Viscount Heinrich (Paul Hartman) is in love with Barbara, but their marriage is opposed by the boy's guardian Old Greishaus (Arthur Krausmack), who threatens to cut off Heinrich's inheritance. There are many heartbreaks and disappointments ahead for the two lovers, but in the end Right prevails. Variety's critic not only panned At the Grey House but also skewered the introductory comments made by the manager of the New York theater which ran the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Hartmann, Rudolf Forster, (more)
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler is the eight-reel version of Fritz Lang's twenty reeler, two-part silent thriller, Dr. Mabuse. Mabuse (Rudolph Klein-Rogge) a sinister mesmerist/psychiatrist, toys with the weaknesses of the rich and influential. He worms his way into the confidence of wealthy men, plays cards with them, hypnotizes them into cheating at their businesses, then puts them in a position to be blackmailed so that he can corner the stock market. A devilishly ingenious plan-but Mabuse is up against the plodding, methodical police detective Wrenk, whose subconscious is not so easily swayed...at least, not at first. In 1932, Lang directed a talkie sequel to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede Nissen, (more)
- 1922
Alfred Abel plays a store clerk who is nearly driven to insanity when he sees an apparition of a girl driving a team of white horses. He is sentenced to 20 years in jail when he is convicted of stealing to raise money for a prostitute who looks life the ghost girl. Lil Dagover, Aud Egede Nissen, and Lya de Putti star in this feature directed by legendary filmmaker F.W. Murnau. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Fritz Lang was a stickler for realism in his American films; not so his German silents, which were fanciful to the point of being fairy tales. Der Müde Tod, Lang's first big critical success, is an allegorical tale of love, fidelity and death. The heroine (Lil Dagover), who in her dreams is confronted by Mr. Death, argues for the life of her beloved, but is unable to make the personal sacrifices that Death insists upon. Originally presented in three parts, Der Müde Tod was often boiled down to a single film for its non-German showings. Its English-language titles range from The Weary Death to Between Two Worlds to Beyond the Wall to Destiny. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, (more)
- 1919
O-Take-San (Lil Dagover) is a beautiful young woman pursued by an evil Buddhist monk (Georg John) who wants to make her one of his many geishas. She has an affair with the Danish officer Niels Prien (Olaf J. Anderson) who leaves her alone and pregnant. O-Take-San considers ritualistic suicide when she is abandoned in this tragic melodrama directed by Fritz Lang. A nitrate print of the 1919 silent classic was found in the Dutch Film Museum and restored in 1988. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lil Dagover, Paul Biensfeldt, (more)
In one of the most influential films of the silent era, Werner Krauss plays the title character, a sinister hypnotist who travels the carnival circuit displaying a somnambulist named Cesare (Conrad Veidt). In one tiny German town, a series of murders coincides with Caligari's visit. When the best friend of hero Francis (Friedrich Feher) is killed, the deed seems to be the outgrowth of a romantic rivalry over the hand of the lovely Jane (Lil Dagover). Francis suspects Caligari, but he is ignored by the police. Investigating on his own, Francis seemingly discovers that Caligari has been ordering the somnambulist to commit the murders, but the story eventually takes a more surprising direction. Caligari's Expressionist style ultimately led to the dark shadows and sharp angles of the film noir urban crime dramas of the 1940s, many of which were directed by such German émigrés as Billy Wilder and Robert Siodmak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, (more)
A film buff's dream, Spiders is comprised of two episodes from an unfinished silent serial from Fritz Lang. Filled with excitement and adventure, it tells the story of a brave explorer who is questing for the fabulous Incan diamond. To get it though, he must keep ahead of the powerful Spider cult, who want it for their own evil purposes. The episodes were originally titled "The Golden Lake" and "The Diamond Ship." Many of the techniques and production designs Lang experimented with in this aborted series, he later refined in his classic Dr. Mabuse films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
